Replies to '08/01 Extreme Highs and Lows'

I have it.
And a couple other things going on.

It isn't easy to deal with. I have already been through a lot of med combinations and I am still trying to get it right.  A lot of the side effects can be really harsh and sometimes it ends up that the med doesn't work.  But I am better and getting better.

It takes time and maintenance.

And not everyone is trying to be mean, I am sure.
But I think that there *are* a lot of ignorant people, and if someone would like to say that there is no organic basis than please reference your sources.

Doesn't mean I am not responsible for my actions- manic or depressed or mixed.
I can't just flip out at someone in a grocery store because they took the last container of organic strawberries and say that is perfectly fine because of my disorder and I don't have to apologize, even if my meds are being adjusted and I am dealing with a bad case of insomnia.

It makes me mad and sad sometimes that people just don't get it, but I can't just say 'you don't know what you're talking about' because that never helps anyone.

...

Bipolar Disorder is complex.
It's not a fun ride.   Hypo/mania can be addictive and the cycle is hard to break.
Because when you are depressed, you want to get help. A lot of times, by the time you decide that you are truly depressed and not just tired or cranky or the victim of some takeout that just ''didn't sit right'', you could be too depressed to actually go some where, seek help, go to work, call friends, leave the house, take a shower, get out of bed...

And then it starts to clear up and you feel better for a while and things are ok and you put it in the back of your head. A lot of times, BPII's have more depression than hypomania, and have several depressive episodes before that first hypomanic episode.

Which happens one of two ways- on it's own, in which case you are DEFINATELY convinced there is nothing wrong with you because for a while you don't need sleep and can think a lot more and read more and clean the house quicker and do things with all sorts of efficiency that you never did before.

Or you finally get help for your depression, sometimes you react to a med and it could elevate you a little too much.

Either way, it can start the up down up down.

But- your down, you may take meds. You feel better, ok. That passed, I don't feel so bad anymore.  I probably don't need meds. The hypo/mania is hard to pull away from because who needs meds when you feel *good*, right?

It can include obsessive thinking, compulsive behavior, problems with relationships and organizational skills, insomnia, cognitive issues, risk taking behavior.
The suicide rate can be very high.

So.
I'm not a professional. That is just what I pull out of my head for how to describe BP a little bit.

But it doesn't describe me.

If you are reading about the disorder, please keep that in mind. I am someone who has bipolar, but I am not the diagnosis itself. So when people say uneducated or ignorant things, I have to try to read it in that context.


And I may have, once again, wandered away from the original intent. not sure.