Manic Bipolar Disorder – Private Healthcare?

Nervous post this one – well outside my comfort zone.

Family member has manic bipolar disorder. Very hard to treat as medication takes time to stabilise things and episodes ramp quickly and manifest as doing outlandish, dangerous and very hurtful things. Generally happens every year or two with essentially the whole family’s lives falling apart for a few months. NHS treatment has been variable – obviously are under such pressure and struggle to respond fast enough. Appointments are too sparse, different person every time etc. Bit of a lottery.

Wondering if anyone has had experience of this and found private healthcare any better? Or any other options.

Thanks in advance.

My sympathies to you and your family dealing with this. My brother in law suffered with this. It was horrible for everyone involved. His Parents tried to help him for years but never addressed the problem and he never helped himself and his siblings washed there hands of him as you cannot help someone who does not want or think they need help. He cost his parents thousands over the years with them trying to help him and bailing him out as they never addressed the issue, he was their son and they would help him whenever needed. Failed business attempt they bailed him out. Failed relationship they bailed him out. Trip abroad on various occasions they bailed him out. Lost his house they bailed him out. He lived with his parents until he was about 50, sponging off them for every thing, the stories are endless. All came to a head about 10 years ago when he hit his dad, a short time later the dad died (not connected) and the mum went into care so he trashed the house and refused to move out. Family finally persuaded the mum to get a barring order against him so he would leave the house. He went into various accommodation places/was homeless for a bit etc and lots of dramas along the way. He passed away a couple of years ago and to be honest it was a relief to the family as they no longer got that call or knock on the door or letter etc.

not really any help I am afraid but hope you get a better outcome than we did.

Sister in law has finally been correctly diagnosed with this. She has had massive ups and downs throughout her adult life.

Struggled with NHS and getting medication levels sorted, was finally ‘fixed’ by BUPA as part of her new job. Having seen the transformation I’d advise to go private if it can afforded.

A close family member has had this.  In our case dealt with well by local NHS once in the system.  Involved being detained under the Mental Health Act and some weeks of in-patient assessment and treatment.

Getting the correct medications at the correct level is not an exact science.  Once stabilised and back home on-going treatment involved regular appointments to see a pyschiatrist  – always the same one.  Going down to once or twice a year. More frequent perhaps monthly home visits from a CPN. Again always the same one so they knew each other and the relevant history.

In our experience (obviously every case is different) good treatment can let the person lead a perfectly stable life for long periods of many years. One danger is that the patient after a long period of stability feels they are cured and because there are some side effects stops medication.  This can lead, not always immediately, to severe deterioration ending up in further in patient treatment.

Again case is different but financial recklessness is one symptom of a manic phase. So any steps that can be taken to minimise the consequences if this happens are helpful.  For example a joint bank a/c may not be a good idea.  If your bank allows spending limits to be set on cards for example.

In any case I hope it works out for you. In our case there was a happy ending with good NHS treatment and family support.

ferrit
Free Member
Nervous post this one – well outside my comfort zone.

Just posting to wish you and your family all the best. A good friend of mine had to deal with her son going through a psychotic episode and him being diagnosed with schizophrenia. It almost tore their family apart.

Again, wish you all the best, the mental health service is under huge pressure these days and if viable, going private might be a good option, initially anyway.

Not the same condition, but our family has had good experience with Clinical Partners, specifically Sheffield and Manchester locations, through employer health insurance.

Good luck, it’s a tough gig. Get help if you can for those around the principal patient too, when the boat rocks everybody gets shaken up.

Thanks for your replies here.

@andy4d: that sounds absolutely awful – I’m very sorry to hear about this. As you say, it’s very hard to persuade someone in a manic phase to seek help. We have had several multiple-month committals unfortunately.

I’m encouraged by RustyNissanPrairie – this is what I had hoped is possible, though our location means that private medical treatment centres are sparse in our part of the country. Ideally, would prefer not to have a lengthy journey to regular appts. Will see what is available.

@irc: You are describing exactly what we’re dealing with. It’s all about stability and monitoring but yes, the ‘stopping medication cos I feel fine now’ is always present. It’s a difficult balance to let them talk to the clinicians themselves without micromanaging as a family and pointing out when things are just lies!

@Poopscoop: Thank you.

@midlifecrashes: Thanks – not our area but good to know there are alternatives. Will investigate.

Again, thank you all.

Can’t help with the original question but it maybe help to know ‘anosognosia’ is common in bipolar disorder.

I found Xavier Amador’s ‘I am not sick, I don’t need help’ useful in a similar situation.

Incredibly tough to deal with!

Private works if there’s a specialist avilable locally who has a space in their list for the new patient. I’m in Suffolk and mental healthcare here is a shit-show (and has been for around 18 years) with a knock-on into the private sector causing delays.

The best of luck OP, we’re trying to get an assessment of our eldest (in their 30’s) to determine if BPD is still correct or if it should be an Autism / ADHD diagnosis. Ongoing care here is likely to be through the private sector too as the public healthcare has been starved of funds and effective management.

A close friend’s brother needs constant care from my friend.  From outside it looks like if you go through NHS you have to stay completely on top of them.

Once the medication is working dont let anyone change it!

First real battle is getting the patient to want to be treated, probably 80% of the work right there. If you’ve got that desire being thrown out the window during a manic phase then that’s difficult, as I’m sure you’re aware.

Don’t know about private, with NHS you (or whoever) are going to have to take on a lot of monitoring of the appointments and medication and depending on NHS in your area you may have to be quite proactive in organising appointments and reassessments. Private would probably be a lot better on that front but obviously the money needs to keep flowing.

That said, NHS has been generally ok in my particular experience (well, not me, IYSWIM) but perhaps some luck was involved, mental health treatment sounds pretty patchy in this country.

Does the family member also have severe depressive periods to contend with?

Multiple month periods of mania sound awful to deal with. Debilitating enough when they’re a week or two.