BPDFamily.com

The only people I know who have ever heard of BPD are two friends who's mothers have it! One actually suggested my d has it before her doctors!

Living in a large city I'd think that many people have heard of it.

Just wondering: how informed do you feel your community/area is about this?

I feel so surprised that people just don't know.

The few I share with about my dd15 i don't think they fully understand... some think she is bipolar... .  but most will later go online and educate themselves if they really care... .  I had never heard of it myself until just recently.

I don't think I have met anyone who knows about BPD or understands it. I have tried to explain to people what it is and I can't tell you how many people tell me that she will grow out of it or she is just a rebellious teen or that i need to put my foot down.

When they say this I always imagine that I will take their advice and put my foot down however I think it would be on their head... .  somehow I don't think we are on the same page.

Griz

Out of evryone I have told including friends who are special ed teachers, chaplins, social worker,  none of them knew anything about it except for one teacher because a friend has a dd

Reminds me of my dd talking about the "emo" crowd in junior high - I had never heard of it. Then I went online and was horrified, but after talking to many of her friends there appeared to be a wide range if kids who were called that... .  and not all were cutters of course.

Then I mentioned it to the one person I thought would know... a high school counselor who worked in another district... .  she'd never heard of it lol... .  and she was around teenagers day in and out.

I wonder if it will become more mainstream as more of us talk about it... .  ?

FM

Before the dx, dd's 8th grade teacher said in her 20 years of teaching, she had NEVER come across ANYONE like my dd.  When I told my dd's Pdoc after dx, and then told same to dd's T, they told me, Bull***t, we see people like your dd everyday.  It is not that uncommon.

Guess it is about information, education, and experience.

Mik

The funniest one for us was when we were explaining the current drama/crisis of his younger brother to our oldest son who basically refused to live in the same space as his sibling and he said 'Oh yeah I've heard of that, my ex-girlfriend had a book on it."

And he totally got it.

Everyone else? Has no idea what we're dealing with and just thinks my 21 yr old will grow out of it and that we should kick him out and make him grow up... .  yup, it's that simple folks... .  

I have never heard of it until I was updating my mom on everything dd15 was doing and that she was hospitalized not knowing what else to do to keep her safe. She said it sounds like borderline and hopes she is wrong having some flashbacks of when she worked at a state hospital for a year 25 yrs ago. The panel of dr's at both hospitals recognized it immediately but was tentative of dx her for 3 months to ruleout bipolar which is known in the family on her dad's side. Then they told me on the down side, to get rid of any expectations she will make anything of herself bouncing from job to job and expect frequent hospitalizations. on the upside, we are catching it while she is young. It is a slippery slope we are on as she fits all 9 criteria and due to her age many dr.'s will change her dx due to the stigma and insurance to pay for tx. Whichever therapy I get her involved in to make absolutely sure its cbt and dbt based as traditional therapy will be a waste of time.

So far I have only told a couple people in the family - my mom gets it while one of my sisters and my dad doesn't... .  everyone else is clueless. When I first met her pdoc in rtc she initially thought both panels of dr.'s were jumping the gun as her hospitalizations just started and the only documentation we really had was her theft from the year before. She has since changed her mind seeing it for herself but still wants to rule out rapid cycling bipolar. I explained to her I don't care what they call it just as long as she gets the cbt and dbt treatment which is showing is working. I did talk with her former T when I had her in outpatient counseling - she was stunned and admitted she found it hard to believe as she doesn't present herself like the sterotypical BPD you hear about but going over all the documentation from the last 5 months agree's she fits the profile and that she will take her back when dd15 comes home - is trained in cbt but not dbt. Those that are trained in dbt don't take medicaid and are extremely expensive (150.00 per hour) and 1.5 hours away driving distance.

My personal favorite... .  we weren't feeding her enough green beans and if we did, all would be well.    

Wow, why didn't I think of that? 

I'm more open about telling people about ds being diagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder. 

It still cracks me up that some people ask me if that means he's like "Sybil" with multiple personalities!

Guess we're still in the Dark Ages.

Green beans and multiple personalities!

Dark ages is right!

Peace everyone

AV

Isn't it great that this is a place we can laugh and have a bit of fun with our chaos!

If my d. read this, she would believe it is a conspiracy amongst us.   :)

Just a quick question... .  Do you feed the green beans to all of the personalities or just the ones that exhibit poor behavior?  Since we have the cure I just want to make sure I get this right so we can be back to normal by Monday.

We also may need to change the board to a cooking blog. I mean just how much plain green beans can one eat.  We will clearly need to share recipes.   I propose we go from bpdfamily.com to Vengence with Veggies


Griz

I don't know about cooked veggies, but lately I've sure felt I was in a pickle!

LOL its nice to laugh about this. With the exception of my daughter's therapists everyone is clueless.  It doesn't help that we live in a rural area with few mental health resources.  We do have lots of beans though!

If anyone has any really good greenbean recipes that have fish in them that would do the trick!  Their brains need the triple omega for healthy function!   lol  seriously though... they do.

Oh, I've been wanting ud17 to take fish oil for years! But since I take it (therapeutic dose in likely futile attempt to fend off both-sides-of-FOO dementia), it's clearly not an option for her. *Sigh.* Maybe fish oil brownies or something?  

I talked my d into starting tripleomega369 when she was 12... .  told her it is for prettier shiny hair, stronger nails and clearer skin.  She still takes a daily dose.  Blaise Aguirre in "BPD in Adolescents" highly recommends it... .  forces his own "normal" kids to take it. :)

If I had my way my d would take it 3 times a day... .  not feasible... .  we do what we can.

My d took fish oil for years. If things got this bad with it imagine without it!

GRIZ your idea is HYSTERICAL! Veggies are my favorite.

Thanks for the laughs everyone

Peace

AV

When I started telling people selectively about my dd's diagnosis, I promptly discovered that one friend's wife had it, one friend's daughter had it, one friend's mother had it, two friends had had their own BPD dx (both highly functional now after therapy, you'll be happy to know, and I was totally shocked when they told me) and one friend went online to read about it and decided that it fit her sister to a T. Another friend knew all about it because she had written an article on it for a parenting magazine a number of years ago. (And actually, both her daughters exhibit some traits of it, though she hasn't mentioned any dx for them and might not take kindly to the suggestion.) Another friend knew a family who had a daughter with the dx (who is actually attending the same therapeutic school as my daughter now). The folks at our regular high school had heard of it but tried to discourage me from applying it to our dd. The therapist at her new school does the same--not sure why, because she must see it all the time, but she seems to adhere to the "no dx younger than 18" rule.

It's one of those things that you start to see everywhere once you know what to look for, so I think either people don't know anything at all or they know all about it because they've had personal contact with it.

I just started my daughter taking it a couple of weeks ago... .  better late than never... .  

Hey, my BPD dd19 loves green beans, both canned and fresh (par boiled, with roasted almonds).  And I must say, no cure in sight.  But, at least it is green food.

mik

Its kinda funny you guys mention the different foods... .  a Pdoc at the state hospital started dd15 on b12 and a diet of mostly green leafy vegetables saying this will help with her moods as green leafy vegetables are loaded with b12 which is a "feel" good vitamin although in my experience it just gives me loads of energy. He said well you must not have been deficient like your daughter is per her blood work so she will improve once her b12 levels get back to norm. He had to reevaluate when her moods didn't change instead they started cycling faster and yet still refused the mood stabilizer as that's for bi-polar not BPD. Luckily, the Pdoc at rtc saw the need for the lamictal right away which is helping - she is still cycling but has a better handle on it now... .  her b12 levels haven't dropped again though she is still being supplemented despite her large salad and green veggies twice a day. I wonder if it'll drop or stay the same if they stop with the supplement?

I think together we should write a cook book specifically with green bean recipes. We should call it... .  Back to Normal by Monday.

BM

Love the cookbook idea, especially the title.  I am Also truly amazed and glad that we can keep our sense of humors.


Griz

Being Mindful,

Flipping wonderful title for the cook book!.  The next one can be called " Burnt Toast, Or how to recover from any disaster".

mik

Wonderful mikmik:

I think if at some point we all got together we would be one rowdy bunch... .  you know the kind that are asked to leave the bar.

Griz

Griz, That sounds like so much fun! For once, we can be the ones with bad behavior!

Or, how about... .  How to Turn Burnt Toast Into Something You Enjoy.

Better yet... .  

Journey of Mindfulness With Burnt Toast

Good grief, I have lost it tonight.

Or how about " validation with veggies"?