please help!!!

My son is bipolar. He has been acting completly irrational for about 3 weeks.
He quit his job, ended his relationship and moved home. He thinks he is a physicist. He is planning to be a rock star. He admitted to me tonight that he stopped taking his Depikote. He has no plans to start taking them again. Does anyone know anything that I can do to get him to want to take his meds? He is totally manic.

thank you!

How old is your son? I'm 24 and went through a difficult spell with similar actions just a few years ago. I was also prescribed depakote.

Does he see a psychiatrist or psychologist? My best advice would be to inform his doctor, or have him start seeing one, of his current changes and actions.

There is no solid way to get through to a stubborn headed manic individual. If anything, let him know how his actions while not on the medication are affecting your life and the lives of others around him. This may be the trick to bringing him back to reality.

Thank you for answering. He is 23, he sees a psychiatrist. He actually called her last week because he was depressed. She called him back but he wouldn't go see her. I am just so afraid something is going to happen and he is going to be so devistated about quitting his job. He has always loved it. I am sure everthing is because he stopped taking Depikote.

hope it all works out !

The depakote is supposed to work similarly to how it works when prescribed for epileptic seizures. In a seizure, the brain is firing irradically causing the body to contort and spasm. In bipolar disorder, the mind is flip-flopping pole to pole in a similar fashion. So in large doses, depakote has been found to ease this constant mood swing and irratic behavior. If he was stable with the depakote and these changes occured shortly after he stopped taking it, I would say your suspitions are correct.

The other July, I ran out of my depakote and was off medication for 12 days straight. The mania and mood swings that followed were out of control. I would recommend some kind of action before this spirals out of control to the point he will need to be hospitalized.

Best wishes and good luck

To put it into perspective, when I was that way it took my younger brother coming to one of my psychiatrist appointments because he was so concerned for my well being and him having an epileptic seizure during the session in front of me and my doc to snap me back into reality. I hope it takes something less drastic to bring your boy back from the brink.

I will call his Dr. on Monday. Maybe I can at least get a message to her. If she knows what is going on maybe she can help. Does Bipolar cause paranoia? He is so extremely paranoid in addition to all the other bad symptoms.

Thank you!

It can for sure. There are a lot of dimesions to bipolar mania. There can be psychosis involved which can manifest in many ways.

What is he paranoid about?

Examples from my experience included: hearing things that weren't there, seeing things that weren't there, thinking I could here conversations goin on in other rooms, thinking I had extraordinary sight. thinking oncoming highway traffic was in my lane, thinking shodows made by street signs were holes in the road. thinking everyone was against me/ out to get me. thinking the men in white suits were going to come and haul me off to the asylum.

Mania as severe as you are describing is definitely something to worry about. You're not likely to convince him while he's manic to go back on the medication that will bring him out of this manic (and really fun for him probably) stage. That being said, I would certainly continue to try to reason with him and definitely inform his doctor and therapist if he has one.

If you fear he is a danger to his life or the lives of those around him, even through negligence, I would take it up with the proper authorities immediately. I don't know where you live but my city has a nurse hotline available free 24/7 and they would be the people I would call to help me sort out what is likely to be immanently dangerous and what's not. It's a scary slippery slope and I wish you the best of luck. I also feel a strange sense that perhaps you're searching for permission to step in and help? When I was at my worst I wish someone had taken action for me or even helped me to take action. I ended up calling 911 myself and voluntarily committing myself but that is not the case with all patients with bipolar disorder. Please do what you need to to keep everyone safe

He knows that he has changed. He thinks that the Depikote was holding him back and making him not see things and not beleive in himself. He thinks that he can be anything in life that he wants to be. Now it is a rock star. He thinks he can make a living playing in a band. He also tells me that he started hating his job bc everyone talked about him when he left the room. He thinks his gf is cheating on him (he could be right) but he has no proof. He obsesses, now it's music. A couple of weeks ago it was about physics. I just hope he will go back to his dr.

Thank you for help!

I think he needs to see a doctor and be put on an AP temporarily, just to bring him down from his mania. APs are more effective than Depakote in acute mania. When he stabilizes, he can drop the AP and continue on Depakote since this course of action has proven successful before.

Hampster brings up a good point. I was also on Risperdal, an AP (atypical anti-psychotic) to be taken regularly or during times of high agitation. I was able to recognize manic tendencies in myself, take a half dose of the Risperdal and slow the crazy train down before it went off the rails.

Thank you! Definately not dangerous. He is all about love and peace and not needing material things, so therefore, no need for the job that he always loved. He does like the mania, it makes him feel so much better and entergetic. I have a feeling there will be depression soon. It usually follows, but he has never just stopped his meds before. He thinks he can think more clear without the meds. But he is obsessed about some pineale gland and how it makes him see things that other ppl see. etc. I just hope when this ends he don't have serious regrets. This is a horrible condition. I feel bad for ppl with it.

Daniel thinks he can see in a different dimension. Something about unlocking the pineal gland and all kinds of things. He was a sales rep for Verizon, and good at his job, but now he thinks he is harming people by selling phones. It is so deep and I just wish I could help him.

Thank you!

call 911 immediately. he could harm himself if he is delusional. he can be 302'd.

Yes, mania definitely feels so much better than depression. It is so weird to think back how I behave during mania, how good I felt, on top of the world and had no idea what I was doing and why people were mad at me. It is shocking that it is also me.
Thank you so much for writing about it because it feels so good to know how people around us see what we do.

In a way i dread for him when this mania ends. it usually doesn't last this long, but he ususally doesn't stop his meds and it is not this severe. usually after he has a manic episode he becomes very depressed. i am so afraid he is going to regret quitting his job! that was the most drastic thing he has ever done. he is such a loving person. this is such a horrible condition.

thank you!

this is what was on his facebook...Should it be that I must take the meds to maintain stereotypical lifestyle, what if those people weren't kidding when they told us to dream big. I get manic I am depressive. But at least if I want to count stars, I don't have to look with my first two eyes. Bipolar is only another color, a new frequency. Walk to your own beat.