Tmac,

thank goodness for people here at PC who can really give you something concrete. I have no experience in bipolor disorder, but my heart goes out to you.

I think the other posters, expecially the one Sky gave are sound advice. And it is so difficult to make the right moves when you aren't thinking well.

And family members really haven't lived inside your head to know what it is really like for you. Only you know that. Doctors can only explain so much to them.

I have/had only a mild form of short term depression, but it comes back sometimes when I get too stressed, etc....blah blah blah, but my daughter has had a hard time getting her head around that. She truely doesn't understand. She has said to me before, it is only a feeling.

They had a dear friend commit suicide a few weeks ago, and she said she was so mad at him for the act, from a religious point of view. I tried to get her to understand that he was most likely depressed. Depression is a mental illness and sometimes others don't see it for what it is. You just get the help YOU need and ask you docs to help you with the medication if it really isn't helping as much as you think it should. Reread Sky's great sounding advise.

We want you here at PC.