{"id":6302,"date":"2012-03-25T10:38:19","date_gmt":"2012-03-25T17:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/?p=6302"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:59:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:59:17","slug":"loving-someone-with-bipolar-disorder-understanding-and-helping-your-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/loving-someone-with-bipolar-disorder-understanding-and-helping-your-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder: Understanding and Helping Your Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I remember driving home from the hospital after seeing my partner Ivan in the psych ward.\u00a0 I was sobbing in fear and hopelessness. It was 1994 and Ivan had just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I didn\u2019t even know what it meant. <\/span><\/p>\n

I had never heard of the illness. Was it curable? Was he faking?<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The staff in the hospital were\u00a0often wonderful,\u00a0but I could tell they had ZERO idea of what I was going through. I had so many fears- I couldn\u2019t sleep. I didn\u2019t know if he was going to die. I couldn\u2019t work. <\/span><\/p>\n

Does bipolar disorder last forever? How long would he be in the hospital?<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is psychosis? What is mania? Why is he saying such crazy things? Doesn\u2019t he love me anymore? I went through this for months.\u00a0 There were only a few books on the market about the illness and there was nothing<\/em> for a partner. I was alone and his only advocate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ivan was in the hosptial for two months.\u00a0 I met his doctor once in the elevator. <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When it was finally time for Ivan to come home, I wasn\u2019t given any advice. No one told me that I should watch out for suicidal behavior or what to do if he got sick again. \u00a0It was all up to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember sitting in an office with his nurse practitioner a few weeks later. Ivan was a zombie from all of the medications. His hands shook so badly he couldn\u2019t write. He was miserable and I was miserable and scared. I said to the nurse practitioner, \u201cI\u2019m not sure what to do. Ivan seems so sluggish. He can\u2019t work and he is so unhappy. I don\u2019t know what to do!\u201d\u00a0 Here is the reply I received:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you think you\u2019re getting a bit too involved in all of this Julie?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At that moment I said- enough of this terrible health care. I am taking over.<\/em> Ivan and I had a tough, tough time, but we worked together and he got better. \u00a0I remember thinking:\u00a0 If we make it through this, and we will, I am going to write a book so that a partner of someone with bipolar disorder will NEVER have to go through what I went through. <\/span><\/p>\n

Seven years later, I wrote the book. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I wrote Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder: Understanding and Helping Your Partner <\/em>for everyone who\u00a0is in a relationship with someone who has bipolar disorder.\u00a0I know it can help you create a loving and positive relationship with your partner. <\/span><\/p>\n

You can 100% work together to manage this illness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0All of the steps you need are in the book.<\/span><\/p>\n

Happiness is possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Julie\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PS: I am very happy to say that bipolar disorder health care has improved since Ivan was so ill.\u00a0 There is more contact with health care professionals in the hospital and they definitely understand more about what\u00a0partners go\u00a0through. But\u00a0if your partner is ill,\u00a0 you will have to advocate for what YOU need. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You matter too!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I remember driving home from the hospital after seeing my partner Ivan in the psych ward. I was sobbing in fear and hopelessness. It was 1994 and Ivan had just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I didn\u2019t even know what it meant. <\/p>\n

I had never heard of the illness. Was it curable? Was he faking? <\/p>\n

The staff in the hospital were often wonderful, but I could tell they had ZERO idea of what I was going through. I had so many fears- I couldn\u2019t sleep. I didn\u2019t know if he was going to die. I couldn\u2019t work. <\/p>\n

Does bipolar disorder last forever? How long would he be in the hospital? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is psychosis? What is mania? Why is he saying such crazy things? Doesn\u2019t he love [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11583,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions\/11583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}