Dealing with adult DS' bipolar

[notaflyingmonkey]

DS (21) is bipolar, and has been stable for over a year, unmedicated. We supported him through a range of appointments with various professionals to get the right help and support, including meds, but he was resistant. Would take the meds but said it made him depressed, etc.

He has now been cycling in increasingly acute manic/depressive episodes for a few weeks, and is getting to crisis point. I phoned the emergency number and was told he would need to see his GP to get rereferred etc - impossible to get a GP appointment here so that will likely take months. Or to take him to A&E. Our A&E has an average wait time of 7 hours - there is no way he would even get through the door, let alone sit in the waiting room that time.

Mental health services are just non functioning. So what the hell can I do to keep him safe while we wait for the appointments? When manic he has history of doing things that are high risk.

My brother is the same, although now 20+ years older; it's been like this the 25 years we've been trying to negotiate the system and I imagine it was even worse before. Tbh nothing happens unless he has a major crisis, then there's a flurry for a few days, or a week or two, then it all fades away until the next crisis. It's shit for him and it's really shit for my elderly father.

Thanks for the reply @DecimatedDreams . I know that there are no magic bullets to be had, but the complete and utter lack of support from any services is crushing. It feels like we are being left to try and manage the situation - but TBH we are unable to cope. I have begged for help previously, and it got me nowhere. I suspect it is just a question of time before myself or DH has a stroke or a heart attack with the strain of it all.

So sorry to hear. Ring the GP and say it is an emergency and you are extremely worried. GPs should all have priority appointments for emergencies.

My heart goes out to you though, it's tough supporting someone with bipolar but once he is on the meds he will stabilise I'm sure.

I'd have thought the go would have fit him in.
What about a private GP - are you able to afford it. It's not too much at all.
Sorry you are all going through this.? It must be very difficult.

I would call the GP and ask for an emergency appointment. Does he realise he’s going high?

He loves the euphoria of being high - he thinks that is 'normal', that he is at his most insightful, attractive, etc. Whereas he is unbearable - obnoxious, loud, etc. This is the first time that his closest friend has seen him while he is manic, and I honestly think it was too much for the guy.

I have previously arranged for dr appointments, private specialists, paid for the ££££ prescriptions, etc, but he has always felt that this was me having stuff done to him against his will. What I am aiming for now is for him to understand that he needs to get help, to get medicated, etc. That may be wishful thinking, but there is only so much I can do against his will.

I will try the GP again now the phone lines have opened.

Thanks all for the support x

Did you manage to get in with the GP

After waiting to get through to the GP for an hour and a half, they agreed to refer him to mental health crisis team. I phoned the mental health crisis team to ask if they could help, given he was in crisis, and they said no, they have to wait for the referral to go through. They suggested that part of the process is likely to take days/weeks, and offered the suggestion of A&E as an alternative (last time I checked there was a waiting time of 7 hours to be triaged - impossible for me to even get him through the door when hyper).

So sorry you’re going through this.

A family member of mine has MH issues and I’ve previously arranged for them to see a private psychiatrist. No need for a referral.

£275 per session but it really helped to have someone who gave a good amount of time and looked really deeply into the issues and changed meds.

We've been down that route previously, and as well as costing us £300 or so each session where DS just sat seething and generally disengaged each private prescription cost £££ to get made up. We would then have arguments every day about trying to get him to take the meds, while DS argued we were trying to turn him into a zombie etc. I'm not ruling it out this time around, but will wait and see if we manage to get him seen by the NHS any time soon first.

Every day feels like a busy week has been compressed into it - I think I got 4 hours sleep last night, and being frazzled is not a good position to be in to deal with this stuff.