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| Mon, 06-04-2007 - 1:33am |
What might be a good way to illustrate to family/friends/people who ask what it feels
like to be BP? I would like to be able to explain some of my behaviors to my DH & others,
but have yet to come up with anything that doesn't sound like a lame excuse, or like I am
being melodramatic. It is as if people assume that you are going to fly off the handle at
any moment, or like my DH, they expect you to just "snap out " of your depression,
or "calm down & get a grip" when you are manic. I know it is very difficult to be the
spouse/friend/child,etc. of a person with BP,(my own Mom is bipolar, but didn't know
until fairly recently) but it just feels like no-one truly understands that it is
chemical in nature, not a character flaw or a result of bad parenting. Any ideas? (BTW,
in your opinion, is it a good or bad idea to tell your kids that you are BP,& if so, at
what age and how to tell them in a non-scary way that it may be genetic?)
Thanks for your input! (Wonderbread)

In my case I had a ready reference....I didn't know I was eobp until DS was dx'd. I then bought a copy of "The Bi-Polar Child" by Dimitri Papolos for both sets of grandparents so they would know what WE were dealing with. My mother actually recognized herself as well as recognizing me as a child. This has led to some interesting discussions between my mother and myself.
I guess I DID kind of answer one of your questions and the answer has been posted here before....print out information from various recognized web sites (the cl's have those handy) and give them to all those people you wish to know what you are dealing with.
As far as revealing to your children, I sort of had my hand forced as you can see. I have used that to my advantage as I can tell DS "I DO know what you are going through as I am/was eobp as well." He doesn't like it, but it leads to him accepting some of my direction a LITTLE (very little) bit more easily. Heck, I will take what I can get. KWIM?
tk