Suspect Husband Is Bipolar

I would strongly caution you AGAINST self diagnosing your husband. It creates labels in your mind that require him to accept specific treatment that may not be appropriate. His psychiatrist, who is appropriately trained and educated on this subject, may not agree with your diagnosis and thus you have set your husband up for complete failure. (He can't make you happy by taking meds that his doctor doesn't agree that he needs.)

ANYONE can behave in a manner that suggests bipolarness under the right circumstances. We all have ups and downs. You are jumping to a conclusion based on one example you have seen.

It would seem that his psychiatrist is more concerned with anxiety than depression, based on the medication he is prescribing. Anxiety can easily manifest itself in a way similar to mania.

I think perhaps you should attend therapy with him...not to tattle or demand the type of treatment you believe he needs, but so you can talk to the psychiatrist along with your husband and get a better understanding of what the doctor thinks is going on.

And, if your husband is really dealing with anxiety, leaving him while he is seeking help from a professional is just cruel in my opinion. Work with him, don't add to his stress by leaving him and possibly impacting his relationship with his daughter. No one ever promised marriage would be easy...that whole "better or worse," "sickness and in health" stuff...well, this is worse and sick. Hang in there as you promised to do.

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There are a variety of treatment options that don't involve medications - not just talk therapy but things like oriental medicine, energy balancing, hypnotherapy, sound and color therapies, energy psychology, homeopathy, ayurveda, nutrition/orthomolecular therapy, shamanic healing, Bach flower essences, aromatherapy/essential oils, etc. So if he doesn't like the meds there are other ways to deal with mood imbalances - safer approaches that are more likely to foster a lasting resolution. Conventional medicine doesn't really understand how to foster healing of mental illnesses, they just suppress symptoms with drugs which isn't much different than what many people do with recreational drugs.

DBSA - Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance is for friends and family members of those with depression and bipolar disorder as well those who suffer from them. There are several meetings around the area - on the USF campus as well at St Joseph's.

http://www.angelfire.com/blog2/dbsa/whatis.html

I know this is easier said than done but he needs you.
Please go with him on a walk and tell him you need to
talk to him. Look him right in the eyes and tell him how
much you love him. Tell him what a great man he is. Explain to him
that you are here to support him. Tell him that you need him to
go to the doctor and get his temper under control.

Talk to him with a sweet voice and loving heart.

Try your hardest to help him.

If he won't try to make things better, than you know what steps you need
to make.

I wish you and your family the best for Christmas and
the New Year to come.

bipolar is the new names for manic depressive look up information on ther internet about it my youngest son has it. it is a hard thing to deal with but he can get through it with God and alot of prayers. be careful with meds make sure they do not mix too many together. depakote is a good one for bipolar.

i definitely am not a dr or anything like that...and won't tell you what to do with your situation. all i will say is that you NEED to do what is BEST for your CHILD! i went thru something similar with my husband back in sept of this yr. he was a severe prob w/ making huge situations out of nothing and imagining things are going to happen when there is nothing there. he was constantly questioning me about these things for the last 7 yrs. he would be ok for a few months and then for a month or so he would ask ?'s all day every day, until i couldn't handle it anymore. it's extremely stressful to both the spouse AND the child. obviously we would argue and then my eldest (5yo) would start to act out and yell at him and tell him to leave me alone and stop asking me things. i told him repeatedly that i thought that he had issues (he went thru some stuff with his family growing up/his mother has chemical imbalance,etc) and told him that he needed to go to the dr and get it checked out...he wouldn't. finally i told him i wouldn't have my kids go thru what he did and he was not even trying. he finally went to the dr and he's OCD. so they put him on meds. i think something like prozac. if your husband is anything like mine or on anything like this med..my husband says it doesn't make the thoughts go away, but it does relax you and make you not care as much. i'm really not one for therapy or anything like that but if it's helping him, see if you could both go...it's easier to understand something if you are there and find out how YOU are able to deal with what he is going thru. or even if you have someone to talk to about the stress you are going thru might help. it's very discouragin to be in a relationship where something like this is going on and you feel that not everything that can be done IS being done.

Good luck, dear and god bless

Pardon my ignorance, but I think these days we look for any reason to medicate because of issues we no longer have time to deal with and in my opinion these drugs mess up the brain activity and makes it worse in some instances. OCD, ADD, ADHD, Bipolar, what next...We need to take the time to understand, sympathize, love and be patient with these "disorders". All of us have the tendency to do or be "too much of one thing" that can cause life to be miserable for another person and we just have to have balance. I've always believed there are opposites for everything. If in a relationship, someone is more passive, the other is usually the controlling one. If one is emotional, quite likely the other is quite cold and aloof. If one is cheap, the other spends like crazy. If one is into family, quite likely the other is not and so forth, and in each case there can be "too much" of it. Once we understand we need each of those qualities to survive as human beings, we can try to help the other person be less of what they are or complementing it.

Please look up these drugs on the net- they are very very strong drugs, horrible drugs- look them up and really you won't be saying "only". Serquel is not for sleeping, just, look it up. Of course he wants off them- they are very bad.

First how is his diet?
Behavior problems are usually lack of Vit B. And sugar. Check Weston Price .com for proper diet- and then do it.

Secondly I think Pyschs are nuts- there is a reason they have a very high suicide rate-so AFTER you handle his diet take a look at that.

Third, there is a program call The Road Back- you can get the e book for free!-check out the side effects of those horrible drugs he is on, and see if this program might make the difference in your lives.

You want your family? Then you have some work to do. From what I have seen there is no magic wand, but if you are willing fight for it, the above will help you do so.

And again check out the side effects of those drugs- it will be informative.

Fight for it.Best, k