The Marriage and Bipolar Disorder Authority

It has been estimated that 1 million people commit suicide each year, around 35,000 of those happening in the United States. Since my husband’s official diagnosis with mental illnesses including Bipolar Disorder, Agoraphobia, and Schizoaffective Disorder in February 2010; suicide has been a fear of mine. It wasn’t because I was paranoid either. His doctors were very intent on making it clear that the results of his tests were consistent not only with someone who is Bipolar, but with someone who would consequently attempt suicide. Read the rest of this entry →

Merriam Webster defines mania as “excitement manifested by mental and physical hyperactivity, disorgination of behavior, and elevation of mood”. Mania is not a stranger to anyone who lives with bipolar disorder or those close to them. In previous posts I have addressed the need to try to remain flexible when facing bipolar disorder in your marriage. When a manic phase hits it is no different. Though, many times things can become more challenging when your spouse has become manic. Everything from communicating to working together to parent your children can be more difficult when mania hits. Read the rest of this entry →

I have recommended in previous posts that when you are married to someone who is bipolar taking care of yourself is very important. One way to do this is by hiring a coach. There has been a trend in the last several years moving away from traditional counseling and therapy to coaches. Understand though, that there is a time and a place for traditional therapy. Traditional therapists are well educated in the text book case studies regarding relationships, conflict resolution, and personal growth. Read the rest of this entry →

The rules change when your spouse is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, or any other mental illness for that matter. The basic principles of marriage are still there, though they can be a lot more difficult to carry out when a mental illness is entered into the mix. Read the rest of this entry →

As I write this post the United States is in the middle of a massive heat wave. Here in the midwest we have been facing temperatures in the 105-110 range for the past week or so. This intense heat can really have an impact on your health (both mentally and physically). So, remember to take the time to take care of yourself and hydrate yourself and don’t stay in the sun too long!

I’ve been thinking about marriage vows a lot lately. In particular, our marriage vows that we exchanged on a cold winter day in January nearly 5 years ago – yes I am finding any reason I can to not think about this summer heat! For those who may be new to this blog, you might be thinking wow, they’ve only been married 5 years what would she know about marriage? While yes, our marriage is young in the grand scheme of things; however, we have been through more things in our marriage in those short years than most couples endure in a lifetime of being married to the same person. So, like Read the rest of this entry →

Sleep is a very important part of our quality of life for either spouse. I know I feel awful after a night of tossing and turning unable to sleep. Tonight, I read an article titled “When Wives Can’t Sleep Marriage May Suffer”. This article was about the impact sleep has on your marriage. The premise is that when wives cannot sleep it has a negative impact on a marriage, though when a husband has difficulty sleeping it does not have as big of an impact on a marriage. I think the basis of this article is very strong, however when married to someone who has bipolar disorder sleep very much becomes a part of the relationship equation. Read the rest of this entry →

It is May 18^th and I have been looking forward to this day for several weeks now. I revived this blog a little over a month ago and have seen some good success. When I found out on Twitter that there would be a Mental Health blog party on May 18^th I knew I HAD to participate.

Several weeks ago I read a pretty straight forward article on The Huffington Post about stigma and mental illness. The premise of the article is that the stigma surrounding mental health is dead, however the discrimination and prejudice associated with mental health is still very prominent. This caused me to stop and think for a minute, and knew I had to dedicate an entire blog to this area of mental health. Read the rest of this entry →

There is an abundance of challenges when your spouse is struggling with bipolar disorder. Much of life becomes this incredible balancing act. One day is never like the next. The balance that works for today will not also work for tomorrow. Don’t be surprised if your family and close friends don’t understand the incredible balance that it takes every day. As much balance as you need to take on every day, try to find opportunities to challenge your Read the rest of this entry →

I have mentioned in previous blog posts that along with Bipolar Disorder, my husband also lives with anxiety with agoraphobia. In my very brief and limited exposure to Bipolar Disorder I have found that many Bipolar Patients also struggle with anxiety on some level. My husband’s anxiety just happens to be a fairly extreme version. I think sometimes I have struggled more with his anxiety than even with Bipolar Disorder itself. So, today and writing about some tips to help you with you spouse’s anxiety. Read the rest of this entry →

Today is May 8^th and I want to take a moment to wish a very Happy Mother’s Day to any moms reading this blog. This Mother’s Day wish not only goes out to mothers, but to any woman who has played a nurturing role in a child’s life.  I am not only a mom, but I am also a step mom and I know that mother’s day can present a unique challenge for women who become moms in the not so traditional way that is becoming more and more traditional every year. Take some time to do something for yourself today!  Read the rest of this entry →

A very important part of finding excellent health care is patient advocacy. This is especially true with mental health care. I’m sure you’ve seen this situation played out in your own battle with psychiatric care. A patient goes to see a psychiatrist; they perform a “hopefully” thorough examination including family history and list of symptoms and recent experiences. The psychiatrist will hand out a diagnosis and give you a prescription for a medication or several medications. Though, to your surprise, the medication doesn’t help. Why is this? Read the rest of this entry →

When I was learning all about Bipolar Disorder there were a few “AH HA” moments. One of those moments had to do with how those with Bipolar Disorder handle social settings. Now, I’m not talking about anxiety in social settings. My husband has issues with anxiety in social settings in addition to Bipolar Disorder. The challenge I’m referring to has to do Read the rest of this entry →

Recently I’ve read about telling your kids about Bipolar Disorder when your spouse has been diagnosed. In this blog post I am going to cover how we have addressed my husband’s diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder with each of our children ages 11, 7, and 3.   

I think Bill Cosby says it best when he said: “In spite of the six thousand manuals on child Read the rest of this entry →

In our experience there are three vital elements to mental health care: supervised medication therapy, developing coping techniques with a professional (like a psychologist), and the environment the patient lives in everyday. The first two elements, supervised medication therapy and coping techniques, can be perfected; though, if they live in an unhealthy environment no amount of medicine or coping techniques will improve their quality of life.  Read the rest of this entry →

I don’t watch a whole lot of TV – I have my few guilty pleasures, but lately I have been writing a whole lot more than watching any TV. My husband knows that if I had my way we would completely get rid of cable television in our home.

This being said, I am not one to follow all of the latest scandals going on in Hollywood, though when I saw a few weeks back that Catherine Zeta Jones was checked into a facility Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome back to another blog post in “The Bipolar Marriage Blog”!  I am really glad that you stopped by and hope you find what you are looking for. My hope for this blog is that you will not only survive but you will thrive in relating with the one that you love with mental illness. This blog post will be specifically geared towards the “healthy” spouse and the changes that will be felt throughout the whole family as adjusting to mental illness. Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to a SURPRISE midweek post in “The Bipolar Marriage Blog”! I had no intention of writing and releasing the next blog until this weekend. Though, something caught my eye on twitter that got my writing juices flowing. So much in fact, that my notepad for writing ideas was not far from reach nearly all afternoon.

Yesterday on twitter #whatstigma became one of the trending topics in UK. This started Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome back to another blog post in “The Bipolar Marriage Blog”!  I am really glad that you stopped by and hope you find what you are looking for. My hope for this blog is that you will not only survive but you will thrive in relating with the one that you love with mental illness. Please do not let the name “The Bipolar Marriage Blog” fool you. Many of Read the rest of this entry →

I haven’t posted in quite some time, in over six months to be exact which is practically a life time in the blogging world.  While some blogging and business experts might agree that if a blog has not been produced in some time you might as well start a new blog. Well, I am going against the grain on this and decided to revitalize this blog. Read the rest of this entry →

Only a day or so has passed since I posted the last blog, so not much has happened since I have posted. We are still working on the childcare situation and hope to have something arranged by Wednesday so Jeff can start the hospitalization. 

 One aspect of his anxiety that manifests itself physically is nausea/upset stomach usually Read the rest of this entry →