Bipolar disorder

[Jacqueline Peacher]

I had dated a man who suffered from bipolar disorder and the situation that the man put me in was shear hell. Now I am staying in a house with a group of other women that had gone all right up until last September when there was a woman that moved in that suffered from the same disorder. The way this woman is operating is one for the record books considering that the woman has already put a knife to two of my other housemates.

[PhonyMcRingRing]

Is she on meds? Medication for bipolar has come a long way lately. It is significantly helpful for a significant majority of bipolar people.

[Jacqueline Peacher]

She is on meds. Even with the medication I am beginning to wonder what other things that she is going to pull while she is living under the same roof with a bunch of other females.

[Andy]

Well, whose fault is it exactly that you're frightened? It's not the fault of the other woman, I can tell you that. The situation you're in is one that you put yourself in. I have a friend who has bipolar disorder and honestly she has never frightened me, but if she ever did I would put distance between myself and her.

[Jacqueline Peacher]

I am in a homeless shelter only after I was living with my ex-boyfriend for five months. The fact remains is that I have honestly set myself up to be murdered by a female (and by a male) that truthfully wants and needs to be in control. In the case of my ex-boyfriend, he did not want me to have contact with any of my relatives or any of the friends that I have. In the case of the female, she has already pulled a knife on two of the other female residents that are living in the same house that I am living in and there are three different house that females do live in. If I were still in the situation of living with my ex-boyfriend, my own brother would have to bury another relative (my mother died on September 13, 2007 after a massive heart attack.) I am lucky that I can say that I am still alive but I wonder when I have to die at the hands of the female that is living in the same house as me. The female is not only getting into the business of the other residents that live in the three houses, she is also letting everyone else know her business as well.

[PhonyMcRingRing]

Hrm. That's worrisome. Who runs these shelters? Surely if one person is making everyone else feel unsafe, that one person has to go...

[MEOW]

it just shows you're a bad judge of character ,if you can't tell a crazy man when you meet one

[MEOW]

i find it hard to believe ..there aren't some signs that give it away..some people just ignore then till its to late

[PhonyMcRingRing]

Psychopharmacologists sometimes talk about the Rule of Thirds...It's a general rule of thumb, not an iron-clad fact, but generally speaking, for most drugs that influence mental health, 30% of the population gets much, much better on it, 30% of the population gets somewhat better, and 30% of the population sees very little, or no change. The meds are getting better, so i suppose these ratios are swinging a little bit in favor of the first group, but there are people who get no benefit from the meds, or who are still searching for the magic combination of drug and dosage that will help them. And bipolar can be especially difficult because it has a tendency to be comorbid with other disorders, especially the personality disorders...

[26ilubh0frdpl]

what about the people who get worse?

I don't believe 60% of people get at least a little better... if you're using the Rule of Thirds with psychotropic medications, I'd have to argue that 30% get better (by any amount), 30% see little or no change, and 30% experience more harm than benefit from the drug.

[PhonyMcRingRing]

The assumption being that a person who gets worse stops taking it, and takes something else instead...

 

[Andy]

There is ALWAYS somewhere else to go, I'm tired of hearing that cop out. As someone who has spent many a night on the streets I can safely say that if you are fearing for your life then there is always somewhere to go unless you are being physically restrained. The only other restraints are the mental ones, and you are the one who controls those unless you are not in control of your own mind. Also, if you stay with someone who puts you "through hell", you must have realized something was off, because I'd estimate that 80% of the population doesn't randomly put people through that amount of mental anguish. Thats my opinion atleast.

[Jacqueline Peacher]

Latest update to all of this craziness. The woman that I was staying with at the shelter had left before I had moved out. That was only after she had cut the cord to a television set that was in the bedroom that this female had shared with three other women. As far as I had known, she was taking several different kinds of medication. What was also really crazy about this woman was that she was dating a Mexican man who had raped her, did not report it until two months later, and gave birth to a girl earlier this year. She is now the mother of six kids. This woman has four daughters and two sons.