My sister is manic bi-poler and uses meth?

by: Ned Wicker

For some bipolar patients, the meth-induced mania is the only time they feel elevated. Some meth addicts who also suffer from bipolar explain that the two seem to go hand-in-hand, so one would feed off the other.

The drug abuse generally occurs more in the manic cycle. The bipolar, although a contributing factor, is not the cause of the addiction.

When bipolar addicts slip into their depressive states, the meth is used to feel good, but that is the driving force behind drug use in general; to feel good.

First, she needs to be in treatment for the meth. That is your priority. Before treatment for the bipolar can be effective, the meth has to be out of her system.

You ask if bipolar is hereditary. There is evidence to support that claim. However, whether that is genetic or environmental is another question.

The depressive cycle of the disease or the manic cycle may be triggered by a family situation. Or those episodes may be cause by an alteration in brain chemistry.

For anyone afflicted with bipolar, suicide is always a concern. In that depressive cycle, thoughts of suicide can crop up and be powerful.

Add to that the addiction to the meth, which is vice-like in its refusal to let the person go, and that can cause a person to give up. They rationalize that they cannot beat the addiction and the only way out is suicide.

Both bipolar and meth addiction can be treated and there is hope. As a family, you need to hold together, have a plan and together move your sister into treatment and recovery.

Does the bipolar disorder cause your sister to want the drug more? Meth doesn?t need any help.

Even without bipolar, meth addicts have been known to run themselves into an early grave, disregarding any and all logic, because the addiction to the drug is that powerful.

That is why she needs meth treatment first. Believe it or not, with the proper medical supervision, she can live a happy and productive life with bipolar and many people have. The meth poses a much greater threat to her.

Meth is a murderer, a heartless, cold-blooded killer of the human spirit. Do what you have to do, but get her into treatment.

Call your doctor, or a local hospital, or a drug treatment center, or Al-Anon and get yourself some help to help her.