RESEARCH your medications. Look up the side effects. Communicate actively with your physician. If you notice something and you don't tell your doctor, your doctor can not help you. I use crazymeds.us.
They have cute and easy to understand side effects, uses, and have links to the patient information sheets (the technical jargon). Also, they incorporate humor into the descriptions which is really refreshing.

SLEEP. Every day and as regularly and ontime as possible. Make yourself a schedule and try keeping it. If you have trouble falling asleep or waking up on time, look into a dawn simulator (or one that doubles as a dusk simulator).

GET OUTSIDE. Maybe you're going to exercise, maybe you just will go for a slow walk, or read a book, but SUNLIGHT IS NECESSARY TO YOUR HEALTH. Both to process vitamins and it IMPROVES your mood.

EAT. Healthy and regularly. Do not avoid meals. If you can, break down your regular meals so that you have more energy. (I cut lunch into two small meals) This will also help you avoid snacking. Being that weight gain is one of the much dreaded side of effects of most of our medications its good to do everything possible to maintain a healthy weight because extra weight can increase the likelihood of comorbidities like diabetes. More medications, more work.

KEEP A JOURNAL. Chart your moods so that you and your providers can discuss the best course of treatment for you. What you're not telling them could make your treatment more difficult. Also, mood charts are a good reference for you too! You can observe your progress first hand. If you're more of a handson person you can print out mood charts from dbsalliance.com (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance). If you like online tools you can use moodtracker.com to chart your moods, set reminders to take medication (and other things) to your phone (FOR FREE) and facingus.com for many tools including a crisis support plan, discovering your triggers, preventions methods, and medication calenders. If you don't like the format for the print out, there are many out there. Google 'em.

ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT OPTIONS. Vitamins are excellent. Please read all the labels. I take a multivitamin, Vitamin B12 1000mcg, and Super B Complex once daily. I mistakenly purchased the supplement SAM-e and didn't read that if you have BP I it can throw you into a severe mania, but if you're more likely to maintain heavy depression, you may want to talk to your doctor about this! Omega 3 is also really great, I hear, but I need to do more research myself. Something I'm also looking into that seems really promising is bright light therapy. It really helps with stagnant, icky depression that won't go away apparently.

EDUCATE yourself and others. Reading up on your condition(s) may lead you to recognize things that you didn't even consider to be issues. I know I've had my epiphanies lately. Currently, I've been knee deep in some really awesome books I want to share with you:
-Bipolar Disorder for Dummies
-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies
-The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings by Monica Ramirez Basco
-Taming Bipolar Disorder by Lori Olinwenstein

Educate your friends and family. It helps to be understood and to have a strong support group. One of the best ways to educate you and those you love would be the documentary Paddy mentioned a few days ago: Secret Life of the Manic Depressive. Stephen Fry gives his account of being bipolar and interviews several other people who have bipolar.

REMEMBER: You are not alone.

Utilize community and peer support. There are many places out there that can get you discounts on medication, group therapy, social support groups, and state health care. If you are in crisis, call 1-800-SUICIDE or 911.

ASK for help if you need it. It's not a weakness, its a strength.

P.s. I want to thank everyone who have been supportive, kind, and helpful in my times of need. Each one of you has helped me to thrive when everything seemed hopeless. Thank you so much.