[onlymedid]

So, I know I talked about my sister and her being diag'd (finally) with Bipolar, but I just found out today that my 13 year old niece has just been diagnosed as well. Including me, that's 3 of us that we know of. I am pretty positive that at least one of my other sisters' is as well, but she will never go to the doctor, she'll just keep drinking and doing drugs to keep her feelings at bay.
Does anyone else feel like it runs in their family?

[Moose72]

Yes. A d they are doing a study at the university hospital here about just that. I couldn't get my sister or mom to do the study though as they are afraid of MRIs

[CesarioRose]

Yea, my aunt has struggled with "moodyness" throughout her life. My Father confessed to being slightly moody, having very very very mild hypo-mania, and mild depression. He expressed that his Father was very moody.

But that's as far as I know. I am the only one in the family to have been DX'd with Bi Polar disorder.

[onlymedid]

Originally Posted by Moose72

Yes. A d they are doing a study at the university hospital here about just that. I couldn't get my sister or mom to do the study though as they are afraid of MRIs

It's too bad I didn't live there because we would do the study! lol

[venusss]

I sometimes believe it does.

[Skully]

Yes, I do believe it is genetic to some degree. My dad has bipolar as well as my brother and my nephew may have it as well. There are several people in my dads family that have it.

[PT52]

Originally Posted by onlymedid

So, I know I talked about my sister and her being diag'd (finally) with Bipolar, but I just found out today that my 13 year old niece has just been diagnosed as well. Including me, that's 3 of us that we know of. I am pretty positive that at least one of my other sisters' is as well, but she will never go to the doctor, she'll just keep drinking and doing drugs to keep her feelings at bay.
Does anyone else feel like it runs in their family?

Here's what I have: Parents mentally ill without diagnosis (father is dead, mother is senile), two brothers, two sisters and one nephew all BP I or BP II. And that's just the immediate family. According to my doctor, a genetic connection is one of the things that are used to determine diagnosis.

[Mac Murphy]

I am the only one in my family with an 'official' diagnosis but my wife and I both think our daughter has bipolar as well. But she is 19 and an adult and is not interested in hearing that she could be like her dad...and that is really hard for me because I want her to get help early and not struggle for 20 years like I did before getting diagnosed.

My oldest sister is deff in need of a diagnosis but she is in denial. I think my dad has some symptoms but no one in my family is as off the charts as I am. Thankfully while they may have bipolar they don't swing as wildly as I have.

[yagalada]

I think it does. One aunt was d/o schizophrenic in the 60's and put in a state hospital. My therapist stated that sometimes in those days they would label severely bp folks as schizophrenic to get a state committment. My other aunt on the other side of my family definitely showed signs of bp1 but on that side of the family even today, mental illness is looked at as a weakness of character not a medical issue.

I think my grandmother had problems too but was able to keep under the radar. She would often speak in accents and had many other overly eccentric behaviors.

[onlymedid]

Thank you all for your feedback. I get sick of people saying it's not genetic when it obviously is. It's hard when you have people in your family that you just know are BP, but htey won't do anything about it or they deny it and won't get help.