Bipolar II and Back Pain too

That's the official word. DH's nurse practitioner told him that it's officially official. It's maddening to know that two years ago someone could have made this leap, given us some Lithium, and every aspect of our lives would probably be much better than it is now. But "better late than never", right?

I've spent some time now trying to learn more about Bipolar II now that I know what we're up against. It makes sense. In hindsight, there are even more signs than I thought there were. Like the cleaning. Some days, he might start off by loading the dishwasher at noon, and at 3am the next day he wasn't sleeping and was still cleaning things in the house...I never even recognized it as manic at the time...and the last job he had, he was a handyman, and he was remodeling an office building for the company he was working for. He would work 18 hours a day on that project. And then, when his boss would say something like, "I hope you didn't spend too much on that door,", he'd completely fall apart and be convinced that he was worthless and his work was crappy, when actually, he got a lot of compliments for his work.

And for what it's worth, DH's back pain is completely gone. So much that he went to his back pain support group and recommended that they all examine their emotional state(s), because he is finally willing to recognize and admit that much, if not all, of the back pain was related to his emotional problems.

Hindsight's 20/20, too. Reading the Bipolar II definitions in the context of DH, I can see all sorts of things that I didn't see at the time. I am hoping that we never have to do this again. I am hoping that he is one of the people who take Lithium and remain stable for the rest of their lives.