What challenges can I expect as caregiver for a bipolar person?

Caring for a loved one with bipolar disorder can be exhausting and disruptive to your daily patterns. More often than not, you may even overlook your own personal physical and emotional needs.

When you take on the role of caregiver, you add more than just one new hat to your repertoire. Now you are "nurse," "doctor," advocate, case manager plus your previous roles as wife, mother, father, sibling. Where there's caregiving, there's stress -- that feeling that comes from having too many demands on your time. Chronic tension suppresses your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness. Research shows that caregivers' stress hormone levels were 23 percent higher than those of their non-caregiving counterparts. They also had lower levels of disease-fighting antibodies. This is why it is crucial to find ways to take stress-relieving breaks.