Any BPs in relationships with other BPs?

[MiaB]

I'm curious to see how many of us who have been dx'd with some form of BP have a significant other with the same dx.

[faith]

I'm not in such a relationship myself, however the author of "Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder" (Julie Fast) if I remember correctly is both bipolar and has a bipolar spouse. That book is great and I really recommend it. It was helpful to ME as the bipolar party and also helpful for my husband in understanding what is going on with my crazy self.

We had a thread going on about it down in the self help book section- http://www.crazyboards.org/index.php?showtopic=7113.

~Faith

[JBella]

  I'm sorry, I just HAD to use that new smilie and I don't care where.

I was in a tumultuous relationship with another BP and it ended extremely badly, him being unmedicated and incredibly rapid cycling and me being unmedicated and manic as the sky is blue.

However, I had never before felt so understood.

I am now flirting with the idea of letting myself fall in love with another one of us, BP, too.  I've been thinking, pondering, arguing with the voices in my head, but I wonder...

How can you be sure any relationship will work?  If the good outweighs the bad, if you can find outside support systems, and if you are both dedicated to communicating and trying to understand each other...  Hopefully, right?

[Loon-A-TiK]

I was in a relationship with another BP for about a year. He was an ultra-fast cycler, like he would want to kill himself one hour and a few hours later be manic as hell. I was much, much more stable, even on meds that weren't helping.

It ended with me needing to be hospitalized and him cheating on me during the 4 days I was away. He couldn't keep it in his pants. He still lives iwth that whore, I"ll call her Whale.

She is BP too! She cheats on him and I'm sure he cheats on her. Very healthy lifestyle I'm sure.

I'm sure that a relationship with another BP could work, and even be a great thing, if you have counselling together and make sure you emphasize the strong points of your relationship and understanding of each other.

[groovyone]

I was in a relationship with a woman who was BP prior to my dx of anything and she was in denial of being ill and I was in denial of being ill (well, of both of us being ill...hell, I didn't even know I was sick at all!) so it was just really screwed up and doomed from the beginning.

She was dx'd but I really liked her so went along with the whole denial thing too.  but she would get really irritable and I could never make her happy and of course, at the time, knowing nothing of BP I never put it together or could figure out what was wrong. 

So we ended it.  But on good terms.

Karen

[LikeMinded]

I haven't been in a serious relationship for 5 years, so I shouldn't be talking...

[Guest Skittle unlogged]

Thanks all for the input and the book suggestion.  Definitely some food for thought. I think that the point about communication/possible joint counselling is excellent... though you have to be at a point at which the two of you are prepared to commit to that.  I don't want this relationship to break down like this (actually I don't want it to break down at all), but his denial of the issues here is making me question my own strength.  He can be very charismatic and convincing (as can all of us here I guess) and I've literally crossed the world to make our marriage workable, but all that's happening right now is that I'm being emotionally abused every day to the extent where I want to be hospitalised myself.

It's a shitty situation.

Thanks again for responding.