Living With Bipolar

One day you are "up" to the point of "mania," and the next your "down" into depression. This is what having bipolar is like. Most of these people get down so far they start having suicidal thoughts. About 30% have tried suicide at least once in their lifetime. The onset of this illness usually is found in young adulthood.

Most people with this illness have been known to be very active, outgoing and daring; and usually are very artistic types. A lot of children have been misdiagnosed as having ADHD when they really have one of these disorders. There are several different types of bipolar disorder, so most of all just get all the information you can on the type of disorder so it can be better managed.

People with bipolar can even have long stretches of time where this illness does not affect them at all. But the best way to deal with this is to be knowledgeable and get your family and friends knowledgeable too. Because this can sometimes be very severe, people tend to shrug off everything they do as being a part of their illness.

Although it is very severe at times it can be mostly managed by medications they have found to be effective in treating these symptoms, nothing has been found to cure it; being able to tell when an episode is coming on, maybe even calling your doctor or loved one to help you through it, not consuming drugs or alcohol, these have been known to "trigger" episodes, even coffee and other forms of stimuli. Do not take other medications, even over-the-counter, without first`talking to your doctor, these can sometimes cause side effects against the medications you are on for bipolar disorder.