You’re tired of pretending that everything is alright, tired of telling yourself there is really nothing wrong with you, or that you are just having a bad day…week… month. You realize that you definitely have a problem, but you just aren’t sure what the problem is, though you have your suspicions. You may be asking yourself “Am I bipolar? Why do I feel this way?”

After reading through the symptoms listed in the paragraphs below, you may recognize yourself. You may have bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. People with bipolar disorder typically have dramatic mood swings that range from a manic high to a deep depression. Everyone normally experiences a range of emotional highs and lows, but the bipolar individual’s are much more intense, and can disrupt daily life in a big way.

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i have looked on the net but it doen now give me anything but about bipolar disoreders dunno what to do

I was diagnosed at 17 with Bipolar II Disorder. I’m 20 now and I still can’t get things under control. I’m on medications and mood stabilizers which ok yeah its made a difference but not enough. Well I don’t know if they’ve made a difference. I’m stuck in a depressed phase with the occasional day or two where I feel happy or normal. I’m not suicidal and wouldn’t actually go through with it because of my god kids especially my godson, but with things being so hard I’ll be driving and see a tree up ahead on the side of the road and think “what if” or “what’s holding me back” or I start to think about just how difficult things currently are and how I can’t deal with it and don’t want to anymore. I’ve had a rough life and I don’t want to continue because things aren’t getting easier as time goes by they’re only getting harder. The things that stop me are that I’ve got baby pics of my now 6 year old godson in my wallet to remind me of why I put up with the things I do and I have a picture of my hero, my best friend a soldier over in Iraq right now. I made a promise to him before he deployed that I would look after his niece and nephew while he’s gone who are my godchildren. That promise and those kids are the only things keeping me here. I need something that’s going to help me get through this its just so hard. My friends and family know about me having Bipolar Disorder but mom is in denial, dad cracks jokes or denies, one brother is just a jerk and cracks jokes or says nothing, and the other brother is mentally handicap so he doesn’t understand it. Most of my friends just don’t get it either, they just see it as ok whatever. I only have 1 person who understands it who supports me and that’s because he’s a medic so he knows its not something to mess around with. Its a daily struggle with no support. I can’t do yoga or anything physical to help with the daily stresses because I’m having surgery, in a few days. I can’t keep switching meds because this combo is the only one that keeps my migraines gone. I feel like i’ve run out of options and i’m living in misery now.

This guy I met in out patient therapy is bipolar. I am bipolar too. Do you think it can work out?

I have Bipolar “Manic depression” a mood disorder!

Right this very second I’m in such a bad low depressive state that I have spent minutes off and on thinking about dying!! how nice it would be to get rid of this horrible dark crappy feeling and to get away from this state of mind. Thinking logically, all I want to do is curl up in my warm bed and sleep for ever! in other words die. This is how I feel right now, this day, this second, nice! and for some of you it will seem like I’m reading your mind where as for others I guess they wont have a clue what I’m talking about and will jump to the conclusion that I’m stupid or mad! yet I have a gift as such. Once you have this Bipolar disorder or mood disorder, you are able to understand many other people but sadly some people with never understand you, something I have experienced in my past.

Work is on my mind as once coming down I begin to hate what I do. The boss has no idea how to deal with me as a normal guy let alone having this to deal with. His fault? Well his wife has depression so yes you would think so but I cant hold my mental illness against him. I hate the words “mental illness” as its so umm mental!!  Not one person would raise an eyebrow at a guy with a broken leg or arm but say the magic words “mental illness” and lots of people get so worried and may even avoid you, yet I think I have more people skills and care for others than most! in my opinion.

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Life, they say, is like a wheel. Sometimes you’re up; sometimes you’re down. But if your mood stays that way most of the day or everyday, chances are you have bipolar disorder – a mental disorder that affects 222 million people worldwide and is the sixth leading cause of disabilities worldwide.

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I take bipolar medication and have for a couple years and lately Ive been thinking about suicide and cutting again… but I dont want to think like that It just happens. Everything is going great and I’m loving life but I cant stop thinking about death… what should I do??
I go to my psychiatrist in about two weeks and I cant get in any sooner because shes only at the place I go to 1 day of the week, and Im in counciling.

This is a freedom of speech question that many people will not like, but I challenege people to consider it. Would society as a whole benifit by mandatory sterilization of people that have inheritable disorders and diseases like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, blindness/deafness, dwarfism, mental retardation, and other serious disorders. If you do not support it please answer why you feel people with these disorders have the right to produce children who will inherit these disorders and will suffer?
I watched a special on television about a deaf couple that got married and had children. Guess what happened. One of their children is blind and the other is deaf also. Isn’t that just cruel?
wtf, I never said anything about racial purity, I was talking about diseases and disorders that you can pass to your children. People should voluntarily not have children in these situations but they do anyways.

“Depression runs in the Family” or “It’s in your genes” are commonly given as causes of depression. If you are suffering from depression, being told you are “bound to get it”, can be a very unhelpful statement to have tossed at you. After having looked at the information let’s try to answer the question,” Is Depression Hereditary?”

There is evidence that some forms of depression have a genetic basis, in particular manic depression, or bipolar disorder. However, with those two exceptions most depression is learned, not genetic. Because depression has to do with styles of thinking, behavior and interpersonal relationships, depressive styles can be passed down in families. So if you had a parent or close family member who suffered from depression you will have learned the basic behavior models from them.

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Being diagnosed with an illness can often bring a sense of relief. It can help a person to make sense of the way they have been feeling for some time and draw a line under the frustration of not knowing what their condition was. At the same time though it can also bring up a whole host of new questions and worries, and this certainly happens when a person is diagnosed as being bipolar.
Bipolar disorder or disease as it is also known is a type of mood disorder that can send the bipolar person into manic highs and depressive lows. In between these periods, or episodes, the individual who is bipolar can feel totally normal and this is what can make having a diagnosis of bipolar disorder so hard to cope with.
Unfortunately being diagnosed with bipolar is seen as something as a stigma and this is due, in part to society not fully understanding the impact that being bipolar has on a person. Being diagnosed with bipolar is just the start of a long journey for a person who is striving to become well again and wants to function just like anyone else. It is all too easy to think that as soon as a person finds out they are bipolar all they have to do is to start taking their pills for the disease and this will miraculously cure them in no time. This assumption is wrong.
Instead being diagnosed with bipolar means that the person can now start to find what type of treatment will work the best for them and move forward with their lives. If you have had a recent diagnosis of bipolar you might have mixed feelings about what this will mean for your future so it is essential that you find out all you can about the condition.
Bipolar disorder can be treated in two main ways – with drugs which are prescribed specifically to the individual based on their own needs and the severity of their bipolar disorder and psychosocial treatments. Lithium is often used as it works very well as a mood stabiliser and there are different strengths of this available for doctors to prescribe for people diagnosed as being bipolar. Lamotrigine is also used if the patient has severe episodes of depression as this can help to alleviate the symptoms and further stabilise the mood. There is currently a strong debate over whether or not antidepressants should be used to treat those people who are bipolar as they have been known to be a trigger for depressive episodes, so it is quite unlikely that these would be prescribed.
Psychosocial treatments can come in the form of cognitive behaviour therapies and similar as these work at the core of bipolar disease and help to highlight emotional triggers for a sufferer. In fact many people believe that when used in conjunction with the correct drugs psychosocial therapy can make a big difference to the quality of life for a person who is bipolar.