WillThink4Wine

The Bipolar Express just ran through town again. You know how it feels when you’re standing on the train platform and an express train whooshes past the platform?

My bipolar niece is like that. She sucks the air right out of the room. She sent an email during the night denouncing the Aunts as relatives, accusing us once more of being biased and uninformed self-proclaimed experts who know nothing about anything. She is angry and offended. Again.

She still refuses to consider going back on her meds, ever defiant.

Her mother, me and the other SisterDears are weary of the fight. So we catch our breath and gather strength from one another while we wait, for the next time.

Tags: Bipolor Disorder, Chemical Imbalance, Family, Mental Health, Sisters

The Bipolar Express seems to be on schedule.

Bipolar Niece (BPN) just returned to college for the next semester. I was talking with her mother, SisterDear3 last night. She mentioned that her daughter has already started calling her about 5-7 times a day. BPN seems to be stuck on playing the ‘Mother Bashing’ game, even if only by telephone.

So I’m doing the math in my head and I’m wondering…  BPN’s last manic episode was over Christmas. She mentioned to her mother that her period was later than normal this month. So was the manic phase. It may just be anecdotal, but BPN’s mood swings definitely seem to coincide with her menstrual cycles. Either that, or BPN has the tremendous misfortune of suffering a manic phase at the same time as having the worst case of PMS in the universe.

So I have a question to any of you who are Bipolar and female; have any of you noticed any correlation with your mood swings and menstrual cycles? I sincerely would like your input.

Tags: Bipolor Disorder

I have convinced my lovely SisterDear3 to be a Guest Contributor to the WillThink4Wine blog.

Just let me tell you just a little bit about her. Basically, she is every psychiatrist’s dream! Her immediate family (1 hubby, 1 mother-in-law and 4 children) collectively have practically every mental health diagnosis on the planet, and few that perhaps don’t yet have a label. It is never dull at her house.

She sails through each day, replete with turbulent mood swings and various psychoses, with more love, patience, faith and grace than any one person should be blessed with. Mostly, I believe it’s her sense of humor that usually carries her through.

I hope you will enjoy her occasional posts. She cracks me up. Pardon the pun.

She also likes wine and is much too busy to be bothered with hitting the Enter key.

Guest Contributor: SisterDear3

Hello and thanks for the invite! I am still waiting for my marvelous number one child to bless me with her presence. I really get so perturbed when people are late! I just got a call from Kevin’s school nurse. He showed up in her office and told her he was wheezing. Imagine that, he decided he was not going to stay in school today! He actually will panic if there is anything wrong with him. She checked him out and decided he was only panicking and sent him merrily, merrily, merrily, gently back to class. We are also supposed to visit Nancy after the hair appointment so she can see her before going back to school. It’s not looking good time-wise! I have to be back for Kevins’ bus at 2. Nancy by the way has rebounded well. Jim says her middle name should be Phoenix! Well now, If daughterdear would only get here, we could be merrily on our way! #3

I am blessed to have three amazing sisters! One of my sisters found out she was pregnant with identical twins at the age of 41 - ‘Surprise’ just does not begin to cover it! She now has 8 year old twin boys. One of the twins is Autistic. His diagnosis is Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). My sister also has a 16 year old son and a 20 year old daughter. My niece was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder when she was 14. Yes, my sister has a very full life! She sails through each day with joy, grace, faith and humor.

Before she & her husband started a family she had put herself through college, opened a successful music business and had even given some serious consideration to becoming a writer of children’s books. She sure has some material to work with, let me tell you!

The 4 sisters started a blog a few months ago, mostly to keep up with each others daily lives as a group rather than sending separate emails. It’s mostly just the boring daily grind of life, but sometimes SisterDear3’s posts leave me in stitches. Her sense of humor is marvelous.

I want to share with you a post from our sister blog that she wrote a few days ago that just tickles me to no end, not because it exemplifies Thomas’ Autism, but rather because it’s a window into the mind of a delightful 8 year old little boy. It also gives you an idea of how amazing my sister is.

Good morning all! I woke up at 11:00 last night to the sound of cooking in the kitchen! Chef Thomas apparently woke up and decided to make a pie. He had taken a pie crust out of the cabinet and a brand new jar of Folgers Coffee, full box of salt, and water and was in pie heaven. Jim woke up this am for work and wanted to know why there was no coffee. Poor hubby! No coffee before work! Plenty of pie though!!!! All of you Dears have a wonderful day, I am off to Market Basket! Love #3

By the way, her wonderful husband is a hard-working cop who works many double shifts. When my sister went to the kitchen after he left for work she found his cup in the sink. She also found a used Blueberry tea bag. Poor Jim!

Christmas 2007 at SisterDear3’s house was delivered by the Bipolar Express. You can hear it coming from off in the distance, chugging it’s way towards the station. You also know it’s bringing with it chaos, much unpleasantness and lots of drama. It will arrive soon, and it will be loud.

SisterDear3’s 20 year old daughter was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder when she was about 14. She has yet to accept the diagnosis and insists that she will find a medical professional to “vindicate” her. *sigh*

She arrived home from her first semester at College to spend Christmas. She brought with her the latest chapter of Mania into my SisterDear3’s Merry Christmas home. SD3’s 8 year old twins had been asking “is tomorrow Christmas?” for a month and the stage was set for a joyous day. Soon after Bipolar daughter arrived, the twins were scared and hiding. She picked fights with her 16 year old brother. She threw Christmas gifts to floor with the most ungrateful and hateful remarks. It lasted 3 days before she stormed from the house ranting and screeching, vowing never to return or to speak to any of them again.

This time was different though; she struck her mother before she left the house.

She’s had 2 meltdowns which resulted in stays in psych wards. As a family, we’ve always tried to encourage her to seek medical assistance. Now, we are all insisting. She is loved, but she is no longer welcome. At least not until she ‘gets’ that her behavior, perceptions and paranoia is far from normal. She’s adamantly opposed to meds. She insists that when she takes them she can’t think clearly or function properly. We all know that she needs the help of a mental heath professional, but she still thinks we’re wrong.

And so the Bipolar Express has left the station again. We know it’s coming back, we just don’t know its’ schedule.

Got this in an email today. I don’t know who wrote it, but I believe they may know a number of my family members…

• Schizophrenia — Do You Hear What I Hear?
• Multiple Personality Disorder — We Three Kings Disoriented Are
• Dementia — I Think I’ll be Home for Christmas
• Narcissistic — Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
• Manic — Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and…..
• Paranoid — Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
• Borderline Personality Disorder —Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
• Personality Disorder — You Better Watch Out, I’m Gonna Cry, I’m Gonna Pout, Maybe I’ll Tell You Why
• Attention Deficit Disorder — Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder — Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,