Bipolar and Chiari behavior changes

[woods5t]

i have bi-polar disorder AND chiari  - both of these cause behavior changes, obviously

recently i got into an argument with my husband, and i completely changed - i was screaming at him (yelling is something i know i do in a manic rage, unfortunately, but not this level of screaming), and then i started hitting him (something i have NEVER done) and i said some really nasty things to him, to the point where he told me he will never look at me the same and called me a monster

i really don't remember the fight much - i remember screaming and wanting to take a swing at him, and him calling me a monster - the rest i was told about by him after i had calmed down and was rational again

i don't know what to do, what happened, or how to prevent it from happening again - i tried to talk to my therapist about it, and her entire spiel was how to be mind-full of everything and practice my breathing techniques when i'm angry - that doesn't work when i'm manic, and especially didn't work when what the hell ever happened on that night

i'm lost as to what i should do - my regular dr isn't even taking appointments now, my therapist is brushing me off on this, and my psychiatrist "only handles the random biological stuff" and everything else is what my therapist is for

any advise would be appreciated - either on how to handle this myself, or how to tell off my doctors

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum,

May I ask when you got your Chiari DX and have you had surgery?

Also have you had ALL related conditions ruled out?

I will admit, I had an issue like this...not quite as bad but yes, I would lose myself in an argument where I could not stop....so, what I did notice was it was more or less a phase as I had it when I was younger....Chiari symptoms cycle and change thru out its course....

I would suggest you see a Chiari specialist to reviewed especially if it has been some time since your last MRI....you could have compression of the brain stem causing these manic sessions to occur.

[tattooer601]

Wow,  extremely sorry about your ma iv episode.

  I've been diagnosed bipolar with schizo effective disorder.

  When Chiari symptoms flare there's so much pain and stress for the patient,combine this with a manic episode & its sadly a recipe for lashing out.

   Well not to downgrade your therapist, but maybe concider more efficient treatment for your bipolar disorder.
   For myself, when stressed my Chiari symptoms increase, same goes for my manic cycles, it's a self torturing cycle I experience often.

  Not knowing if you have gotten surgery or not I wonder if a more effective symptom management could help you through your toughest times.
   Possibly medicine with your breathing exercises could give you a better way to cope until there's better relief made available to you.

  Do have ya had surgery already?