We’ve all heard the horror stories of trips to Wal-Mart. These stories usually involve strangers who stare or make rude comments in response to the odd behavior of our children. This is NOT one of those stories.

Someone praised me recently for being so understanding and patient with Tim and all of the symptoms and behavioral issues that go along with a diagnosis like Schizoaffective Disorder.

Diagnosis is always tricky with any illness. The frightening part of it is the "wait and see". With bipolar disorder it is unnerving in so many ways. Wait for a mania that can spin your child out of control. Then wait for another one. Wait for a deep, dark depression that can send your child into a suicidal loop from which she cannot return on her own. Wait and see, wait and see. Try these meds; no, these, no, these. Try again. And then there are all the feelings of this journey through the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by your youngster with bipolar disorder, it’s a good bet that the other children in the household are too.

Siblings suffer when a brother or sister has bipolar disorder, but they often hide their struggles or try to be perfect to lessen the burden on parents. Their problems may be missed because parents are doing their best to contain chaos, keep everyone safe and maintain a semblance of ordinary life, including school, work and regular meals.

When I was young – too many years ago – my dad was a coal miner. There are many dangers inherent to working underneath 1000 feet of dirt. One of those dangers is trapped gas that is very difficult to detect and can be deadly. In the old days, coal miners used to bring canaries underground with them. Canaries are quite sensitive to their surroundings. They served as an early warning sign that dangerous gas was present. If the canary died, then the miners had to get out – fast! The miners had to keep an eye on the bird. They also had to listen.

Life is so different when you are born with a challenge, rather than acquiring it in later life.

Much has been written about family members living with a loved one with Alzheimer's.  Nancy Reagan used the now-popular term "the long goodbye".  As I was reading another article about a wife caring for her husband with Alzheimer's, I thought about that long goodbye and all of the emotions that come with that.

In 1977, a Northern California mother named Eve decided she’d had enough.  Eve had raised a child diagnosed schizophrenic and had endured the prevailing thinking by the medical community and society at-large at the time; that her son’s condition was her fault.  That something in how she raised him caused his psychotic break with reality during his teens.  Trying to get appointments with the local mental health facility administrators was frustrating, and the results of meetings she could get just made her angry.   So on October 22^nd, Eve and a

Summer months…don’t you (mostly) LOVE them? For many this may be the last time your child lives with you at home before heading off to college in the fall. For others it may be the time your child returns from college and you know things have changed. They come with dirty laundry, exhausted, and not used to the “rules of the house” after living independently for nine months. For young adults with bipolar it is often a time to rejuvenate, relax and sometimes repair. It is also a time to prepare.

To change medications or not to change medications, that is the question our family has been asking for months now. I know we aren’t alone in this debate and that you readers also have to make these tough decisions. Sometimes med changes are a ‘no brainer.’ When a medication has made things worse or your child is very unstable, there isn’t any hesitation. Change is the clear answer. It becomes much harder when your child isn’t doing bad – but isn’t doing really well either. That is the precarious position we have been in lately.

Im a planner. Long term could easily mean two years from now. Hey, it's never too early to start planning, right? In my pre-BPmom life one of my professional positions was an advance person; the staffer that gets to an event prior to the Big Guy to make sure everything is ready to roll, key people identified, exits marked. I was born for the job. No detail too small, having Plan B, C or D, mapped out and thinking 20 minutes ahead of anyone in the room (that's why they call it advance work). Now my idea of long term is this weekend.