need some info on bipolar please help

hello all,i have just a few questions,first off my wife has been diagnosed with bipolar in march.She has had no success dealing with it so far,when she gets angry she consumes alcohol she is on 50mg lamicital,25 mg prozac,and busbar.Is this normal behavior for her?My last question is in west virgina is there a good hospital that deals with bipolar issues.me and her fight over the drinking issue all the time is there anything i can do to help her control the drinking??sorry i had to ask that last question..any help is greatly appreciated

Hello, Cj2011, and welcome,

I hope the members of the forum will continue to give you helpful advice.

A couple of things you need to know are that alcohol and anything
containing caffeine make bipolar illness worse--or any kind of depression, for that matter. If you can't influence her to stop the alcohol immediately, I would try to purchase a little book called
"Keep It Simple" compiled by the Hazeldon Foundation (the group
who wrote the revised edition of "Alcoholics Anonymous"). It's a daily meditation that your wife could read that might enlighten her a little
about alcohol abuse. If you can afford it, the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" is helpful to people who think they want to go into remission from the illness called alcoholism. (There is no cure for it; people can only go into remission by eliminating it completely from the diet. Doctors now consider alcoholism to be a serious allergy to alcohol.)

Secondly, try to encourage her to give up coffee, tea, and chocolate.
They all make the illness worse.

Suggest that she take an aspirin if you wish. It is known that bipolar illness is an inflammation of the brain and that aspirin reduces the symptoms. Alcohol is like adding gasoline to the flames, in a sense.

You should talk to some people in Alcoholics Anonymous to get advice about how to help your wife. She needs it badly if she cannot be
calmed by Lamictal, prozac, and busbar. Her doctor would be very upset if he knew that she is using other chemicals to control her disturbed feelings. The Lamictal alone is adequate for a bipolar patient who is careful about diet and liquids used in the day.

So much depends on her willingness to face the problems; no doubt about it, she needs help. Gem is right, though, she must face the problem in order to get better; it's something that she must do to go into remission.

I hope it all works well for you; you also are suffering as a result of her behavior. Try to get psychological counseling for yourself if you feel the stress is getting to you and making it difficult for you to manage your home and family.

Good wishes,

It's Genetic

Post Edited (It's Genetic) : 7/7/2011 9:05:16 PM (GMT-6)

That's the spirit,cj2011, and it's the Spirit that's going to win the
battle for the two of you. She has to work at it and since you love her,
she has very strong positive support to give her the courage she needs to overcome the addiction.

Thank you for keeping in touch.

It's Genetic

she goes to a pdr,and yes i attend most appointments,just about 3 hours ago she confessed to me the alcohol makes herself feel better inside,she is willing seek treatment but we have no idea what we can do she cannot check into a alcohol rehab or a mental hospital because she is not suicidal or need meds to control the dt's any ideas we can mention to dr wednesday??

she will get upset when i tell dr what has been going on,she said last night she wanted help now she is trying to back out i hope she takes the treatment that the dr will give her i love her but i cannot continue on like this she says drinking makes her feel good about herself on inside,but i think she drinks just to drink i hope the dr has her do an outpatient alcohol treatment because the dr has recommended aa already and she has not went once any ideas on how to help her because this has to be last chance cause my kids and i are suffering,she cried for an hour last night saying she wants help is she for real or just playing with my emotions to get me to come back,she also told me if i don't wear my ring she was not wearing hers any input on these comments is greatly welcomed