Originally Posted by
redatlanta 
When you say that he has a mental health timeline that is eerily bi-polar could you be a little more detailed about what you mean? Could you also describe his actions as far as borderline personality disorder?
His swings happen in 1.5 to two year cycles, hes been clean 2 years and the downswing was inevitable. It fits his lifelong timeline of up and down. As far as describing actions? I actually can not since I am not sure where the man ends and the disease begins any more. If that makes any sense at all.
Mental health medications when being changed or stopped should be tapered, or replaced with a med that bridges the withdrawal. For instance sometimes an SSRI med will be replaced with another which avoids withdrawal, whereas if a patient is switched from an SSRI to a tri-cyclic antidepressant the SSRI will be tapered. Is there a reason why the meds were pulled in this way???
He was tapered, I didn't say he wasn't. Hence the 5 months off work to make that happen. However the ensuing depressive rebound (which he hasn't had depression ever) and the physical withdrawls were worse than detox by miles. His meds were specifically for the anxiety issues and the like, and was one of very few medications we have found that actually worked for him, until now. In the past there has been an attempt to switch to mood stabelizing meds which have led to suicide attempts (granted at that time he was also drinking heavily). Now they are trying Lamictal, which fingers crossed helps with the swings.
I am wondering if your RAH has been correctly diagnosed, and is receiving proper medications? Where the mental health ends and the aHole begins is only something you can determine if your RAH has correct diagnosis and is being medicated properly. He has been sober for 2 years and it sounds like he has been very difficult moreso in the past couple of months. With all that he is receiving as far as support, and his participation which appears to be very active, he is headed the wrong way, and that is a huge red flag to me.
I work in mental health myself, and for the very first time after being through a number of psychiatrists I feel like we have an appropriate diagnoses. I have been saying that the OCD and anxiety alone were not the only things going on for YEARS. Finally we found an amazing Psychiatrist who deals with Dual Diagnoses who was willing to put in an amazing amount of time with RAH and he agrees and feels so awful for everything RAH has been through up to this point. For the first time ever I feel like we are moving forward on the medical front anyways... We have also had misdiagnoses of depression which was a long deep tunnel to crawl out of on all fronts. The only thing keeping us off of a Bipolar 2 diagnoses was that my RAH manic episodes were maybe feeling like the rest of us do when we are normal. No actual up-cycle. I agree his mind is still a jumble.
It is a tough situation for sure. Most the time he is absolutely fine on the surface, then all of a sudden these things pop up (getting really mad at a computer for no reason, racist slurs when driving, riding our 6 year old too hard about practicing piano, berating a son for a poor hockey game etc) where I realize he is a real special kind of AHole.
I know if it was me struggling I wouldn't want him to quit on me (and by now he would have), but at the same time I feel like I am at a crossroads.