[SkippyMI]

Good morning all!

Anyone have any advice for travelling with a loved one that is bipolar? My wife was diagnosed Bipolar type 1, schizoaffective, ultra-rapidly cycling in February of this year.

Treatment has been:
- therapy 2 1/2 to 3 times per month
- has been on her current regimine of meds(only 5 different ones plus lots of Omega-3's) for 60 days(was decently stable on former regimine pDoc only has had to tweak dosages) and it seems to work well. Overall been medicated for bp since beginning of February and depression(erroneously) before that
- 4-6 AA meetings(we have no local bp support groups and she was self-medicating with alcohol) per week
- I have worked my tail off to create this calm, as trigger free as possible world for her, and she has settled into a routine that works well for her
- plenty of UV light(which is tanning bed a couple times per week this time of year up here)
- regular exercise routine and healthy diet with minimal to no processed foods
- We, well I, have read all the recommended books(rec. by her therapist) and have been working to learn to recognize oncoming episodes and defuse them

All in all, compared to 12 months ago, life is 100% better. Not normal, nor will it ever be "normal"(which is an illusion by the way), but no more police, ambulances, self-inflicted wounds, auto accidents, "voices", people hiding in the house/barn, mindless rages, etc, etc...

Sooooo...we are going to try vacationing. A week somewhere in Mexico had been our routine in November or December for several years, but have not been "able" to do that since '06. The sun and sand really seem to shorten our winter, and gives us soemthing to look forward to with the rapidly shortening day length and wet/muddy weather of our autumn. We have our plan of how we'll work through this trip, but curious if anyone has any pearls of wisdom on travelling with BP?

Sorry to get long-winded...
S

[trippinmickey]

You have really gone out of your way to help her . You done more for her then most people ever do for someone with bipolar 10x more maybe up to 100x. If all friends and family menbers did as much as you more of us would get better soon if at all .Most times you find that friends and family will turn their back to you people scared of what they dont understand . If she is not ready to go on vacation with all the work you two have done ill will be shocked if anything you deserve a vacation and a good pat on the back .Nice job!

[Schatje]

A lot of time sleeping on vacation is a problem and lack of sleep is a big trigger so keep your eye out for that. Another thing is to not over schedule and keep it calm. I hope you guys have fun!