[whoknowswhatsnext]

I have been dx with BP type 2 and started meds last week. I have three young children and my question is what to tell them? They bear the brunt of my swings alot of the time. I am working with my T to bring those relationships to a better place. Anyone with an experience with this?

[Direction]

Simple basic truth - you are not feeling at your best and you are working with a doctor to fix that.

[Perna]

I worked intimately with a woman in her home (where she ran a nonprofit literary society) and she had never told her children about her BP. Her daughter, in college, was suddenly struck with it and had to bear the brunt of having to come to grips with the disease for herself, in her own body at the same time she learned it was hereditary and had come from her mother (and her father's brother, her uncle; she had a double dose in her family, from both directions is probably why she got it).

You say your children are young; I would wait until they are in high school, at least, after you've had a bit more experience with working with it, but would tell them a bit about the disease, maybe while taking your meds in their sight and explaining to them, if only to make them "aware" there's a chance they or their children could have inherited it. In my family we did not talk about my parents health issues and now that I'm older/an adult it is hard having a sense of what "could" go wrong/could be inherited because my info is only sketchy.

When my children were young, I spent a lot of time depressed (wasn't properly dxed as bp 1 until much later) so I tried to explain to them that Mommy was sad & she didn't know why, but they didn't do anything to make me sad.

My mother was bp 1, as well, & we didn't get any explanation as to what was going on until after she died when I was a teen. We should have been told about her illness, because she was so irrational & sometimes abusive. She was in & out of mental institutions & we didn't understand what was going on.

When I was dxed with bp I explained the symptoms, treatment, etc. to my kids (by this time they were grown). They both have had depressive episodes so I want them to be aware of what mania is like in case they experience that. Hope they don't!--Suzy

[darkeyes]

I agree, and with your pdoc and/or T's help, they can help you simplify some explanation that would be appropriate for their age/comprehension.
You can even help assure them that you are working on "getting better" if that would be of any consolation?
I was brought up with the truth, no sugar coating from dad, many times it is best too, so that the child or children do not feel you lied about things when they do not always work out or has changed due to unpredictability.
A thing as simple as getting a vaccination or a tooth filled, mom and dad, especially dad, would tell me the truth, that it may unpleasant for awhile, but in time things will most likely be fine.
My hubby grew up in more of the sugar coated situation, protection from reality, which I feel has made him a person that doesn't handle crisis, in fact when we got a call(s) of family events, hospitalizations and/or deaths, he would find it comforting to put a headset on (ostrich effect) and listen to music instead of getting in the car with me and going to see the person(s) in emergency rooms, their homes, and things of that nature.
The truth, in my opinion, helps people to be able to better prepare themselves for the unknown. That's just my opinion.