Living with Bipolar

First to answer the most common question:
What is Bipolar?? Well everyone has feelings of happiness and sadness once in a while. Feeling high and feeling low are part of life. But for someone with bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression), these feelings can be extreme:The ups and downs can sometimes be too much for one to cope with, they can interfere with every day life and sometimes they can be dangerous. Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition. It can be hard for health care providers to diagnose. To help with the diagnoses you need to know about your condition and help your health care provider know what you are feeling or going through. (see http://www.bipolar.com/ for some more information).

So now that you know a little about bipolar I will tell you about my life. I have been diagnosed bipolar and have been living with it for many years. When they first wanted to start my treatment I was still in high school and refused to take the medications they wanted to give me. I would read the side effects and get scared about taking it and having the effects happen to me. It took me a long time to come to the realization that I could not cope with my disease any longer without getting help from someone. My doctor started me on prescriptions and we have not yet found the perfect one.

I go from being really happy and excited to very upset and crying. Anything can trigger my moods and that makes it really hard on my family. I wake up some mornings and just do not want to face what is out there. Crawling back under my covers and sleeping the whole day is something I find that I want to do often. However, there is a life out there that I know I must face. I force myself out of bed just so that I can see my little guy and my husband. Sometimes just knowing that they are there supporting me through this makes me feel that much better. It is still a very long hard journey for me to cope with but I am learning how to manage. Some days are a lot better then others, ask my family, they will tell you.

Getting people to understand what I am going through seems to be the biggest problem I have been facing lately. I get myself so upset that I get sick. It's hard to understand what is going on with someone when you have never been there. All the pamphlets and websites help but you know that they really don't get the full picture. You have to go through it to understand completely or at least live with someone who is going through it.

Recently my doctor changed my prescription and I am on new medications. Currently I am taking Seroquel. Seroquel is used to treat bipolar and also Schizophrenia. I have been on it for just over a week and have already noticed a change in my moods and my reactions to situations I am put in. When first starting Seroquel I did notice that I was very tired, dizzy and had anxiety attacks. At one point I was completely out of it and my husband could not wake me. Now that I have past the beginning stages of my medication I seem to be doing better. Even my family has noticed a difference.

There really is no right or wrong when dealing with bipolar. You will do things that help make your condition better and some things will make them worse. It is really a trial and error situation that you need to do to assist in making it easier on yourself. Everyone is different and has to be treated in a certain way. In my case, medication seems to be helping along with the wonderful support I get from my family and some friends.