Hi all,
This is my first post so be gentle with me.
Ok my story is as follows:
In December 2012 I met a wonderful girl, we got on incredibly well straight away and I knew that i wanted to be with her, Pretty much from the off she told me that she had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at the age of 14 (she is now 26) (this is now possibly being diagnosed as BPD) and basically gave me the option to "bail out", i knew that this was not an option for me as i liked her to much and felt we could have something special.
We have been seeing each other for 3 months and she is an amazing girl, for the first time in my life (i am 41) i have fallen totally in love, we have such a strong perfect relationship when things are good.
However, she has had to fairly major depressive episodes in the last 3 months, lasting a total of about 5 days, but to those of you who know BPD will know how low a person can go.
The thing is i feel like i have let her down (she also tells me this) as i did not realise until it was too late that she was spiralling down, the most recent episode which is actually at the moment she tried to hide she was feeling sad so i totally did not see it coming and now she is telling me she is having doubts about us because i have let her down and i should of realised how she was feeling, we have not really spoke for 3 days and its ripping me apart, i am trying to say and do the right things but i am not getting though.
The easy thing would be to say "sod it" and walk away, but i genuine love the girl and want to be the person she needs, not just during good times but during the bad too.
I dont know what i want from this forum if i am honest, i guess i just want to know what other people who "care" for sufferers do, how can i better myself and let my girlfriend know that i can be there for her when she needs me.
I hope the above makes sense, Thanks
This is my first post so be gentle with me.
Ok my story is as follows:
In December 2012 I met a wonderful girl, we got on incredibly well straight away and I knew that i wanted to be with her, Pretty much from the off she told me that she had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at the age of 14 (she is now 26) (this is now possibly being diagnosed as BPD) and basically gave me the option to "bail out", i knew that this was not an option for me as i liked her to much and felt we could have something special.
We have been seeing each other for 3 months and she is an amazing girl, for the first time in my life (i am 41) i have fallen totally in love, we have such a strong perfect relationship when things are good.
However, she has had to fairly major depressive episodes in the last 3 months, lasting a total of about 5 days, but to those of you who know BPD will know how low a person can go.
The thing is i feel like i have let her down (she also tells me this) as i did not realise until it was too late that she was spiralling down, the most recent episode which is actually at the moment she tried to hide she was feeling sad so i totally did not see it coming and now she is telling me she is having doubts about us because i have let her down and i should of realised how she was feeling, we have not really spoke for 3 days and its ripping me apart, i am trying to say and do the right things but i am not getting though.
The easy thing would be to say "sod it" and walk away, but i genuine love the girl and want to be the person she needs, not just during good times but during the bad too.
I dont know what i want from this forum if i am honest, i guess i just want to know what other people who "care" for sufferers do, how can i better myself and let my girlfriend know that i can be there for her when she needs me.
I hope the above makes sense, Thanks