Hi everyone, I have joined your site because there are very few fora (aka forums) in the UK that deal with BP disorder (stiff upper lip and all that!). My story is that after a period of 5 years of celibacy caused by the traumatic end to an 8 year relationship, I recently met a man with whom I felt I could connect. We went out on a few dates, and on the 3rd date he told me that he suffered from BP disorder. I didn't know much about
this illness at the time, and didn't research it at that point. I have since done so. All I knew was that it was a mental health issue and strongly felt that "love could conquer all" (how naive and how wrong!). He told me he was on medication (Priadel tablets) and that he was "stabilised". Not knowing much about
the disorder, I allowed the relationship to continue and flourish and for the first time in a long time I really started to feel valued as a person again. He did all the right things - bought me flowers, told me how much he loved me, etc. and I fell for it hook line and sinker. After about
3 months of dating, I sent him a text message to say that I was becoming a little worried about
the sudden lack of contact (this guy had gone from sending me about
10 romantic text messages a day to none in the space of about
2 weeks). All I said in my text was " Hi Honey, wish I could hear from you more because I'm missing you" and I was met with a string of what can only be described as aggressive and abusive responses saying that I was trying to control him, treating him like a puppet, etc. (all unfounded). If it hadn't been that I knew that he was suffering from BP disorder, I would have been shocked, but I knew that I had to take cognisance of the fact that his thought processes don't work in the same way as those who do not suffer from the disease. To cut a long story short, we are now no longer in contact. I am devastated because I would have tried to work things through with him had he been more upfront about
the symptoms of the disease, however now I seem to be the ***** from hell for even trying. My friends have told me to walk away because that will cause me less grief, but I do still care about
this individual, despite the fact he has not contacted me now in over 2 weeks. What I would like to know from those who have been through the experience, is....(1) is this normal and (2) is it worth it? Should I just back off and look upon this as a "lucky escape"? To those of you who have been through the trauma of living with such a disease, as well as those who have to live with loved ones with BP disorder, what would your advice be? I hate the thought of castigating people because they are not "the norm". All thoughts would be much appreciated - like I said at the start of this post, we Brits don't do this
open-ness very often. Kind regards, Jacqui