Knowing the difference

My husband suffers from Bipolar. He sleeps a lot. He can sleep the whole day for days on end. No matter what I do or say he wont/can't get up. It does become extremely frustrating.

How do I know when the sleeping is cause of his bipolar, he wants to wake up but just can't get himself out of bed. Or when's it's just pure laziness??

This is something that has caused endless fights and it's starting to become a problem in our marriage.

Am I being to hard on him?

Would your husband allow you to go to a pdoc appointment with him?

It could be useful to get a mental health professional opinion - PROVIDED that your husband agrees.

And on another note. Is he open and honest with you when he IS going through a depressive phase? Does he actually communicate this to you?

If he's depressed, show him support.

If he's mentally well and just sleeping because of the hell of it kick his royal hiney out of bed.

Learn what his depressive symptoms are. Sleeping wouldn't be the only symptom. Unless it's a side effect of meds he takes. Hence I suggest you do a combined appt with his pdoc.

Is it med related? He may want to talk to his pdoc about his meds.

I agree with Hooligan, you need to find out exactly where he is at mentally before you will know how to best help him. Will he allow you to talk to his Therapist or Pdoc? Can you go with him? Is there a specific time / thing you can think that marks when this started that might indicate whether its due to either depression or a medication change?

If it is depression or medication that is causing these issues, it is definitely something that should be discussed with his Pdoc, hence why it would be good for you to be able to attend. If he is hesitant to the idea of you going, you could reassure him by telling him you want to be there so you can understand how to better help him. If he is still hesitant, perhaps he would be more comfortable with you talking to his Pdoc privately.

I know at times I have given my wife absolute hell when I have been in a depressed state. I have not been able to get out of bed, not eat, not face people, the phone, appointments or any situation that causes me stress. During these times I have pushed the boundaries of our relationship in a "call for help", being in so much pain that I "shared" the pain with my partner to show them how much I am hurting. While a horrible thing to do, and I am ashamed to admit it, I can relate to the whole staying in bed and letting things get to the point where it endangers your relationship.

Don't give up yet, but see if you can get the lines of communication open with him and inturn with his Pdoc and Therapist so you can help him better.

I wish you all the best

hi nice lady

no it is not laziness ....... it is a chemical imbalance in the head right now alls he can do is sleep even tho he does sleep it is not restful there by needing more sleep

i call it hibernation u know like a bear in winter............as for what u can do
1 give him some of this
St. John's Wort Effectiveness, Safety, and Drug Interactions on RxList
all natural nothing bad .........it will not fix him but it will help make it easier and possible to feel better quicker
2 he needs help stabilizing sleep and getting rest
Nature Made Melatonin 3 mg + 200 mg L-theanine
1 pill for 3 nights when he takes his meals ......after 10 hours must wake up and be active for at least 10-16 hours

those 2 things help me reset .....after that u will need to see a doctor for mood stabilizers ......the other options is what works for me ........it new to the market but it is called CBD oil
Cannabidiol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
all the effects of a power pill drug but no drawl backs/side effects .....at least for me

the oil is sold all over even on amazon .......some of the natural stuff can taste awful but they have flavors or u can mix into something with a stronger taste .........alls u need is just a few drops a day in the morning or before u sleep (or if u have a stressful event coming up) .....they are now making vape pens with only CBD oil inside for those time

Hi. I'm sorry you're going through that! My dad would get so mad at me when I wouldn't get out of bed! Maybe try making him a nice breakfast in bed? Well balanced.. And give him vitamins? When I wouldn't want to get out of bed or leave the house my mom would coax me with something fun. "Let's go shopping for just an hour Sarah" "Let's go to the movies, you want to see that one movie, right? Then we'll come right back home" Or "Let's get some frozen yogurt! Then we'll come right back! I promise." Or even just making it from the bed to the couch to watch a tv show? If he isn't eating properly though I think that's a big issue.
Good luck and you sound like a nice and patient wife! (:

When my husband is really bad I cook him breakfast in bed. Then I drag him to the couch because that's where we hang out. I don't care if he sleeps there but at least he interacting with us even if it's to be rude. He could be depressed, it could be the meds but I don't think it's laziness. I feel people naturally want to be productive and be social. I always suggest That all couples with chronic diseases seek both individual therapy and couples therapy for extra support. If there are children in the house they should also be in therapy so they have a trusted 3rd party adult to help them develop coping skills for when their parent is sick.

In my opinion, Laziness would be lying in bed watching tv or playing his phone etc for most of the day.

The other is a deep and dark place. It sucks and thinking about it, makes it suck more. Talking about it (for me) makes it even worse. This is at it's worst when I have no *commitments* that day.

You are being a good wife because your patient with him and coming here for help, you want to help him with this problem.
It sounds to me he's in depression and he may not realize it. Looking back there were times I was in depression and didn't realize and couldn't understand what everything was that was going on in my life.