Dealing with family members

I am getting a bit tired of this. Any error on my part is "John's being bipolar again. Dad's acting manic..." If my wife doesn't stop talking, that's "just me." If I am just in a good mood and talkative, I'm manic. I get really sick of it.
Really troubling... My son was up for Xmas. We had a minor arguement. He couldn't acknowledge his part. But later said, "just so you know, Dad, I love you!" Like he had read some "dealing with a bipolar person book." I was the dog that just peed on the floor. Really sick of it...
John

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I know the feeling, John. Don't know if you're recently diagnosed, but when I was first dx'd my family was all over it. They figured almost everything I said or did had something to do with my illness, like I couldn't have a normal emotional reaction as everybody else does. If I was upset, they'd look at each other like "Uh-oh, Mom's gonna throw one of her bipolar b**** fits!" If I cried, I was in a depression.......you get the picture.

Thankfully, through frequent discussions, they've realized that even people with this disorder go through situational stresses, feel all the feelings that 'normal' people do, and it's not necessarily because we are bipolar.....it's because we are human!

Keep educating your family, if you can; if you can't, get them information from your doctor's office or the library. Even the most well-intentioned folks can fall into the trap of subscribing to society's view of the mentally ill; they don't do it because they want to hurt anyone, it's because they don't know any better.

Welcome to PC, and feel free to ask anything you want.....whatever one of us hasn't experienced with this disorder, another has, so I'd say we have the bases covered pretty well.

i am sorry that your family don't really understand, john

same with mine- i won't go in to how bad they treat me, i'll just say that we can't even be in the same room (or next door to each other either)

I'm sorry that is happening.

Maybe you could find some literature that you feel is helpful to give to them? I hate it when I have an emotion and someone says things like that....

Im sorry your dealing with this my family has done it to me many a time and it can kill your buzz if you know what i mean. Sometimes being happy is misunderstood as mania. It really pisses me off. MAybe you need to sit them down and explain that not everything is cause by bipolar.