Topic : Bipolar Disorder

It's a shame the board doesn't get archived anymore.  It always seemed like a fresh start.  It also helped new people stay with the more current postings.  I hope the dr. phil staff rethink their take on the topic.  :)

I notice when I'm getting hypomanic, but it doesn't always get too out of control. Sometimes I will level off again after a few weeks. I do have antipsychotics that kick my butt quick if I'm in danger of needing hospitalization. Haven't been hospitalized since '94. The problem with others trying to tell me that i'm manic is that its hit or miss if they are right. I've been told I'm losing it when all it is is that they are annoyed with me. When they cry wolf too often and it turns out to be a bogus perception, how can I rely on their observations.  

Know Thyself. 

Ted 

I guess if you are not drinking, drugging, spending money wildly or out having an affair there is no harm.  Do you still feel everything so intensely though?  That's the hard part for me.  Oh...ya...and the dang depression.  Uhhhhhh

So what's the key to knowing oneself?

The intensity of my feelings are on a continuum. I experience life from simple black and white to technicolor. Like moving the color adjustment setting on a TV. Move it all the way down and it is rather dull, but move it all the way up and the screen glows with color. I think it strays less from the middle the older I get. 

I think we are all in the process of knowing ourselves better and better. With introspection comes confidence in knowing who you are. What makes you happy. What is important to you. What floats your boat. 

Ted (IL) 

I just wanted to tell you that you are a person who makes me REALLY think. 

Finding out "who" we are is pretty powerful in many aspects. 

You have my ultimate respect for your wisdom. 

Jen 

I claim that I've gotten lost in the process yet my pdoc will say that I'm very introspective.  My college Profs also have made the comment.  I have friends come over to my apartment and they have all commented how much the decor looks like "me".  So where did I get lost? 

Possibly it's just my depressive mind set at the moment that is clouding my vision.  Possibly the medication has altered my personality enough that I'm unrecognizable.  Probably it’s because my emotions are still cycling.  I'm not myself long enough in any given day to truly enjoy it.

This is going from bad to worse.  So what....just the stress of thinking about working again is making me crash?  I can not bear the pain any longer.

how can anyone ever go hungry when you are around  

you deffinatly keep my little brain working and pondering on life. i definatly have to focus on "what floats my boat" instead of what keeps sinking it. After all a hunk of wood or a hunk of metal does not float instead we have to shape it into the correct mould before it can float merrily down the stream. 

hmmm got me thinking Again 

ps i know what the (IL) stands for LOL 

Storm 

I believe the whole feeling process is what confuses my daughter so much. I am often told her feelings are so intense that it is out of control. So how do you control them? Maybe the meds I thought were working really are not working as well as they should.   

I think she is so angry at times because she doesn't know who she is or hwo she is suppose to feel. I am hoping the older she gets the better it will get but the experts are against me on that one saying that if you are diagnosed bp as a child or teen your illness tends to be worse than if diagnosed as an adult. I wonder why that is.  Is it becuase you lose yourself at a younger age? Maybe life span, the longer you live with it the more it affect every part of your being? I am unsure. I keep searching for the answers. 

I agree with everyone else Ted, you have so much wisdom to offer and it also gets me to think about things. 

TTFN TIL!! 

Tam 

I knew it.  

I was so happy, clapping and bouncing around on my couch, yelling "Whoo Hoo!" 

Boy does he have his work cut out for him!