I just want to put this issue out for others to read...A majority of the time, when a patient is in the hospital, regardless as to why, and they have a history of bipolar, depression, anxiety, etc., they are almost ALWAYS sterotyped into being a "druggie", a "seeker", a bad person, etc. Now in saying this, when a patient is in pain, as nurses, we are supposed to take their words as to the intensity of their pain. But if the patient is in pain AND is bipolar, has depression,etc, most nurses automatically would say, "That pt only wants pain meds to get high" or whatever....ARE YOU SERIOUS??? When someone is in pain, of course they are going to be requesting their pain meds around the clock, but for some reason, if they have a hx of bipolar, they are automatically almost looked down upon or something. I am just so sick of other nurses questioning these patients and their requests for pain meds. Sorry...I just thought I would get some input and see if anyone else has seen this issue where they work..
Specializes in long term care, med-surg and adult MR/DD.
Diabetics can get jobs. Diabetics aren't red-flagged by employers and colleges the way people with psychiatric disorders are, even those who are employed. Diabetics don't have to hide their illness lest they be shunned by society and have to hear constant derogatory remarks about them and their families........Until attitudes like these change towards people with mental illnesses, little progress will ever be made in treating them.
Well said!!!
I know of one nurse who is BiPolar and b/c she took more than 3 meds she was unable to obtain short term OR long term disability insurance thru our employer at the time. She was denied since they figured she "might" have a claim later on. WTH? Very few of her co-workers knew her pysch history, she was not a drug seeker, she was an excellent nurse/employee and just b/c she sought help for her symptoms/condition she was denied benefits? She went off all her meds, re-applied during open enrollment, got approved, then went back on meds. She was not "herself" while off the meds but she did what she felt she had to do. She never did need to use the benefit while working there.
the people that cast judgmental remarks about bipolar people being druggies probably make the same narrow minded remarks about all patients.
:uhoh21:
i do agree all illnesses should be teated with the same amount of care. sadly, the only bipolar person i've ever dealt with is a drug abuser who does not feel that she needs meds for her disorder. she chooses to use cocaine (bought from a local drug dealer) to treat her problem. she has a phd in psycology, so she knows how to play everyone in the room and the system. before we knew all this, we opened our home to her (we had moved out so we let her have our 4 br home, rent free) hoping to help a person in need. instead we enabled her. she methodically sold our stuff to fund her addictions until we discovered what was going on (two arrests later) after removing her from our home, we had drug dealers coming to our front door for weeks. i do understand this is just one case among thousands of successful cases, so i try not to be judgemental, but it sure does make me more apprehensive and not quite as generous as before:(
please don't think i meant that last comment to condemn all bipolar people, not my intent at all! its just that sometimes people get burned n then it's hard not to cast a neg light and steriotypify. i do pray that when i get my degree and get on a floor that i will be considerate of all pts and their conditions, not bringing prejudices to the floor. i have seen several different attitudes displayed on the ortho ward they are training us on. i try to avoid the neg attitudes that some of the nurses are quick to express to the students. fortunately i have been assigned to a great nurse with such a profesional, nonjudgemental attitude who seems truly concerned that we receive the best training we can get.
i do agree all illnesses should be teated with the same amount of care. sadly, the only bipolar person i've ever dealt with is a drug abuser who does not feel that she needs meds for her disorder. she chooses to use cocaine (bought from a local drug dealer) to treat her problem. she has a phd in psycology, so she knows how to play everyone in the room and the system. before we knew all this, we opened our home to her (we had moved out so we let her have our 4 br home, rent free) hoping to help a person in need. instead we enabled her. she methodically sold our stuff to fund her addictions until we discovered what was going on (two arrests later) after removing her from our home, we had drug dealers coming to our front door for weeks. i do understand this is just one case among thousands of successful cases, so i try not to be judgemental, but it sure does make me more apprehensive and not quite as generous as before:(
This is someone who needs to go into an intense rehab program for dual/diagnosis patients.
There are so many people out there that have been unable to obtain the level of healthcare needed. Bipolar is no exception. Patients fall through the cracks and some turn to drugs and alcohol to compensate for the lack of proper medication. About 15 years ago I dated a man who was bipolar. At some point he went off his meds and I found myself in a mess, to say the least. He would do cocaine when his "lows" were too much to handle. And he would smoke pot when when his "highs" were out of control. Obviously, someone in the midst of an unmedicated, bipolar, crisis should not being self-medicating. But, then for the dual-diagnoses patient who is off their meds, and ingesting illegal narcotics, there is no way of reasoning with them! What an insidious, vicious, circle this is.
Throw in a handful of healthcare workers, doctors included, who pass judgement before diagnoses, and you have a patient who continues to remain skeptical of the system that should be supporting them.
Let us treat the human being. If, after accepting our help, embarking on the road to recovery, become properly medicated, they choose to return to their old way of life-so be it. I, for one, will know that I remained faithful to the reason I became a nurse. All of us become jaded in some sense. But we need not let it over-take our commitment to why we went into the healthcare profession in the first place.
This is someone who needs to go into an intense rehab program for dual/diagnosis patients.
There are so many people out there that have been unable to obtain the level of healthcare needed. Bipolar is no exception. Patients fall through the cracks and some turn to drugs and alcohol to compensate for the lack of proper medication.
Let us treat the human being. If, after accepting our help, embarking on the road to recovery, become properly medicated, they choose to return to their old way of life-so be it. I, for one, will know that I remained faithful to the reason I became a nurse. All of us become jaded in some sense. But we need not let it over-take our commitment to why we went into the healthcare profession in the first place.
Thanks for the input guys. I just think that as nurses, we are taught to look for the *stereotypical way* of someone who has bipolar. I am just a student, but I am doing clinicals every week, and I see and hear of this issue on every unit I am on. I also just had a test in my psych/nursing class and one of the questions was this:
"What would be a sign that a person, who is bipolar, is in the manic state?"
Well, the correct answer was that you would expect this person to be dressed in mismatched clothing and have outlandish makeup poorly applied....
I'm sorry, but if this is the way that they are teaching us to expect people with bipolar to look, then no wonder why so many nurses out there put this stigma on bipolar pts. It really makes me mad. People with bipolar, if medicated correctly, can live normal lives, but yet if they are in the hospital for something such as an infection, and the nurse sees the hx of bipolar, they are almost looked down upon. We have got to stop this crap!:angryfire
Specializes in A little of this & a little of that.
Self-medication with alcohol and illegal drugs is far too common an issue for people with Bipolar Disorder. Of course it would help if the cost of legal meds was anywhere near reasonable. A 30 day supply of Abilify costs about $650 and statistics show that people with mental illness are less likely to be able to hold the kind of jobs with great health insurance.
thank you very much for bringing this issue up, i have seen it too.
bi-polar disease runs in my family. i had two biological brothers, both of them were diagnosed with it. i'd like to tell you all about them, just so you can see the difference, even in the same family.
my oldest brother was the "stereotype" of a bi-polar person. he struggled in school from day one, always had trouble making friends. he was the type to get so incredibly passionate about something he'd be screaming in your face trying to debate you, even when you agreed with him. he had massive mood swings. we loved him, but even as a family, we found his quirks hard to deal with. his suicide attempts began at age 12. most of us tried his whole life to get him help- i personally brought him to emergency health more times than i could count. sometimes he'd call me at 3am and tell me he had a knife to his neck. he knew what to tell the doctors to convince them to let him go, and despite my begging, they'd release him in 24 hours most times. other times he'd call me at 3am to tell me he'd just met the girl he was going to marry, and he was on top of the world. he battled drug and alcohol problems most of his life. six years ago this week, as he was going through a divorce and living back with mom, i went over mom's house to take my grandfather out to vote. his car was in the driveway when he should have been at work. i think i knew in my heart of hearts what had happened before i ever went downstairs to check on him. he had hung himself at the age of 28.
this is the type of person most nurses think of when they think "bipolar". i can almost understand the frustration and the eye rolling- i felt that way with my own brother sometimes. it's difficult when you try all you can, but you know your efforts are fruitless every time.
as a contrast, i'd like to tell you about my other brother. he is a certified genius, who graduated from a very exclusive prep school (despite being inpatient psych for an extended period his junior year), and went on to get the first college degree in my immediate family. he has never touched an illicit drug in his life, and it is an extremely rare circumstance when i see him touch a drink. (and that's only after he's confirmed a sober ride home- even for one drink) he is very happily married to a lovely woman, and successfully working as a computer programmer. if it weren't for the very rare manic episode when he's become sleep deprived (usually as a result of studying or working on complicated things for days on end) you really would never know there was anything wrong with him. he is a great provider, an excellent employee, in general, just a wonderful guy. and yet, he's been subjected to the eye rolls and the whispers at the nurse's station (i've seen it myself), just because his history lists "bi-polar disorder"
just a little reminder that our patients, no matter who they are, are more than diagnoses. they are individuals. when we stop treating them that way, we're doing a real disservice to them, and to ourselves.
Self-medication with alcohol and illegal drugs is far too common an issue for people with Bipolar Disorder. Of course it would help if the cost of legal meds was anywhere near reasonable. A 30 day supply of Abilify costs about $650 and statistics show that people with mental illness are less likely to be able to hold the kind of jobs with great health insurance.
very true. once a person turns to illegal drugs, arrests are inevitable, adding to the inability to find a decent job
I completely agree with you that is rediculous I am not done with Nursing school so I am not sure how I can tell you to handle this situation. But I can tell you from personal experience someone with Bipolar is not crazy and definately not at all a druggie... Bipolar is a mood disorder and the meds take good care of that why do people think they are druggies because of that. Maybe they need to be alittle more educated on Bipolar. And maybe they dont belong taking care of people if they are going to be that heartless because someone has bipolar. Thanks so much for your post I am glad there is someone out there defending people with bipolar.
I can tell you from personal experience someone with Bipolar is not crazy and definately not at all a druggie... Bipolar is a mood disorder and the meds take good care of that why do people think they are druggies because of that. Maybe they need to be alittle more educated on Bipolar. And maybe they dont belong taking care of people if they are going to be that heartless because someone has bipolar. Thanks so much for your post I am glad there is someone out there defending people with bipolar.
you are right. education is the key. so many wrong assumptions can be traced back to an uneducated voice. in order to dispute or confirm any issue, one must first educate themselves on the issue. only then can an intelligent statement be made about the topic. without education we might as well prescribe bloodletting to cure bipolar, cause we all know its the bad blood that makes them "crazy" (extreme sarcasm here)
I know I am not a nurse yet, but I do have experience with this horrible illness. The post about being the same as other illnesses you are so right people really look down on bipolar and are almost afraid of it. These people with bipolar are normal everyday people.. yes some have a drug problem maybe because they cant afford their meds or maybe just because they want to. Who knows why. But NOT all cases are the same. I would hate to see someone have a bad experience with one person with bipolar and think all are bad scary people. They definately are not. Its a really bad horrible illness and it is hard on all the family the friends the coworkers.. but if we could step back and give support and understanding and help them the world would be better. Yes some people with bipolar will manipulate you but that is with everyone you dont have to have a illness to be a manipulator do you? I know people with no illness no reason for horrible treatment of others and they arent very good people. So we cant really blame this at all on Bipolar. Bipolar is a Mood disorder and yes the moods are hard to deal with but they are moods. I am so glad everyone who posted was on the side of helping not hurting these patients...
and statistics show that people with mental illness are less likely to be able to hold the kind of jobs with great health insurance.
(extreme sarcasm here)
IndianaLPN
6 Posts
Well said!!!
I know of one nurse who is BiPolar and b/c she took more than 3 meds she was unable to obtain short term OR long term disability insurance thru our employer at the time. She was denied since they figured she "might" have a claim later on. WTH? Very few of her co-workers knew her pysch history, she was not a drug seeker, she was an excellent nurse/employee and just b/c she sought help for her symptoms/condition she was denied benefits? She went off all her meds, re-applied during open enrollment, got approved, then went back on meds. She was not "herself" while off the meds but she did what she felt she had to do. She never did need to use the benefit while working there.
IndianaLPN