Manic Depression!!?

Question:

I am living with my partner who was diagnosed with manic depression many years ago, he is a terrific person but when he is down, he becomes withdrawn and quiet, wont look at anyone, cant say anything, he gets home from work and goes straight to bed.. I knew about his illness before i moved in with him but i never really understood how it was until I saw it for myself.. It got me down, he wouldnt speak to me or look at me and i had a thousand questions running through my head as to why this was happening, had i done something wrong.. The man i love so deeply had just disappeared, we have not been together very long and what was supposed to be our 'Honeymoon period' in the relationship was cut short.. He had informed me prior that he does have down days but this has gone on for over two weeks now.. I have looked at many sites on depression but they dont offer alot of information.. Is there any sites that have discussion boards for people living with people who have depression??

Answers:
Meds will take a while to kick in, sometimes a month to six weeks to get the full effect so be patient. This is true for both mood stabilizers as well as antidepressants. In the meantime, it sounds like you are doing everything right and doing everything possible that you can do for him. Just keep an eye on him to make sure he is okay. Sometimes the cycles are somewhat unpredictable and tomorrow he may feel like he is on top of the world and nothing can stop him. However, this is just as bad as the depressed state because all of his judgment will go out the window along with it..

Check out the National Alliance for Mental Illness (www.nami.org) to see if there are any support groups in your area for depression and bipolar disorder. There may also be some online discussion boards. It would be worth doing a search on Yahoo groups (groups.yahoo.com) to find out.

bipolarchat.com Listen, he needs meds. I'm telling you- do not ignore this. He is obviously really depressed right now. Does he have a psychiatrist, therapist or anything? If not, he needs one now! A lot of people, particularly men, do not tell you just how bad they are really feeling.

Manic depression episodes can last from weeks to months. This sounds like he probably needs to speak with his doctor. Do your research on any medication that is proscribed to him since a lot of them can have terrible side effects including making him worse. It's obvious that if he is taking medication, it's not working. He may have to go through several medications before he finds the right one. When he is in this state, it seems most likely that it is not because he's sad about something. It's more of a chemical imbalance that he can't control. I wasn't a big supporter for psychological medications a few year back, but once I found something for my bipolar symptoms, I feel that they can help. Just not everyone. I had to go through 8 separate medications before they found the one for me. Hope this helps.

Also bipolar 2. Guys are quiet about this, he'll look like he is doing alright on the outside, inside he is dying.
Has he been to a doctor about it? There are a lot of good treatment options.
Try depressionforums.org (I think it's called) It helped me a lot when I was first discovering about my illness and helped to not feel so alone. Although many people have depression, part of the symptoms is that you feel absolutely alone in the world, as in isolated. I still feel like the only one in the world, all the time. One of the reasons I like YouQA.com s is that I can interact anonymously with others, do good, and not have to suffer any of the problems that social relationships are.

Manic Depression!!?

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