Friday, June 26, 2009

Another Bipolar Disorder Day

My husband has bipolar disorder- not me. Lately, I have been working on tryng to not let his disease consume me. I have good days and bad days. Today was a bad day. It is consumming me. Not just me- but our entire lives.

As this day comes to an end and another begins, I can only hope it will be better. Mr Bipolar, while he has not been normal lately, has not had any seriously erratic behavior issues- except for one: Driving. It's not his driving that bothers me but the consequences of his bad driving. He has gotten 5 0r 6 tickets since last August.

I have learned, fairly well, how to deal with the emotional strains of him having bipolar disorder. It's not easy to deal with all the emotions involved. It is truly the financial stress involved with disease that is just overwhelming me.

I've talked a little before about worrying what will happen in 10 years, although as I mentioned in my last post The Unstable Bipolar Life , I am beginning to think I need to worry about the more immediate future. Will he be able to work next year. After this past week of worrying about him possible losing his job, today I was hit with yet another money sucker.

It all has to do with his driving, bad driving caused by his bipolar disorder. We got our car insurance renewal in today. It is going up to $400 a month. It has more than doubled in the past year. The worst part is, come January when it's time to renew again- they will probably drop us. There is at least 2 speeding tickets and an at fault wreck from 2009 not showing up on this renewal. As if $400 a month isn't enough, if they don't drop us- our car insurance will probably cost as much as our mortgage.

And what does my loving bipolar husband say about all this: "Just call around, we can find cheaper insurance." The insurance we have is already cheap.

When I opened the envelope from the insurance company and read all this, I began to cry. It's one thing after another. Of all these tickets he has, 2 are still outstanding- one is past due. If he gets stopped for speeding, yet again, he will probably be arrested. I don't have the money to pay it. It's almost $300. I hope he remembers that and doesn't speed so he doesn't get arrested.

he keeps speeding, keep getting tickets like they have no adverse affect on our lives. But then BAM! All at once it hits- and he acts like it's really no big deal. We can shop around for better insurance. Yes, someone will insure us. And yes, we may be able to get cheaper insurance- but will they be any good. What happens if he gets in another wreck? If we have some crap insurance then what?

I am just so frustrated right now. Hi disease- bipolar disorder- consumes everything. It directs our lives. Isn't it enough I don't have my husband anymore. There is no emotional comfort or connection, he can't stay normal long enough for us to build anything back. Do we really have to lose everything because of this. I fear that's where we are headed. We've already filed bankrupt- all we really have is the house, and it's mortgaged. It's the only thing left to lose. I'm afraid that is where we are headed.

When you live paycheck to paycheck- money is already stretched as far as it will go. Any extra expense, like speeding tickets, put you behind. I have gotten extensions on bills as far as I can go. Everything has to be paid next month (July) by a certain date or it gets cut off. Now this extra insurance cost- which has to be paid in July- just adds to an already bad situation.

I hate bipolar disorder. I hate him being bipolar. I want my husband to be normal. I want a normal life. We don't have to be rich, just not so far stretched would be nice.

As I have said before, I love my husband- even though he does have bipolar disorder. We'll get though this too, I just don't see how right now this second.

4 comments:

Immi said...

I don't know if it has to eat up your life. I'm bipolar and I feel like it's eaten mine in similar ways. When I'm with it, things are ok, I'm building things back up. When I'm not, I'm an idiot. I work very, very hard to stay with it, many lifestyle changes and meds that help are taken on time, etc, but sometimes it's just not possible. I wish you good luck! I hope things calm down for you all so you can get more settled and get things balanced.

Sheena said...

Hi Immi
Thanks for commenting.
I fully believe that things will calm down- eventually. But, sometimes when those emotions are high and something bad happens, it's hard to believe it (thats things will be ok) right then or imagine a future that is not caotic.
I love my husband dearly. We will get through this- and I'm sure there will be more to come and we'll make it through that too.

Good Luck to you as well.

Unknown said...

Being married to someone who has bipolar disorder means you must accept a life of unpredictability. There will always be good times and there will always be bad times; you just can't ever know when or how extreme. I wrote a whole book about it because I think spouse's have a particularly hard time coping with managing bipolar disorder from a relationship point of view.

kelly said...

What is the name of your book? I would love to read it. My husband has bipolar and I’m pretty fed up now. I’m so tired of the rollercoaster and always having to be the responsible one. Except for the financial aspect I would be better off without him. Even with his financial help he always seems to be late in paying his share of the bills. I’m disgusted with him.