u/Evening_Fisherman810

My 10 yo child asked me today if they have Bipolar. They know I do, so they put two and two together and figured they might. I reassured them they didn't but it got me thinking... when do I tell them that they have to be in the look out for signs of the disorder just in case? When do I give them the heads up that they have a genetic susceptibility to this disorder?

For those of you who have had ECT, was the memory loss just around the time of the procedure, or did you lose past memories too?

My psychiatrist has been trying to get me to do ECT for years, and depending on how my mental health does in the next few years, I might consider it. This is a question I have though, so I would love to hear real experiences regarding memory loss.

"The problem we have is that your body can't handle the level of antipsychotics you need.". My psychiatrist said this to me today. I think he is probably right too, because even though my brain is way more normal, it still gets a bit weird a lot of the time. I just am more aware of it now.

Unfortunately I am prone to a lot of side effects so we can't increase the antipsychotics to the dose that my psychiatrist would like.

Is anyone else facing this conundrum?

I have brief visual hallucinations. I read that visual hallucinations are unusual for mental illness, and that auditory hallucinations are more typical. is it really that odd to have visual ones?

I say I have schizoaffective. I get a disability tax credit, I take the medication, I remember the psychosis.

But I still doubt that I'm *really* schizoaffective. or that I'm sick at all. It makes it hard to take my medications and that's why I've quit them many times before.

I know I've ended up in an episode when I've quit my meds, but I always have an excuse....I quit them too quickly, I didn't take care of myself, I brought it upon myself fearing being healthy.

I don't know. Am I the only one who struggles to truly believe they are ill?