ecky thump (2nd December 2009), ellefree (1st December 2009), madmelfaulkner (1st December 2009)

having experience with 2 girlfriends that are bipolar I can give you this very simple advice:
be a good friend to her so she knows you're there for her and if possible don't go avoiding her because you think you can't handle it.. she only needs a friend, nothing more!
Also try to act as normal as possible... by sticking around when she's suffering a bit more you're helping her waaaaaay more than you can imagine
and... picking up a book about bipolarity so you know what it is exactly can be helpful too... it will make you understand what she's going through and make it a whole lot easier on you to cope with
and by the way, clinical depression and bipolarity is one and the same thing... just varying in degrees
and for the poster who advised drugs like Lithium... if you want her to live a life like a dull plant drugs might sound like a good idea... if solves the bipolarity by bringing down emotions... but it also takes out most of the other emotions... thank but not thanks
hope this helps...
good luck!
Dominique
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ecky thump (2nd December 2009), ellefree (1st December 2009), madmelfaulkner (1st December 2009)
I think we should avoid advising people to use or not use any particular drug. Everyone is different and everyone will react differently to any particular drug. It is finding one that hopefully will help. Not always possible. You can try everything, medication, exercise, the lot and depending on the person, will depend on recovery.
Lithium was the only thing that helped my daughter. When depression came back a few years later, the hospital wouldn't give it to her, and put her on medication that did not suit her. She and the family could see immediately that it didn't suit her. They wouldn't listen to us and just doubled up the amounts. Unfortunately I lost her.
cainaries (4th December 2009), ecky thump (2nd December 2009), ellefree (2nd December 2009), madmelfaulkner (2nd December 2009), singingmary (1st December 2009), Vortex wake (1st December 2009), warbey (1st December 2009), Zara (2nd December 2009)
I'm sory for your loss my husband and i work for adult placement along side social services we look after vunerable adults with mental health issues one being bi-polar,we now only have 1 person living with us as part of the family and he comes to tenerife when we come so we are here a lot of the time we do not profess to be experts as each case is different and needs different types of intervention with medication and care plans ie how to manage your live ect some suffers such as the person wel ook after cannot cope with being on their own but, they were married and had two children as well as working as a teacher so did have a "normal life".I have found that the illness does get worse and ultimatley some sufferers will eventually go into a care home as it is a progressive illness so i hope that you get her proffessional help if she has not already seen a doctor then i hope you take her and good luck for her future
madmelfaulkner (2nd December 2009)
Reading a Post that advises (however meant) to alter
Prescribed Medication, is near to Lunacy. Pease think about it ?
..
Thats what Doctors are for, and we owe it to Others to
support and NOT critiscise Qualified Medics.
O.K. dosage can be difficult, but in the great majority of Cases
the wrong Dosage is better than none at all.

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Vortex wake (2nd December 2009)

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