14 Questions To Ask Your Future Bipolar Husband’s Psychiatrist-Part 1
Contemplating marriage to someone with bipolar disorder? Your marriage will not be like any of your friends’ or family who do not have to deal with this extra relationship challenge.
Here are 15 questions to ask the psychiatrist about your future husband or wife if he/she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
- How can I participate in my future bipolar husband’s/wife’s therapy plan?
- What are the potential long-term side effects of lithium and/or other psychiatric drug treatements?
- Is there a chance that the medication prescribed now will become ineffective? If yes, what happens then?
- How will other medications or alcohol affect my fiancee over time if he gets sick, has bad allergies or drinks too much?
- What if the dosage on the medication(s) is too high? What does medicinal toxicity look like? Is a blood test twice a year enough to detect this?
- Will my bipolar future husband or wife ever be “cured?” Will he/she ever be able to stop taking medication?
- Are there other treatment options besides medication?
- What are the bipolar disorder “warning signals” I should watch out for?
- What are the risks to our marriage? What’s the worst that could happen? What are the chances of that happening?
- Should we have children? What are the chances we’ll pass bipolar disorder to them? Is that an ethical consideration? Or a medical one?
- Will bipolar disorder medication affect my future bipolar husband’s or wife’s ability to have children?
- All things being equal, what percentage of a “normal” life can we hope to have together if he/she stays on a treatment plan?
- How will bipolar disorder affect my future husband’s/wife’s ability to get medical insurance?
- Does medical treatment for bipolar disorder shorten somebody’s lifespan or damage health or organs?
- What should I be asking you about marriage to a bipolar husband or wife that I haven’t asked you yet?
Obviously, this is a lot of ground to cover with a medical professional. But even if it takes more than one session with your future bipolar husband’s/wife’s psychiatrist to get these questions answered, you’ll want to take your time in absorbing the enormity and ramifications of the answers.
No doubt you’ll want to discuss the answers with your future spouse, as well. Better to be informed as possible before you walk down the aisle than to be surprised with information you hadn’t considered after the wedding.