My husband's bipolar delusions are back

[ginnyinWI]

19. my brother is bi-polar.

He is divorced and 64 years old. Let me tell you what has happened in the last year or so. He had been on lithium for about 25 years and doing fine. Then suddenly, not so fine. His son found him sitting in a chair doing nothing, not eating, drinking, or taking care of himself Was having hallucinations--people walking around his apartment.
He was hospitalized and evaluated and they told him he was on too much lithium and should cut his dose in half. Well then he decided that meds were BAD and that he would be just fine without any! Got back home and did just that. He decided to go ahead with is plan to move several states away and began preparations.
Well long story short, he got worse and worse. Out of control spending, making friends with a bunch of grifters who stole from him and got him kicked out of where he was living. Eventually his other son, who lived nearby, got him evaluated and the court judged to be "seriously mentally ill" and unable to be responsible for himself. He of course disagrees!
Now, six months later, he's living in a group home and only can go out with supervision. He is back on meds but he still isn't stable. Something has changed--whether his illness is worse now, or whether there is some dementia added to it. I guess you can have more than one thing going on at the same time.
They are working on getting him stable with meds, but he is permanently under the guardianship of his son and our brother for his care and financial matters.
I hope your husband can be brought back, but sometimes it just isn't in the cards. My brother still thinks he can get out and move somewhere with more freedom, have a car and driver's license again, and start that business he'd been dreaming about. The reality is that he is going to stay right there under the care of the state and his family, or somewhere similar with just as much supervision. He's getting medical care now, at least, seen a dentist finally, and has gained back some of the 40 or so pounds that he'd lost by not eating, sleeping. But he's still not back.