Autistic and Bipolar brother

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I need some advice or just need to talk to someone that is going through the same experiences.

I have aspergers and mild learning differculties such as dyslexia and my brother has severe autism and bipolar disorder

he goes through spells on when he's aggressive and suicidal and recently he keeps disappearing and running away from home. Trouble is he isn't streetwise and cannot be independent as it's quite severe and I dunno what to do.

Since my gran died this year, he's relapsing quite bad and when he's like this, he tries to run into the road or even tries to jump out of a car when he wants too.

Due to cut backs, theirs no respite here and we don't receive any for him and social services cannot cope with him as they need two people at a time to take him out and they haven't been much help. Also the autistic society is a let down and weren't a help.

I don't know what to do. I get depression and anxiety as it is and when he gets aggressive or suicidal or disappears, it makes things worse, we often get the police out as a last resort to keep him in jail overnight when he's aggressive or get them to help us find him.

Today he disappeared for a while too and we had to look for him and get the police out.

my familys' falling apart, theirs too much stress and pressure.

I feel hopeless.
Anyone else going through anything similar?

No personal experience in this regard, just some basic knowledge of psychology, bu the fact he goes through spells seems to be more of a bipolar than autism thing, at least from the information I have here. Is there any trigger to his spells that you notice, or do they just occur periodically? Does he take any medication?

Is he verbal and able to be reasoned with to a certain extent?

I feel your pain. I'm fortunate that I'm not in your situation. I hope there will be a way to resolve this situation so that all benefit, including your brother.

I don't know anyone personally who is both bipolar and autistic, but I have bipolar family members. They're really hard to deal with when they're not medicated. I would think that medicating someone with both would be difficult because autistic people tend to react a little differently to medications, even over the counter ones. But it can be like a miracle for bipolar people to be on the right medication. It's worth trying different ones to find something that works.

I know it's not politically correct these days to say someone can be normal so we put it in quotes like this- "normal." But that's what I would say happens when a bipolar person is on the right meds. Before they're out of control and making themselves and the people that love them miserable. On the right meds they're themselves, but a normal person.

Thank you all for replying.

My brother has both autism and bipolar which Is a terrible combination, although he can talk verbally and his reading skills is limited, he is otherwise on the lower end of the spectrum.

He sees a doctor from the psychiatric ward every six months and is on medication but at the moment, they don't seem to be doing much for him.

Every so often we have people out from the mental health team to inject him with valium and restrain him, when he gets violent.

I'm glad that most of you that replied, aren't going through anything similar, wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I am also HFA with bipolar disorder. I would often have these spells as a teen and they were usually caused by stresses within the home and not being understood by my family. That can make any autistic person want to run away and never come back. I never took any medications other than Lexapro for anxiety, but I think it is important to talk to your brother and let him know that you feel his pain and understand what he is going through. What I found was very helpful to stabilize my mood were B12 injections (hydroxocobalamin). I know it doesn't sound like the most savvy advice but it did calm me down as quite a bit and really take the edge off my aggressive and irritable behavior. Sugar and gluten were also cut out because I found out I would become horribly emotional after eating too many starches and sweets. Some autistics have various GI problems like that. I also take a good multivitamin to make sure I am getting all my nutrients everyday.

I still go through mood swings but they are a 180 change to the mood swings that I was having before I did any of those things. If you cannot get access to B12 shots, you can also order some lozenges online. Hydroxocobalamin and methylcobalamin should be used. Stay away from cyanocobalamin because it contains cyanide and was horrible when I was injected with it. If you are unaware of the benefits of b12 for autistics and those with psych disorders, I highly recommend that you research it- it may help him a great deal.

All the best~