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Old 01-31-2013, 01:13 PM
  # 9 (permalink)  
Florence
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Midwest, USA
Posts: 2,899
My AH is BPII. He self-medicated with alcohol. He was always mildly depressive and irritable, except when he was hypomanic -- and man, sometimes the mania was FUN. It's weird to admit, but he was all jokes, sex, and charm, until pinging around got on his nerves and he got irritable and tetchy about everything, and had terrible insomnia. In hindsight, I think part of the reason he really started drinking was the anxiety and insomnia.

The cycling was never more pronounced than when he first started trying to get sober. It was total insanity and he was miserable to be around.

If you are seeing some attributes that indicate its a possibility I advise he see a psychiatrist who specializes in it (definitely not a psychologist/GP combo). BP II can be especially elusive and very, very often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all.

Its miserable to live with untreated. MISERABLE - at least it was for me - and it was for him too he knew something was wrong. Treated its so life changing.
Yes, agreed. Although I have to say that a lot of the symptoms you describe with your AH over time don't sound like BP. I'm not a doctor, so take that with a grain of salt.
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