BP parents

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-15-2006
BP parents
4
Tue, 07-24-2007 - 1:40pm
I was wondering if anyone else here who was raised by a BP parent (or parents) would be comfortable sharing their own story. My Mom and I are both BP. She was not DXed until a few years ago,and was not medicated at all during my childhood. I have two children of my own & am hoping to gain some perspective on the BP family experience through another's eyes. Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.:)
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-01-2004
In reply to: wonderbread77
Tue, 07-24-2007 - 1:59pm

To my knowledge, my father has never been dx'd BP, but with what I know now I KNOW he is BP1--classic textbook case!

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2005
In reply to: wonderbread77
Wed, 07-25-2007 - 1:50pm

My dad was BP though i didnt know it at the time i recognize it now. I can only imagine how he must have suffered. He disapeared for days but since we lived near my uncles and grandma we always had someone to watch over us. He would sometimes make us sit in a chair for hours when he was gone and say he could tell if we moved. As we were all under 12 of course we believed him. We never ate fast food because it was manufactured by the government and contained poisons (per my dad) i had my first McDonalds when i was 17yo.

We could never get a ride to/from school with anyone. I think this was mainly because my dad was afraid my mom would kidnap us again. I remember once i gat a ride w/a friends mom and my dad saw me getting out of the car i gat a whoopin straight away when i got in the house. I dont really blame my dad. I loved him them i love him now. Im BP II and GAD so i understand him. Its funny but when i was little we always used to talk and he would tell me things he never told the others. I wonder if he knew about me then? Sorry for rambling....

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-22-2006
In reply to: wonderbread77
Wed, 07-25-2007 - 2:52pm

My father (he is my adoptive, not biological father) is bipolar. He was very verbally/emotionally abusive along with physically and (with me) sexually abusive. We always "walked on eggshells" around him because we never knew what was going to set him off and make him mad. We were afraid of him but yet I could talk to him much easier than I could talk to my mother (again, adoptive not biological). She knew there was something wrong with him but he never got help (therapy or meds) and she never protected us from him. Then, when he had a "nervous breakdown" and was hospitalized, when he came home, all of his behaviors from then on were just dismissed and attributed to him being "sick" and we were just supposed to accept them as part of our childhood.

Anyway, my biological mother is also bipolar but I did not grow up with her. I have a very limited relationship with her now- she is pretty isolated. She is unmedicated.

Peg

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-11-2006
In reply to: wonderbread77
Sat, 08-04-2007 - 10:17pm

I didn't know it at the time and neither did she, but my mom is bp.

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