Please Help

[dee1961]

I have just become a member ( today 14/6/08) and have just come across this site. I have spent many hours searching for somthing like this and at last iv found one. My daughter (who is 27ys) was diognosed with bipolor last year. she has tried different medication with which she has not had any joy, at the moment she is only taking prozac, no mood stabilizers. We are going through a very bad time with her at the moment, she is in a very depressive episode but is allso having what has been explained to us by her consultant as a manic episode too,( she is not having the highs which she normally has when like this, she is acting very irrational.} She is becoming very aggresive verbally and physically and saying very nasty things she is very aggitated too. She shouts alot at us and her 4yr old boy which is most upsetting. As a family we do not know how to help her because we have not had much help and information from the mental health services who look after her. it is slowly distroying her relationship with her partner and is putting myself on the verge of a breakdown because i feel helpless and cant bear to see her like this . When she is on a "good day" which is not very often she is the little girl that i saw growing up. PLEASE PLEASE could anyone that reads this adivse on how to help her and get this situation under control. I think if you can speak to someone who is living this nightmare too and understands what its like they can offer more advise than from the "specialists". she is not due to see her consultant for another 4wks which is when he will make a decision on what to prescribe her again, he is considering Lithium which she is not happy about. I am not going to wait that long to see someone i am taking her back on tuesday and hopefully get some help.

Your hopefully

Dee

[ASchwartz]

Dee1961,

Welcome to our community. I hope you will find lots of support here. Your pain and anguish about your daughter comes through loud and clear.

While I am not a psychiatrist I can tell you, after years of working with patients in psychotherapy, that the patients who were diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder were helped immensely by Lithium.

In any case, because you are searching for support, I want to direct you to another very helpful resource, in addition to your staying with us and discussing what you are facing with your daughter:

NAMI or National Alliance for the Mentally Ill is a deeply helpful organization for patients and for family members. Under NAMI is their family organization know as FAMI or Family Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Look them up on the Internet and contact them. They really are terrific and can send you tons of information to further help your family and your daughter.

I want to encourage our members to join in the discussion with Dee1961.