Bipolar disorder

[woopdidoodoo]

Depression is something that I have had for awhile, since I turned 20 I guess, but it could have even been before then however that was when I was officially diagnosed with it.

Now we are looking into things more seriously as I could have bipolar, I'm just wanting to know if anyone has bipolar and could they share they're experiences with me to see if I have anything similar? I'm just trying to see whether my doctor is right or whether I've been reading too much information.

What happens to people who have bipolar?

I have mood swings they can happen pretty often
I also have urges that feels like they wont go away until I do something about it, at random times I could feel like I have to go out and steal something from a shop.

I get really motivated one day and can clean for hours at a time, and then the next day I'll be stuck in bed just feeling like I cannot do anything.

I focus on things I can't change too much and in my head thoughts whirl around obsessively.
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[Annie]

my older brother is bipolar so I know a bit about it. Yeah it is a lot of mood swings, he has been on his meds for years now and is a totally nice guy but if he has to go off them, like when he was in the hospital a few years back, he is completely intolerable. It makes it very hard for people who are bipolar to control their emotions, the tiniest things will change them from fine and happy to pissed off or from depressed to in a good mood. you might want to try looking stuff up online about it.
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[Reiyuka]

One of my close friends is bipolar, actually, so I did some research on it - because I wanted to know how to best deal with her during her "mood swings".

I think there are three different kinds of bipolar, or at least three different gradiations. The one my friends has is type two, I think, which means that her periods of mania or depression are a lot less intense then they are for other people. So, I can only really talk about what I know from her and from what I've read about it. (also, she doesn't take medicine, I don't think)

The mood swings are pretty intense, but usually there are things that are sort of an indication. When she hits mania - which is the period where you're motivated and on top of the world - she's just really kind of fun to talk to, although a bit tiring. She'll want to do EVERYTHING at once, and will just sorta decide that something is a good idea, while it's really not.
In the serie "The Starter Wife", someone describes it as skiing. The mania is like skiing down a really beautiful slope and going really fast without breaks, until you suddenly hit the bottom. Another person I read about said that it was like having a voice in your head that altered everything people said to her. The smallest thing one can say will be turned into an insult in her head, and she'll hit rock-bottom.
This "bottom" cannot really be described as depression, but more like a mean kind of mania. She'll call me every foul name in the book, is impossible to reason with, and despite being truly a bitch and actually causing me to cry or get seriously pissed off... the moment she gets out of that period, she won't remember a thing about it, and will expect me to have forgiven her without fail. She truly does not remember all the names she called me, or all the horrible things she said, or the ways she lashed out at me.

The depressions I think are less noticeable with her, I guess, because I've only ever known her as being somewhat depressed. She'll hate her art, hate school, hate parents - it's like puberty x20. Though she does the lashing out less, it's a simple truth (and I don't mean this in a bad way, seriously!) that a depressed person is selfish. She'll be focused only on herself, think only of her needs and her desires. And I don't mind that, usually (unless I have my own things to worry and whine about) but it can get very tiring if that depression lingers for months.

I don't want you to be too scared, though. I think bipolar syndrome is different for everyone, and also, if you do your best to keep it in check yourself (my friend has adapted an attitude of "I'm bipolar so I need to be forgiven for everything", including the things she does when she's NOT in mania) it should be fine. The lady I read about said that her friends had taken to telling her, "You're overreacting", and though at first she'd gotten really mad at that, rationally she realized that they were right, and whenever they said such a thing to her, she did her best to accept their judgement of the situation, rather then the twisted version she had in her mind.

Living with bipolar is absolutely manageable, especially if you take a light dose of lithium and see a therapist from time to time.
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