Your ideas are good. How about a picture schedule for class activities, so they know what is going to happen?

Congrats to your DS! :hurray: :hurray:

His story is very unlikely. I am concerned for you. This sounds really abnormal.

We do too. I know it's a privileged position, though.

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NOOOOOO. I would recommend seeing an actual psychiatrist. Our family doc tried to help my DH, but he just didn't have the expertise. Some medicines, like antidepressants, are generally contraindicated for the treatment of bipolar. And sometimes, antipsychotics are prescribed. All of these meds can have serious side effects. You want the diagnosis to be accurate and the meds to be correct, and you should expect to adjust meds regularly. I would not be comfortable with anyone diagnosing over the phone.

Accept the spot! You can always pull her out if it doesn't work out for her, but you wont be able to change your mind and add her if you decline upfront. You matter too! Think of Oprah and her oxygen mask metaphor. Make self-care a higher priority. If meds help you than that's ok! :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Moonhawk's DH is making a choice. He can choose to take the meds or not. At this moment, he is choosing meds. She can't make him take them or not take them. Hopefully good therapy will help him understand his choices. His brain is sick and is not making rational decisions, so the ideal outcome is that once he is stable on his meds and can feel the benefits of therapy and stability, he will be able to come around to maintaining medication stability because he wants to. In my situation, I honestly don't care if DH "wants to" stay on his medication or not. He can stay on it, and stay married to me, or he can choose to go off his meds, and we will not stay married. We both have choices to make.

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Yes, I would do this. It would be the right thing to do. Then I would walk the heck away and cut off contact with that mess. Edited to add: if you are getting a LOT of requests for payment, it might be worth it to speak to an attorney and get some kind of legal "I am not responsible for this and I'm not paying for it" letter to submit to their creditors, just to make them stop.

Around here, public schools separate them by gender and then show both videos to both groups, among other lessons. It worked fine for DD. Remember, puberty is coming earlier. I know girls who started their periods in 4th grade.

This is so true. While in the depths of his depression, DH received a birthday card that basically wished him joy every day of his life. His interpretation? "She hopes I'll die soon." :huh:

:iagree: And I encourage Moonhawk to separate on whatever terms are easiest - he goes, or she and the kids do - to make sure that the kids aren't witnesses to anything damaging to them.

Slime is so big with my 12yo and her friends right now. There's a thousand variations on Pinterest.

:iagree: My dad died of cancer when I was 8. My mom soldiered through the immediate aftermath - it was right around 6 months later that all the grief and stress hit. This is so normal. Go see your doctor and see if meds for anxiety and/or sleep will help - not forever, but just to help you through this time, that is so important to your daughter. Remember, you can't really manage your thoughts and feelings unless you are getting some decent sleep. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

As someone who works with kids with autism, I am thrilled that fidgets are cool right now. :hurray: By all means, let all the kids have them and take any residual stigma away!

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My parents bought it many years ago and both needed to use it. The company made no money on them whatsoever. My stepfather was in a nursing home for 6 months before he died, needing full care. My mother had 4 years of benefits and used up 3 before she died (she lived in a facility for people with dementia), which, combined with Social Security, preserved a lot of her estate. We were fortunate to have it. I believe that a lot of the terms and conditions have changed since my parents bought it. I am definitely interested in acquiring it, but I'm not sure anyone would sell it me based on my family history of Alzheimer's Disease.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: One of my biggest hot buttons when my kids were that age was the running away - that would just send me over the edge. I hope today goes better!

I LOVE before and after pics of all kinds. Thanks for posting and bring on more of them!! I'm glad you are feeling so much better than before. Like other posters, I too believe that mental health issues are a physical health problem in the same way as conditions like diabetes. If your thinking was confused and you felt like you had the flu all the time because your blood sugar was off, would you refuse to take insulin because because it "isn't really you"? Someone with diabetes will feel those kind of effects for awhile before things escalate and they get diagnosed - does that period of symptoms become set in stone as who they are? Just something to think about. I remember your old threads and am so, so happy that things are going well for you. Keep posting more updates!

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Moonhawk, please remember that I have been in a very similar situation. Make sure he feels the real consequences. Don't protect him from his choices - and by that, I man lie and cover what is really going on. Maybe ask your DH privately what he thinks you should tell the kids, and see what kind of messaging he is considering. Ask him what he's going to tell his family. I am assuming that you aren't going to agree to the open marriage route, so separation is likely if he won't agree to stay with more treatment. DO NOT keep his secret if he doesn't want to tell his religious family about his plan for an open marriage/promiscuity. He is living in fantasyland right now - make it real. (To clarify: don't tell the kids about it; but don't protect him from his parents). His parents may help more than you think; if not, it's already gone to h*ll in a handbasket anyway. :sad: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

:iagree:

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Glad this situation has come to an end - I'll be thinking of you in the upcoming days.