My mother is bipolar and is showing strange symptoms

oh my goodness. i am so sorry to hear this. are you an only child?  do you have a grandmother or does your mother have a sister or brother you could talk to that cares about her well being?  do you have a good school counselor at your school that you could talk to yourself?  your mother needs medication very much. you may have to have some help getting her to take help.  you are going to need some support.  what country are you in?  let me think about this and hopefully others will add to this. hopefully you will have a trusted family member that you look up to that you can start with. When she was diagnosed Bipolar did she have medication?  Would she see that same doctor again??   You are very strong and resourseful to find this board and reach out for help.......Think of someone that your mother may look up to, maybe not a best friend or anything, but someone that you could talk to that she would listen to......   best of luck to you....   keep us posted.

Hello Conrad, Do you have any other family close to you or that you can speak to? It sounds like you and your Mum are going through a real bad patch at the moment, you really should not be trying to deal with this on your own, it's not fair on either of you. Your Mother seems to be in seriouse need of propper medical supervision. There are one of two ways that this is going to happen, either she goes on her own accord or is deemed to unwell/unsafe for herself or others. She is at a stage that is not going to be helped by a simple visit to the Doctors and a script of pills. I must stress how much you need help from either Family or if thats not viable, do you go to School? You must ask them for help as you are still a Minor in the eyes of the Law. I can only imagine what you must be feeling right now but with help, things will get easier. Who have you tried/asked for help so far? Al 

You say your mother is bipolar but you don't know say how you know: was she diagnosed by a doctor, and if so, when? In addition, she attributes the hallucinatory voices in her head to external people who aren't there, which shows lack of insight into her own condition. Lastly, many of the symptoms you describe are those of paranoia, and this is more often associated with schizophrenia, though can be a sign of bipolar disorder. To conclude: your mother needs to be encouraged to see a GP, in order to get a referral to a psychiatrist, so that she can get an up-to-date diagnosis and be offered the latest treatments (medication is more effective for psychotic disorders than other interventions, which isn't the case for all mental health conditions). Since you are only 16, the best move would be to get a supportive relative (if you have one) to assist with getting your mother to see her GP (i.e. go with her and explain things to the doctor).  Don't delay: the sooner she gets help the better it will be for her and for you. Living with someone who has these sorts of untreated problems can really mess your head up (anger is the only start), and, believe me, you don't want that. And remember that many of these conditions are based on faulty brain genes, which means they can be inherited - so learn to monitor yourself for early signs of the same problems, so that if they start to show up in you, you can get treatment before things get out of hand. You can manage bipolar disorder to stop it getting worse but it rarely goes away. Good luck.