Dating someone bi-polar

[TomCollins]

Anyone had this expirience?

[Exsubmariner]

No,
But I once was sleeping with a stripper who had multiple personalities. She would wake up in the middle of the night and ask me my name. I would tell her and then ask what hers was. By the time I met the 5th one, I decided it was time to go far, far away. It's too bad, too, because she was a great piece of ass.

My advice, end it now.

[AlanBostick]

I've never dated anyone whom I knew either to be bipolar or to have multiple personalities. I do, however, have both sorts of people as friends. As far as I can tell, the two conditions are very different, and advising someone to break up with an S.O. of one sort based on an experience with someone of the other seems strange to me.

It's sort of like saying, "I used to go out with a ski bum, and it didn't work, so I advise you to break up with your poker-playing boyfriend."

[AlanBostick]

I've no bipolar dating experience, but I do have friends who are bipolar.

Is the S.O. in question Type I or Type II?

[Autocratic]

I had a good friend who was bi-polar. It ruined our friendship. I actually never really asked her about it, so I don't know the type or anything, but over time she began to think I had plotted to end a friendship of hers and said she never wanted to talk to me again. I haven't really talked to her in two years (we had been pretty close for 3 years before that).

My brother's girlfriend is bipolar.

It's a pain in the neck but with some patience, you can deal.

Make sure they take their meds and life is so much easier.

Of course, my brother's girlfriend's meds make children a non viable option if that is something that matters to you.

[noggindoc]

[ QUOTE ]


Make sure they take their meds and life is so much easier.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is quite true. Of course this whole thing is going to depend on the severity of the bipolar disorder (is it Bipolar I or Bipolar II, etc.). If it is Bipolar I and is severe, there will be serious challenges within the relationship. It can happen though, everyone needs love!

[TomCollins]

It's still real early, so I figure it would be best to know what I'd be dealing with before anything significant happened. I suspected something was up when she said something like "I'd have to have an abortion because of the medicine I'm on". I'm pretty patient, so if it's just that, I'm not concerned. She's got a few other issues I learned about, but she's getting help and taking medicine. She did suggest she plans on having kids and all, I don't know if that means going off the medicine for a while or what.

I'm pretty ignorant, and my only knowledge of it is an ex-gf I had who's dad had it and later killed himself. I think she might have had it as well, but that didn't last too long for other reasons. She's a pretty cool chick, just wanted to know what the hell I'm getting into ahead of time.

[rocketlaunch]

I dated a chick who was bipolar. All I can say is that if this girl is 1/10th as much of a lunatic as the girl I dated, you should run, far, faaaarrr away.

Things started out normal enough, but then she began getting super-paranoid and very accusatory. Her mood swings were unbelievable--one day she'd be all happy and outgoing, and the next she'd be depressed and miserable. In each case, it was to such an extreme that she practically had a completely different personality. Things that she liked in one mood she would absolutely hate in the other, and it was up to me to always figure out which person I was dealing with on a daily basis, lest I piss her off to no end.

It all seems tame when I describe now, but really it was pure insanity. The suicide threats and threats of violence one day, and then the person who couldn't so much as hurt a fly the next day. All with constant lies and denials and selfishness.

There were days when she was a normal person, and those days her "true" nature shined through (a very good person, I think), but much of the time it was nothing short of insanity. She had definitely learned to act "normal" in front of most people, but once you knew her well and she had to be around you more than on a passing basis, there was no hiding it.

At the very least, I'd recommend that your girl staying on medication be a prerequisite to your guys' continued dating. The few bipolar people I've known and the one girl I dated (and from what I hear, bipolar people in general) have a tendency to go on meds, feel somewhat better and then go off them thinking they don't need them any more. Dealing with a seriously bipolar person not on meds is like dealing with a pitbull with its nuts in a tourniquet--all you can do is stay out of the way and hope you don't get hurt.

[JackThree]

i am bipolar, but i was just recently diagnosed, previous to medication, i was nuts. constant stress on my girlfriend, we finally broke up because of it