u/JLFlyer

I'm posting this to get insight from anyone who is BP2 and also struggles/struggled with self-harm.

My daughter (18) came home from a month long inpatient stay at the end of May. She was admitted for overdosing on her psyche meds in an attempt to unalive herself. She had been pocketing and not taking her meds for two weeks and took them all.

After two years of struggling her care team finally put her on lithium and other meds and she was happy. Truly happy and optimistic, not manic. I hadn't seen her like this in over two years. Her severe depression had been sucking the life out of her and she had started self harming, and it culminating in her suicide attempt.

When she got out of the hospital she had zero urges to self harm. She was doing so well until three weeks ago when she started saying that her meds didn't seem to be working as well. I told her to reach out to her NP that manages her meds and let him know she felt like something needed to be changed. She didn't listen to me, and I am not able to make the appointments for her anymore. I have been trying to help her become independent and manage her meds and appointments since I have been doing them for her for so long. I also told her that she needed to see a therapist weekly and process the trauma she went through with the suicide attempt. She didn't want to and avoided doing it.

A few days ago I heard her brother cry out for help. I ran downstairs and there was a trail of blood in the living room to the hallway where my daughter was laying with a pool of blood under her arm. She had cut herself so deeply she couldn't stop the bleeding. She had four severe lacerations from a razor in her arm. Apparently she'd started cutting again three days before and hid it from us. She had gone almost three months without cutting. This time cutting deeper made her feel better.

We have all meds and razors/box cutters locked in a safe. When she agreed to stop cutting we stopped locking the kitchen knives up. She went out and found the razor she used out in the garage in my husband's tool cabinet.

What could I have done differently? How could I have prevented this? How can I help when she gets home? Should I ask her to give me legal permission to help her stay on top of her medication refills and appointments? I know she needs to learn to be independent, but if her age, ADHD and mental health struggles prevent her from being able to coordinate all of this, should I just keep helping her until she can be trusted to do it on her own? I don't want to be a helicopter mom. I want to let her grow and feel empowered to take control of her mental health, but I am so scared that she will end up off her meds and attempt suicide again, or cut herself so badly one day and no one will be around to help stop the bleeding. I am at a loss. I am so scared that I will miss something and lose her. It was so wonderful to see her happy again, and planning for college and her future. She was supposed to start her freshman year and instead she is in the hospital. I know how heartbroken she is that she will miss starting school. She is such a bright, talented, wonderful person. She deserves to be happy. I just don't know what else I can do to help.

ETA: she is in-patient right now at the same place she was last time. She self-admitted because she knew she needed to be somewhere safe while they worked on her meds and self-harm urges.

Petco is selling all tanks at 50% off so picked up this 29 G today. I am finally going to get to move my fish over to new, bigger home and get more Cory buddies for my 3! The stand comes tomorrow and then cycling starts.

So, starting a new tank while an older tank is running: what is your best advice? I wasn't a member here when I set up my 10 gallon tank in order to takeover care of my daughter's fish. I'm so glad to have this community to come to.

Stratum needed, or can I just use sand? I am likely going to get some shrimp for this tank once it is established and I'm sure they'll be happy. Currently have the three Corys and 6 old zebra danios. Those things are hardy as heck.

I am still using the Aqueon filter that came with the 10 gallon tank kit we bought at Petco. After folowing this sub and r/Aquariums , I realized that I need a better filter set up. Is this filter a good choice: Fluval AC30 Aquarium Power Filter, 10 to 30-gal ? I am also looking at a 29 gallon tank that is on sale at Petco right now, so this filter would cover up to that.

I looked at canister filters by Fluval and I don't have a stand that works with a filter that sits on the ground right now. Seems like the canisters are a great choice, just can't do it now, so looking for a good alternative.

As far as filter media goes, I see that the filter above has specific Fluval media, but I've read that you can purchase sponge, floss and bio media in bulk and use them rather than the brand name replacements. Do you do this? If so, any tips? The filter comes with the entire set of filters, but I want to be ready for when I need to change any media. Sponges don't get changed out, just rinsed in non-chlorinated water, right?

Also, how do I make the switch? Run both filters for a bit? Move the media from the old filter into the new one so the bacteria can get established?

My pain is returning before the end of my two weeks so my rheumatologist increased my dose to weekly. My first weekly injection was Wednesday. The next morning I felt like I had the flu or was fighting something bigger than the common cold. No fever, but weak, run-down, just exhausted. My joints are so tender and painful (hips, shoulders, feet). My sinuses are always a problem, and I had burning in them, so wonder if a brewing sinus infection was triggered by the increase in biologic.

Anyone else experience anything like this increasing to weekly from bi-weekly?

The most frustrating thing is that my husband doesn't understand. The fatigue doesn't make sense to him, so he just thinks I'm not getting enough sleep. This disease has been brutal and not being understood makes everything worse.

Why would my smallest Cory end up with fin rot but neither of my other two? The others are a medium size and a big chonker who had really thrived and grown like crazy the last few months. (I am moving them to a larger tank soon and will get more friends for them when I do.)

The smallest one has gotten what I thought was Ich twice and a few days ago I noticed a couple of white spots as well as fin rot on its tail and two little pelvic fins. I just don't understand why the other two aren't affected at all. I'm glad they aren't, but wondering if the little one just has bad genetics?

After a filter change my ammonia was up but pH was low and the danios and other corys were fine. I've done water changes to fix the ammonia and started KanaPlex. I've treated with Ich-x in the past but since it keeps coming back without any new fish or plants being introduced, I decided to try KanaPlex. I use a liquid test kit. My pH has always been low (6.0) and I've considered putting in crushed coral but since the fish have seemed fine other than this one, I figured they were happy on the low end and I didn't want to throw off the balance of the tank.

Anything else I can do to help the little guy?

I've been having "sticky" eyes. Like a mild form of what you get with pink eye, but not itchy. I wake up with more crust in my lashes and the corners of my eyes, and will feel a random mild tickle feeling once in a while, but not really itchy. I'll rub my eye a bit and it goes away. The eyelid next to the lashes may be slightly puffy, but honestly it isn't obvious and I'm not sure.

Anyone else experience this type of eye symptom? I also have seasonal allergies but haven't had these symptoms before for more than a day or two. I take allergy meds daily and Amjevita every other week.

I did a search and just keep getting info on blepharitis, which this doesn't fit. No redness or inflammation of the actual eyeball.

I'm trying to gauge how many folks actually experience this side effect of Amjevita and other biologics? I have been doing well for some time now on Amjevita after not much improved on three months of Enbril. Last weekend I started feeling weak and achy. A few weeks before this my aches and pains were emerging more often again, but not daily. As of last week i'm waking up every morning with the foot pain again, lower back (SI) pain and still feel run down like I'm fighting something. I was also under severe stress from the end of April through the end of May due to family illnesses and my sister's passing. I know those can cause flare ups, but I did feel the fatigue through the middle of June and expected that that was from the stress flare.

I used to get sinus infections a lot. I haven't had one in several months, and I don't have any fevers or sinus pain, just burning that tells me there is inflammation and this feeling over being sick.

Do you get sick more often on biologics? I'm just trying to figure out what to think. I am seeing my rheum on 7/22 and going to get my bloodwork done (sed rate, c-reactive protein, metabolic panel and cbc) in the next few days.

I fell asleep at 1:30 am. Woke up at 9:30 am. Got up, took my meds, ate a small snack and fell back to sleep at 10:30 until 3:30 pm when my husband woke me up.

Do we really need this much sleep? I feel completely useless today. I had plans to clean up the living room and make a shopping trip. It's 5pm now and all I've done is eat something and have a cup of coffee.

Tell me what helps you guys when you are this tired.

I know my depression is still in play after losing my sister so recently, but it usually doesn't make me sleep this much.

Hey all,

My 18 yo daughter got an official diagnosis of BP2 while admitted at an in-patient facility. We had expected something like this but no one had been able to find a med combo that helped and her SI finally took over about 8 weeks ago and she ended up in the hospital after a purposeful overdose of her previous medications. She had stopped taking them and hid them from me because she said they had made zero difference for her. She didn't want to live with the depression she was feeling for so long. We are so glad she ended up where she did because they spent four weeks figuring out her balance of meds, including lithium.

While in the hospital her deep depression finally lifted and she finally has hope for her future, is excited about going off to college, and has been more the person I raised than she had been for the last two years. She is a regular happy, not manic, and she is motivated. She's already registered for college and has orientation next week.

The medications are obviously working at the moment, she is so happy to have found a combo that works and says she doesn't want to stop taking them, so that's a great sign. I know that stopping meds is a possibility for many with BP disorder, so I asked her to promise me that she will tell me if meds aren't working well at any point.

My question is likely so different for everyone, but I am worrying about relapses. What kind of things might trigger a hypomanic or depressive episode? How can her dad and I support her in the best way possible? My mom was bipolar and it made her life so difficult, but she didn't have a support system. I am hoping that our family being there for her will make all the difference.