Bi-Polar Rollercoaster of Love:
My handsome, witty, vibrant,
intelligent, HILARIOUS, sweet, tender-hearted, self-destructive, lazy, oppositionally
defiant, self-loathing, violent, verbally abusive, insecure, fragile 19 year
old nephew is Bi-Polar. Bi-Polar disorder affects every aspect of his life. He
barely graduated from high school and since graduation he has become stagnant.
It is truly heartbreaking. There are beautiful days when he gets up and out and
wants to do things with the family. These are my favorite days by far. There
are days when he gets optimistic about finding employment or registering for
community college. Then there are days on end when he only gets out of bed to
go to the bathroom. If you try and make him get up then he gets aggressive.
Bi-Polar disorder does not take a holiday; there have been Christmases and
Thanksgivings where he wouldn’t utter a word. He goes through phases where he
wants to take his medicine. When he is medicated he does really well and makes
sound decisions....then just when you start to relax... he backslides. He
thinks "the medications make him feel like a robot" so he just stops
taking them. Loving someone with Bi-Polar disorder is really difficult and
frustrating to say the least, but at the same time I cannot even begin to
calculate how much he has enriched my life. I pray every day that he learns to
manage his illness. I hope that he hears me when I tell him that he is amazing
and is capable of living a good life.
