Elderly parent with Bipolar - any experience?

[EdgarAllenRaven]

I wondered if anyone has experienced the decline of their elderly parent with late-onset Bipolar Disorder? I’m really just wondering what to expect, physically and mentally.

My Mum was diagnosed a decade ago, she had been sectioned several times during manic episodes but last couple of years been pretty stable.
She is 76 now and highly medicated. We’ve never really managed to get her ‘back to her old self’.

Instead, she seems very subdued, constantly anxious and negative about everything in life. She has lost any joy, and lacks any motivation to improve or even look after herself.

I don’t know if there is any point trying to ‘make her better’, or is this it now…? She is slowly getting slower, weaker and frailer, and starting to socially isolate.

(Luckily she is in a care home so is well fed, before that she wasn’t really coping with basic living).

My DM was diagnosed last year, aged early 70s, after being sectioned during a manic episode's. However, I had suspected for about 10 years that what she had been told was depression for most of her life was actually biopolar. She’d had at least 2 other manic episodes over the prior 4 years before last year. She is much more stable on better medication for her now, but I have to say she doesn’t really seem fully like herself. She’s more withdrawn and doesn’t seem as involved in life as we was previously (when she was well, not during periods of depression or mania). She also really struggles with anxiety which she didn’t do previously.

I do worry that there is potentially some cognitive decline going on as well, but it’s really hard to tell if it’s part of the bipolar, medication or the start of dementia. She’s managing at home by herself with the support of regular visits from the CMHT, but she has been recently widowed, so living alone is a new thing and I don’t really know what to expect.

Is your DM in the care home due to bipolar or for another reason/a combination? Have you had the chance to speak to her psychiatrist?

It’s very hard to know what to expect with an elderly DP with bipolar as so much of the research is about younger people with the disorder. I’ve asked her psychiatrist what to expect and have basically been told that it can stabilise, or get worse as someone ages after a late diagnosis so really there is no way of knowing.

Thanks for sharing @Earlydarkdays .
My Mum deteriorated during Covid when she didn’t walk enough, stopped moving and then needed a hip operation… now she can’t really bend to get herself dressed nor to wash herself properly.
But mentally she also stopped shopping and cooking and developed a phobia of spending money, she lost a lot of weight. So she is much happier in a home with all her needs being met.

But just still constantly anxious! I will talk to her psychiatrist too, I don’t know whether they can adjust her meds again or if this is just what the disease looks like in old age.

Meds adjustments over the last year have made anxiety much less of an issue for my DM and her psychiatrist has said there are a number of options with it. I think it’s worth asking for a meds review to see if they can do something else to help your Mum with it.

The bipolar Uk eforums are really helpful I have found. There is a section there for friends and family of people with bipolar and a number of people supporting elderly family members with it, both those who have had a diagnosis for a long time and those with late-onset. You have to join to read but I’ve found it useful for info.

it sounds like your Mum is in the right place for her needs to be met with the care home. Are they good with her there?

What has been the cause of this and maybe exploring what has caused her distress would be welcome in helping relieve her distress.