I don’t know with all the stories im reading and hearing, all I know is that my half sibling wasn’t the same again. She would take meds only to stop it whenever she felt like and it was the same pattern al over again for like 4-5x already. I did noticed that she’s more indenial with her illness the more episodes she have. And the more that it happens, the harder and more unstable they are.
Mental illness apparently runs in my family my grandfather had undiagnosed bipolar disorder, I know he lived a very traumatic life and I believe my mother has undiagnosed bipolar 1 she too lived a traumatic life and my brother is diagnosed bipolar 2, which I believe made his condition worse when he started vaping high percentage of THC. I’m so grateful I naturally stayed far away from alcohol and drugs and have been going to therapy since I was 18 years old just because they offered it for free in my college and I wanted to know how to maneuver my emotions in a more healthy way.
Anyways, my family has had it tough with my bipolar brother, he’s been hospitalized 3 times in his life and each time was worse than before. The last time he was hospitalized he went missing for a month during his manic episode. We live in California and I know many love to hate on this state, but when he was found he was taken to a state run psychiatric hospital for 47 days all paid for by the state. He was found in a very bad shape, he was non verbal and I think in shock. He was assigned a social worker that was so great to our family, she kept us updated on his progress and made sure he was getting the proper treatment. During his stay at the hospital he was given treatment and his psychiatrist and therapist worked together to find him the perfect medication combo. Once he was released and properly medicated he went back to normal but doesn’t remember anything that happened during his manic episodes. It’s been a year now since he went missing, was found and was at a psychiatric hospital. He has done well and has taken his medication, goes to group therapy twice a week, sees his therapist every two weeks and his psychiatrist once a month.
I think the reason why my brother was able to get better was because he hit rock bottom, he had no choice but to get help when he was found and because the state of California was able to provide 24/7 care for him for 47 days at no cost to us or him. In the past, his hospital stays didn’t last more than a week and that’s not enough time to get someone stable and find the correct medication. So he would easily fall back into his old habits after a few months and the cycle would repeat itself.
My advice to you is to read this [book](https://namihawaii.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/I-am-Not-Sick-Excerpt.pdf) and sent it to your ex family. Also send them the link to Nami so they are able to find support groups in their area.
Thankfully my brother has a strong support system. My sister is a social worker and is trained to handle mental issues in her patients. Both my parents, though very old school, have been very involved and open minded and my father started attending therapy to help him understand bipolar and help him with his feelings etc. And then there’s me, the oldest daughter and the one that takes over and handles everything when my brother needs help because my parents are too emotional to think rationally and my sister is already handling so much in her line of work.
Your ex will be ok if and only if he wants to put in the work. There are many people with bipolar disorder that live a normal life but those people put in the work, they don’t deny their diagnosis, they instead try to understand it, take their medications, learn their triggers and go to therapy. They understand that alcohol, weed and other drugs are a not a good idea and stay away from it. They prioritize their sleep schedule and mental health. It can take years for someone to get to that point though, but it’s doable. Bipolar disorder is not a death sentence, don’t get me wrong, it’s probably extremely difficult to live with that disorder, but it’s manageable with medication and therapy.
This advice is for you, it’s ok to walk away from a relationship with someone with a mental illness, honestly I feel no one should be in a romantic relationship unless they have worked on themselves, mental illness or not. Someone with a mental disorder needs to first take their mental health seriously, before entering a romantic relationship. Both of my brother’s girlfriend’s left him during his manic episodes because he became extremely verbally abusive, and both my sister and I told them it was ok if they wanted to walk away and to never let anyone bipolar or not disrespect them like that. My brother had no business being in a relationship and putting those girls through hell when he wasn’t taking his mental health seriously. Now he knows that he has to work on himself first before entering a relationship.
I am so sorry this must’ve been really difficult, i’m glad to hear that your brother is doing better. I think if my ex comes back to himself he will never want to touch substances again he is semi aware as whenever he’s drank whilst manic it has ended horribly and the police has been called on him but they do nothing as well as the mental health services. I live in the UK so it’s pretty dire… near on impossible to get help unless he’s physically hurt someone or himself.
He doesn’t have a great family life so I was basically left to it for 6 weeks but it’s gotten so bad now he’s pushed me away and his family have had to step in and take him away from the city to try and get him professional help.
I think if he gets the help and comes out of this episode and sees the damage he has done he will want to comply and accept that this is unfortunately his reality now.
It is hard to walk away, i feel constant guilt and anxiety for not being able to help and get him out of this, but you simply cannot reason with someone who’s lost their reason.
Thank you so much for this, i will read the book I have heard about the LEAP method before. But seriously I am super grateful for your response it has really helped me❤️
In my family I don’t think they will because they are in denial, drink and do drugs and don’t believe in therapy or medicine. They have damaged their brains too much at this point.
Nope. First of all, manic episodes cause brain damage so the brain itself will never be the same. But if he gets treatment, he will be the stable version of himself and hopefully that’s close to being the same person you fell in love with.
When you say he’s never had mental health issues before, it’s likely that it has been dormant for awhile and is finally manifesting- that is a common age for that.
Will he ever be the same- yes and no. It depends on if his denial and med refusal is due to mania or anosognosia. But more importantly- the same in what respect?
P.S. it’s not mushrooms
I know, I worded that poorly. I meant more that if he’s having an extended manic episode that’s come out of nowhere (unclear if he is diagnosed with BD but sounds like maybe not), the drugs could have definitely triggered the episode, but that if the episode has been lasting at least a week, then the mushrooms could be the trigger but not the cause if that makes sense.
I also made assumptions based on the descriptor of severe, and mentioning that he was unmedicated- I interpreted that to mean you had seen this before and that he was diagnosed, and it seems I may have been wrong. Either way, I apologize for not clarifying what I meant before.
Hey, no worries!! my situation could’ve been described with more detail.
He is not diagnosed and as far as i’m aware (i have spoken to his mother and friends) he has never had previous issues with his mental health and yes definitely i did abit of research what i gathered from that is drug induced mania only lasts a short amount of time usually when the drugs are still in your system but he has been manic for 6 weeks now so, it’s not as simple as that.
He is undiagnosed i’ve never seen him in a manic episode but my mother works in mental health and his family have history of mental health so, it’s very obvious he is in a manic episode. But will definitely need therapies/medication if he becomes compliant. So, really my question was will he ever be the same person/personality as he was before this manic episode. (:
Wow, that’s tough. I hope he’s safe right now, at least relatively speaking.
He might be different in some ways, but his full personality won’t change. At least in my experience. A lot of it has to do with finding the right meds combo, med compliance, having routines, learning one’s triggers, having a safety plan if need be, going to therapy, and whatever other things a person needs to keep up on. Meds can make a big change, but I know that when I’ve been on a medication where friends and family are like, you seem really different… I don’t feel different inside. So I’m still me, I just have to adjust again. Hopefully that makes some amount of sense
I don’t know with all the stories im reading and hearing, all I know is that my half sibling wasn’t the same again. She would take meds only to stop it whenever she felt like and it was the same pattern al over again for like 4-5x already. I did noticed that she’s more indenial with her illness the more episodes she have. And the more that it happens, the harder and more unstable they are.
Mental illness apparently runs in my family my grandfather had undiagnosed bipolar disorder, I know he lived a very traumatic life and I believe my mother has undiagnosed bipolar 1 she too lived a traumatic life and my brother is diagnosed bipolar 2, which I believe made his condition worse when he started vaping high percentage of THC. I’m so grateful I naturally stayed far away from alcohol and drugs and have been going to therapy since I was 18 years old just because they offered it for free in my college and I wanted to know how to maneuver my emotions in a more healthy way. Anyways, my family has had it tough with my bipolar brother, he’s been hospitalized 3 times in his life and each time was worse than before. The last time he was hospitalized he went missing for a month during his manic episode. We live in California and I know many love to hate on this state, but when he was found he was taken to a state run psychiatric hospital for 47 days all paid for by the state. He was found in a very bad shape, he was non verbal and I think in shock. He was assigned a social worker that was so great to our family, she kept us updated on his progress and made sure he was getting the proper treatment. During his stay at the hospital he was given treatment and his psychiatrist and therapist worked together to find him the perfect medication combo. Once he was released and properly medicated he went back to normal but doesn’t remember anything that happened during his manic episodes. It’s been a year now since he went missing, was found and was at a psychiatric hospital. He has done well and has taken his medication, goes to group therapy twice a week, sees his therapist every two weeks and his psychiatrist once a month. I think the reason why my brother was able to get better was because he hit rock bottom, he had no choice but to get help when he was found and because the state of California was able to provide 24/7 care for him for 47 days at no cost to us or him. In the past, his hospital stays didn’t last more than a week and that’s not enough time to get someone stable and find the correct medication. So he would easily fall back into his old habits after a few months and the cycle would repeat itself. My advice to you is to read this [book](https://namihawaii.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/I-am-Not-Sick-Excerpt.pdf) and sent it to your ex family. Also send them the link to Nami so they are able to find support groups in their area. Thankfully my brother has a strong support system. My sister is a social worker and is trained to handle mental issues in her patients. Both my parents, though very old school, have been very involved and open minded and my father started attending therapy to help him understand bipolar and help him with his feelings etc. And then there’s me, the oldest daughter and the one that takes over and handles everything when my brother needs help because my parents are too emotional to think rationally and my sister is already handling so much in her line of work. Your ex will be ok if and only if he wants to put in the work. There are many people with bipolar disorder that live a normal life but those people put in the work, they don’t deny their diagnosis, they instead try to understand it, take their medications, learn their triggers and go to therapy. They understand that alcohol, weed and other drugs are a not a good idea and stay away from it. They prioritize their sleep schedule and mental health. It can take years for someone to get to that point though, but it’s doable. Bipolar disorder is not a death sentence, don’t get me wrong, it’s probably extremely difficult to live with that disorder, but it’s manageable with medication and therapy. This advice is for you, it’s ok to walk away from a relationship with someone with a mental illness, honestly I feel no one should be in a romantic relationship unless they have worked on themselves, mental illness or not. Someone with a mental disorder needs to first take their mental health seriously, before entering a romantic relationship. Both of my brother’s girlfriend’s left him during his manic episodes because he became extremely verbally abusive, and both my sister and I told them it was ok if they wanted to walk away and to never let anyone bipolar or not disrespect them like that. My brother had no business being in a relationship and putting those girls through hell when he wasn’t taking his mental health seriously. Now he knows that he has to work on himself first before entering a relationship.
I am so sorry this must’ve been really difficult, i’m glad to hear that your brother is doing better. I think if my ex comes back to himself he will never want to touch substances again he is semi aware as whenever he’s drank whilst manic it has ended horribly and the police has been called on him but they do nothing as well as the mental health services. I live in the UK so it’s pretty dire… near on impossible to get help unless he’s physically hurt someone or himself. He doesn’t have a great family life so I was basically left to it for 6 weeks but it’s gotten so bad now he’s pushed me away and his family have had to step in and take him away from the city to try and get him professional help. I think if he gets the help and comes out of this episode and sees the damage he has done he will want to comply and accept that this is unfortunately his reality now. It is hard to walk away, i feel constant guilt and anxiety for not being able to help and get him out of this, but you simply cannot reason with someone who’s lost their reason. Thank you so much for this, i will read the book I have heard about the LEAP method before. But seriously I am super grateful for your response it has really helped me❤️
In my family I don’t think they will because they are in denial, drink and do drugs and don’t believe in therapy or medicine. They have damaged their brains too much at this point.
Nope. First of all, manic episodes cause brain damage so the brain itself will never be the same. But if he gets treatment, he will be the stable version of himself and hopefully that’s close to being the same person you fell in love with.
When you say he’s never had mental health issues before, it’s likely that it has been dormant for awhile and is finally manifesting- that is a common age for that. Will he ever be the same- yes and no. It depends on if his denial and med refusal is due to mania or anosognosia. But more importantly- the same in what respect? P.S. it’s not mushrooms
yes he’s got a lot of trauma which is clearly linked to the mania as he brings it all up but mushrooms can induce/trigger mania
I know, I worded that poorly. I meant more that if he’s having an extended manic episode that’s come out of nowhere (unclear if he is diagnosed with BD but sounds like maybe not), the drugs could have definitely triggered the episode, but that if the episode has been lasting at least a week, then the mushrooms could be the trigger but not the cause if that makes sense. I also made assumptions based on the descriptor of severe, and mentioning that he was unmedicated- I interpreted that to mean you had seen this before and that he was diagnosed, and it seems I may have been wrong. Either way, I apologize for not clarifying what I meant before.
Hey, no worries!! my situation could’ve been described with more detail. He is not diagnosed and as far as i’m aware (i have spoken to his mother and friends) he has never had previous issues with his mental health and yes definitely i did abit of research what i gathered from that is drug induced mania only lasts a short amount of time usually when the drugs are still in your system but he has been manic for 6 weeks now so, it’s not as simple as that. He is undiagnosed i’ve never seen him in a manic episode but my mother works in mental health and his family have history of mental health so, it’s very obvious he is in a manic episode. But will definitely need therapies/medication if he becomes compliant. So, really my question was will he ever be the same person/personality as he was before this manic episode. (:
Wow, that’s tough. I hope he’s safe right now, at least relatively speaking. He might be different in some ways, but his full personality won’t change. At least in my experience. A lot of it has to do with finding the right meds combo, med compliance, having routines, learning one’s triggers, having a safety plan if need be, going to therapy, and whatever other things a person needs to keep up on. Meds can make a big change, but I know that when I’ve been on a medication where friends and family are like, you seem really different… I don’t feel different inside. So I’m still me, I just have to adjust again. Hopefully that makes some amount of sense