Lived Experience Forum

[Coastal]

Hello everyone, this is my first post after responding to ads on the tv. I am a 61 year old female diagnosed bipolar. I have had this with major depressive episodes for over 20 years. My condition is well maintained with my medications although have had a recent event where I took too many of them and ended up in hospital. My question is this I'm looking at a new relationship and was wondering if you can give advice on when I should bring up my illness 

[greenpea]

@Coastal Hi Coastal and welcome to the forums 🙂 I have bipolar 1 and schizoaffective disorder but am not and do not want a relationship (mainly because I am happy being single :)). However if I was starting a new relationship and my bipolar was well managed and not intrusive in my life I wouldn't necessarily mention it staight away. I would let the relationship develop first see how it goes and then mention it. It is not like someone would mention in the first few dates they have high blood pressure, sleep apnea or diabetes .... so my recommendation is just to wait for the right moment and then be honest.

Then again it is your choice and if you would feel happier coming out with it straight away well then that is your decision. Whatever you do someone who truly loves you should not be put off by a diagnosis of bipolar.