I swear....eight hours, that's all I want...
 

I dont' think it's asking too much either. Jackie got up again at 3am. I am gonna stop letting him have anything to drink after 7 pm if he doesn't stop pulling this crap on me. I was up til 10 and couldn't fall asleep until well after eleven, it's just not fair, and I could cry right now, I couldn't use my cpap machine because I had cried yestday and my nose is stuffed up from that and now I just want to lay back down but he won't go back to bed. Why do kids run us ragged? WHY??? :mad:

He did finally go back to sleep at 6 am but sheesh I hate this and it happens too much. :(

I feel for you. I don't have any children, but I know it must be tough.

Maybe just tell your husband you need a day in bed to decompress, relax, watch a movie on TV and doze off.

You really need to get some good sleep.

I hope you can get some.

Hugs, Nikko:hug:

I think I will get some sleep tuesday while he's in school. IF I get my shopping done on Monday. If he gets up this early again tomorrow I am just going to scream! I have to get up and make some phone calls around 8am and if he gets me up at 3 again we won't be up in time for me to do that if we hit the hay again around 6 am. :p Thanks for the hugs Nikko. :) :hug:

I am sorry Pam about you not being able to sleep.
I think that stopping the fluids is an excellant idea.
Since he goes to school during the week...you may want to have a talk with his teachers...I wonder how he does with them and if he pushes their buttons like he does yours.
I hope that your hubby can take over for a bit and that perhaps you can get a nap today.
((((HUGS))))
bizi

Nah, he won't take over, he's the only one here who gets to nap, though he hasn't since we've moved I have to say. But it used to make me real mad when he would nap at the old place. I think Jackie is just a pushy little bull, he does these things to me and all because he's comfortable enough to, with teachers in school he's still not that comfortable enough with. I hope he never gets to the point where he's sent home for bad behavior like he was in the regular school. He goes to a special school so it's nice that they can deal with him and his idiosyncrities. :)

I wish my dh would let me nap today, but he's not that kind. If he would get up and deal with the kiddo I would offer to let him nap, but it just works out that Mom does it all sadly. I think we are going to try to do the pool today *sigh* and I wish it was fall so we could put that in the garage and be DONE with summer already. Oh well, then we've got some chores to do like the cleaning of the bathrooms and the kitchen and the living room. It takes about an hour and we're done for a week. Though I am happy to say that the clothes are still mostly in the dressers. :)

I hope I can sleep good tonight, I will be hitting the hay early, probably when Jackie does JIC he tries to get up at 3 am again. And I think I will stop drinking around the same time he does so I won't have to wake up, just to see how it works out. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the support you've shown me the past few days, I have been so stressed it's just awful. :p

Hi,
What happens when he gets up early? Does he get "rewarded" for it (as my therapist would say)?

Do you get up and turn the lights on and start giving him attention?
Have you already tried mostly ignoring him until a certain time of the morning?

Just some thoughts. Maybe they are out of line.
You do sound frustrated and I am sorry.

Mari

Pam

Have you tried giving him some melantonin before he goes to bed.

This might help him sleep more soundly. You might look into something
like this. Its a natural sleep remedy.

Donna

Don't worry he doesn't get rewarded. We sit there with the lights off for an hour and a half before I get to the point to where I turn anything on because he is just obviously not going to go back to bed. I didn't feel you were out of line at all Mari, thanks for posting, it helps to just know that people care and that I am not alone you know? You guys matter more to me then I can really put into words. :)

We both take melatonin, I think I am going to stop taking it though with how manic I've been feeling these days. I remember hearing it wasn't really good for us BPers to take so maybe it's aggrivating my symptoms. I think I have been putting him to bed to early, 9:30 is a bit early I think so maybe 10 will work out better. Thanks for suggesting Melatonin though Donna, I know it's something that really does help him fall asleep it's just that he wakes up to go to the bathroom, the liquid restricting might help more then anything so I will post again and let you all know how it goes. :)

Pam

Maybe you should also up the melantonin for him. See if maybe he needs more. Maybe thats the problem.

Donna

Pam,

Have you thought about discussing this problem with Jackie's doctor?

befuddled2

That might be what the trouble is, I will talk to his P-Doc and see what she thinks. It could be its just worn off by three am. :)

I think the fluid restriction is going to help alot!
hang in there sweetie!
and I wish your husband helped you more....ugh!
bizi

He does a lot of chores but he does not help when it comes to giving me a break. Nope he thinks my break is school. *sigh* We just cleaned like we always do on the weekend and jackie just dumped pop corn on the floor, not a LOT mind you, but the bottom of the bag and made a mess with it. Grinding it in, well I had to sit on the floor and scoot around to clean it up because he just got the broom and tried to sweep it everywhere. God help me I hate this...I am so angry I could spit. How many times have I changed the mood thing this weekend? ten yet? Sheesh! :eek:

Pam

You really need a appointment for you both with his therapist it sounds like.

I think you also need a appointment for the hubby with the therapist all by himself on how he can help too.

It sounds like there might be some things he can do to help with this at home
that he isn't doing.

Also is there anyway that you could maybe have some respite too.

It sounds like you need some.

Donna

I might look into the respite idea but I doubt dh would go with me to the T appt although I will look into that too. Because it might help him understand me and my situation a little better. :)

That's a good idea to get you husband to go to the T with you.

I also think it would help.

Good Luck, Nikko

:hug:

Dear Pam,
My therapist asked me to bring hubby to an appointment.
She asked him if he thought that he could be on the team to help me -- not the coach or the manager (he's bossy sometimes), but a team member.

She tried to explain to him how harder it is for a bipolar person to do things that other people can do -- like get out of bed, think through something in their head, get work done...

I'm not sure what he remembers about the visit (I guess I didn't followup real well.) But he does get the general idea that I need help more. And he gives it to me. Sometimes I remind him and tell him I can't explain what is happening in a particular moment but I need him on the team, as he promised.

So the visit ended up working.

Mari

I am definitely going to look into it then, thanks Mari, I appreciate you sharing your experience with your dh and how you took him with you to an appt and how it helped. :) Thanks for the encouragement Nikko & Mari, I hope it will help him understand the situtation better. :)

Pam

You also need to look at this from another angle. You can look at this
from the angle that your doing this to get some help for working with Jackie
too. This is to help figure out some stratigies for when Jackie is way off
board.

Maybe the hubby can help brainstorm with the therapist and you. On how
things might work. Let him realize that he is going to be a team player,
not just there to be given the look over.

Let him realize he is going to be helping make things work better so that
Jackie fits in better as he gets older. This might make him really want to
be part of the team too.

He also might want to work on how the medicine seems to be helping, maybe start with the melantonin, say like with why its not keeping Jackie asleep
as long as he needs to be.

Donna

I'll have to post and let everyone know how it goes when and if it happens about getting hubby to the T appt. I am pretty tired tonight and have a long day of errands tomorrow so hopefully things will get done and be all set soon for the bday preparations for the weekend. :D Jackie will be eleven. :)

If he is like my husband when he thinks of a therapist. He is thinking
you are wanting him to go so that he can be told what he is doing wrong.

So what he needs to understand is his ideas are wanted. He is going
to help figure out what things need to be changed to help make this
a easier way to get things going better for Jackie, so that its better
for you and him too. And that this will show you so much how much
he loves you.

Donna

Have you been pushed around all your life without pushing back. I think you need some pushing back lessons. Husband naps but you can't. Push back. He cannot nap but now you can. Kid torments you. He's the parent, you're the child, push back. The illness and remedy is within you, not in them nor for them. Sorry to sound so hard on you except that it seems you need hardness not softness nor sympathy. Life if often tough, so get tough with life.

I was broken as a child, you don't push back and stay healthy in the situation I was in, I don't expect you to understand nor do I intend to justify my inactions for things Michael. Thank you for your post and for sharing your thoughts. But I think things are fine now, I was just very upset my son kept waking up for three days out of a week. But the hard approach doesn't help me much since I get enough of that already. I am rather numb to it to be honest. I don't find it helpful at all and tend to brush over things said to me in a certain tone of voice, which iritates a certain someone...LOL! But I don't care, I can't sit here and be a pin cushion all the time for him. ;)

All I know is I have had a horrible week and it's over now thankfully and I made it through it somehow and am gettin gmy paxil rx filled tomorrow, so with that in mind I doubt the weepiness I've been feeling sticks around for much longer. That was part of where I was at when I posted this originally. I would like to see this thread die though, I don't feel the need to rant on about my family situation anymore now that I got it out of my system. :)