Posted by Ritch on March 12, 2003, at 23:33:23
In reply to Denial of Bipolar - frequency of episodes, posted by Sam Grimes on March 12, 2003, at 17:12:24
> My wife was diagnoed with bipolar in 1999 after a severe manic/psychotic episode. At the time she was given haldol to ease the psychosis but once she came back to reality she debated with us about what had really happened to her - a debate that grew into denial. Since then she has had one more moderate episode (last summer) and a mild episode this past December. She is having another mild episode now (or maybe the December one never went away but just eased up a bit). She refuses medication and denies that she has bipolar - attributing her troubles to spiritual causes.
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> Does anyone have experience with this sort of behaviour - any tips for dealing with it. Because her episodes were infrequent though severe ('88, '94, '99) her psychiatrist didn't recommend lithium or any constant medication. But the episodes seem to be coming more frequently, and perhaps now lithium or some other medication is appropriate. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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> Thanks.I have rapid-cycling chronic BPII which is very different from what your wife is suffering. I hope others will respond and help you out. If she is in denial of the bipolar it is going to be tough to get her to take medication on a maintenance basis. There is a poster here (Judy1) who is BPI and takes high-dose Depakote only when she gets manic spells. I hope she responds with a suggestion. From what I understand lithium is the treatment of choice for non-rapid cycling BPI with psychotic features with an antipsychotic added during acute episodes. Hope this helps some.
poster:Ritch
thread:208489
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030310/msgs/208619.html