I think DH and I going to be separated by the end of this year at the latest. He has a history of bipolar. I told him today he needs to talk to a professional. He told me the doc told him it was ok to stop his meds, but this was over a year ago.He refuses to go back. I am sure things can change with any behavioral health issue, but he needs to go back on something. I can't live like this another 50 years.

My MIL collects disability for her bipolar disorder. She's been on it for almost 15 years now. Every time we talk to her, she starts ranting about people on welfare and how she's sick of subsidizing their lazy lifestyle, etc. Um, hello MIL, who do you think cuts those disability checks you get every month?? It really irritates the snot out of me.

I hate that mental illness is pushed so fucking hard. Little Billy can't stay focused to clean his room and do his homework? Have some Ritalin! I'm sure it has nothing to do with the 2 liter of soda he just used as a chaser for the Costco bag of candy he just ate or that he has more electronics than a Radio Shack or that you're too lazy to discipline him and end up doing his chores for him.. Meanwhile, I can't get into my psychiatrist when my medications for the bipolar disorder I've had for 18 years have me wanting to kill myself.

My MIL is very-pro-life and also thinks everyone should have tons of kids. She has a severe case of bipolar disorder and she was quite abusive to her 5 kids. My DH is also bipolar and we have decided to be CF. My MIL is now telling us we should have had kids BEFORE finding out about DH's bipolar and just "take life as it comes". Sorry, but she is driving me fucking crazy with this and I figured you all would understand.

I confessed to my boyfriend today that my son is being evaluated for bipolar disorder. He doesn't seem scared off by that. Hell, I'm scared by that! :/

I'm the OP with the mom that "broke up" with me. She's not much in my life. She tried to be a really involved grandma, almost controlling, but she uses the same mentality on my daughter that she did with me. So I distanced my family from her. When my daughter was nearly 3, she'd have her normal tantrums. My mom thought it was reasonable to explain to my daughter that her relationship with her is a luxury. While consoling my daughter after she calmed down. She rubbed her back and said to my daughter, "I'm a grandma because I want to be one. I don't have to care for you if I don't want to." Which is all true. She doesn't have to be there if she doesn't want to. But why tell a three year old that? It just made my daughter start sobbing. Then my mom went up to me and said, "I'm right aren't I? She has to realize family is a reward." That is not how I view family at all. Not to mention that I'm the only one of her children she did this to. And I'm the youngest. She says she is still a mother to my older brother and sister. Just not to me. She goes out with them. Takes them to lunch. Sees them regularly. Lends them money if they need it. Talks with them. Whenever she sees me, she is distant. I know I was different than my siblings. I was tough as a teenager. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 14. My mom saw all these things as burdens or flaws in the family and usually thinks I am still the same crazy teenager. There's no use proving her differently despite me being a grown woman with college education, therapy, meds, a happy marriage, and her own home. I turned to a relationship with my father during the harsh times and she resents me for running to him. Wouldn't it hurt for your mom to judge you by the silly things you did as a teenager or if you were diagnosed with a disorder? My mom has no empathy and puts herself on a pedestal. That's all I've realized.

I have a friend with bipolar whose life is a mess. It didn't use to be. She had a decent job and education, friends and hobbies. Her bipolar seemed to come on rapidly after a tragedy in her life. After that she just seemed shattered and fragile and started making really bad bad decisions. She squandered her savings, lost her home, lost her job, then lost another after that, left her husband, had some strange and unseemly affairs. She was finally diagnosed. Today she's alone, I mean really alone. Hardly any friends stay in tough and her family just barely. She ekes out a daily existance on disability payments and has gained a lot of weight, so her confidence has gotten even worse. It's painful to see how her life has changed. It's difficult to help her though. She skips treatments, plays around with her meds and continues to spend money on foolish things. Somehow (how?) she was given a line of credit at several retail stores and of course has blown through it all, now is paying interest on top of what she owes on these cards. She just seems to dig a deeper and deeper hole for herself. How do you help someone who is so hell bent on self destruction? I understand constantly negative friends can be draining, but some started out NOT this way and you just hope and hope they can somehow get healthy again.

Oh wow, people were really honestly offended by that cartoon? Cheeze and rice....OK, I have bipolar and have been struggling with it for years. But I can say that I laughed at that last cartoon, I thought it was funny, come on can't anyone laugh at anything anymore? What a boring life it would be if we couldn't laugh at things. I am in a support group with some other people with my condition and we joke about it, very crudely I might add, because it helps us feel more normal and positive about it all. What am I supposed to wallow in seriousness everyday? That's a fate worse than death.

Oh I see. So it's not OK to call someone an insulting racial term. It's not OK to use a slur based on disability. But it's OK to call people schizo, bipolar, say they need to see a shrink or need to take meds or are off their meds. I get it. Mentally ill people are the only demographic it's still OK to speaking of in insulting terms, then?

My 24 year old dd is 1 of the most rudest, bipolar witches I know.