BPD and explaining to others

[April]

Good morning,

Yesterday after 6 years of knowing something isn't right and feeling completely disconnected from myself I finally was given a formal diagnosis...BPD.
This did not come as a complete shock as I have known for a long time that I did not think the same way as other's and now I can see a small light at the end of the tunnel which I am working towards to gain recovery.

However the one thing I cannot get out of my mind is telling my boyfriend, he knows I am on antidepressants and I have hinted several times that I have the odd panic attack, but his attitude is there isn't anything wrong with me and there isn't anything someone can 'get over' with positive thinking (oh if only he was right ay?).

I want to say, 'hey btw.....', but I fear his flippant, non-understanding comments will send me into a spiral of self doubt and loathing.
I would like to add that he was very ill as a child and was wheelchair bound for main years, I cannot get my head around the stigma of an illness people cannot see in comparison to a physical one.

Any advice greatly received,

April x

[Charlie1986]

You say when you feel comfortable. When I got diagnosed it helped to finally know what was wrong. Now I'm medicated and I feel more level and less explosive which was my issue. My impulses are still there but I control them for the most part.

There is stigma with illness but I'd rather be labeled BPD and get the proper treatment and get better than ignore the problem because I'm worried about what other people think.

as harsh as it sounds if he loves you it won't matter. He will support you and want you to recover. I'm lucky my girlfriend sticks by me even in my bad times. I'd prepared her already saying this is what I think I have before my official diagnosis so she did a lot of reading on how to deal with it as an outsider. Maybe suggest that your boyfriend read up on it so he has some understanding?

its hard but you owe it to you to get better and the people who matter will stick by you and if they don't then they don't matter.  .

it gets easier I promise.

[Mirlyn]

I'm not diagnosed yet but when I was searching for answers to my irrational behaviors and mood swings I stumbled across some websites that listed the criteria from the DSM and I actually fell into every single category for diagnosis. I had always thought I had something similar to bipolar but I never had the highs associated with it. Anyway, when I found the information, I started googling "relationships with BPD" and such. I found articles that sounded like my exboyfriend or I could have wrote them verbatim. I sent them to him. He at first said, "nah I don't think you have BPD but it does sound like us." Then a few days later after he did some research on his own he said he thought it was quite possible and he actually did want to support me. I pushed him away anyway but that's just how I am I guess. I push away then I panic and pull them back. When I'm a good partner, I'm the BEST, when I'm swinging though I am absolutely volatile and vicious.

 

Maybe share some articles with him like that? It seemed to go over pretty well.