Bipolar sister, age 57, unmedicated, what can I expect with aging

[Anonymous]

I have a bipolar sister who is age 57. She has early onset bipolar. Technically she is more unipolar. I've never seen depression. She gets grandiosity, mania, rage, psychosis, and general nastiness. I'm curious what I can expect in her 60's and 70's.

[Anonymous]

It may get worse, for sure. But if her mobility decreases, she may be less able to take action that would place her in danger.

I would make sure you know how to file for an emergency psych hold.

[Anonymous]

You can expect more and more problems from her, that’s for sure

[Anonymous]

My brother is like this, 52, but lives overseas in our parents home country. No wife or kids. Has an inheritance which he has almost squandered, but now has rental income. I pray he will be ok and not burden others. He refuses to return to the US, though he was born here.

[Anonymous]

Pp here— your description to a t sounds like my brother, who was very highly educated. It’s sad to see him this way. He has ups and downs, though mainly is manic with delusions, etc. unmedicated forever.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My sister is a Wharton graduate. I think her symptoms are less than some since she eats very healthy and was an Olympic athlete so she is still very fit

Her behavior has spiraled in the last 8 months. I think she is drinking more. We went through a bad spell when she was 40. It was 6 months of hell. She was hospitalized for 4 weeks but when she was released she told my Mom that she was misdiagnosed and there was nothing wrong with her.

[Anonymous]

Might have a higher chance of getting FrontoTemporal Dementia.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/acps.13362

[Anonymous]

Mania tends to decrease and depression increase.

[Anonymous]

Has she gone through menopause yet?

Perimenopause is rough for bipolar people. Hormone changes and swings.

[Anonymous]

My mother was bipolar. V bad 18 to about 35, many hospitalizations. Long stable period from 35 to 55, after family court told her to live with her parents to keep custody of me.

Had a terrible, terrible psychotic breakdown at 55, kicked off by her parents running out of money to keep her in her own apartment. I’m not sure when she went through menopause. Was mostly in hospitals and group homes after that, awful psychotic manias and depressions so bad they were testing her for, like, creutzfdeld-Jacob at one point. She was tiny and probably anorexic, and medication side effects were awful; restlessness, involuntary motions, anxiety. She died in her sleep, in-patient at a psych hospital, at 61. Probably had broken a collarbone (also terrible osteoporosis) and had been in pain, but no known physical problems at the time otherwise. Awful shock for the staff, who had been so kind to her.

It was a terrible few years for her. I was mostly a few hundred miles away but came home for crises. Her younger brother is also troubled and was living with her parents, and wouldn’t let her stay there as well—hence the group homes.

[Anonymous]

If you are lucky, a quick death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a bipolar sister who is age 57. She has early onset bipolar. Technically she is more unipolar. I've never seen depression. She gets grandiosity, mania, rage, psychosis, and general nastiness. I'm curious what I can expect in her 60's and 70's.

You may want to get in touch with NAMI, OP. Their family to family course will be informative and a source of support.

[Anonymous]

My sister was hospitalized for bipolar at age 16 and took lithium. She was prone to violent rages with me and our grandmother. she managed to keep her cool around our mother so I always figured she was faking her psychotic behavior. Violent events included smashing my grandmother’s trinkets so the police had to come, banging a field hockey stick on a board game I was doing with my friends (when she was 14), regularly strewing the top of my dresser. And the screaming and the fake scripture quotes…thou shalt not dismay thee child for thou hast sinned…ridiculous. We had gaps in our contact during our adult years. I naively assumed she will grow out of it, why would anyone want to act like that? She didn’t. This past spring we were getting along so well, we even traveled to another country. Well, the ugly side came out and ended with her hurling my suitcase on the floor and screaming for me to leave, so that was that. Very sad she never got any real treatment apparently. She makes a lot of money with her web businesses. I think if she needed private caregivers she would burn them out quickly.

[Anonymous]

^She’s in her early 50s.

[Anonymous]

My mom is bipolar, and when she was in her early 70s, the geriatric psychiatrist told us that there was a higher likelihood of dementia for this population. By the time she was in her late 70s she was unable to pay bills, and by her early 80s she could no longer work the dishwasher. She’s now in her 90s in a memory care unit. (She had been an accountant.)
She stopped having manic episodes even without medication in her 70s, but remains depressed.
It’s a hard road for everyone involved.