It really does... and it's reassuring to know that each of us experiences the physicaility of the disorder, albeit in different ways... we spend so much time talking about how to cope with what's going on mentally, but rarely address the physical nightmare that bipolar episodes can cause... perhaps sharing our stories we can uncover some ways to cope with the physical stress in addition to managing the mental hardships... at least that's my goal!!!

on that note, i just wondered.. is the actual cycling simply exhausting for any of you?? when i transition from high to low or to in between... it causes such a complete physical exhaustion (of course, it's mentally exhausting too, that goes without saying) that sometimes there's just nothing left of me to get up and keep going through the day.. i literally take anywhere from several hours to a full day or longer to recouperate and recover before i'm back to what i'll call my actual self.... anyone else experience this?? and have you found any means by which you can recover more quickly or deal more effectively with the physical aftermath of the cycling and/or episodes??

@landskaperdan & BipolaRNurse

i have found that over the years, my sense of self-awareness has progressed quite a bit from when i first started actually acknowledging & trying to flounder my way through dealing with the illness... i was a wreck for at least the first ten years i was experiencing the symptoms of the illness... even after being diagnosed, i often had no real sense of what exactly it was that i was feeling & absolutely NO awareness that what i was going thru was being caused directly by the changes in my brain chemistry... to be honest, when i was diagnosed, i didn't have a clue what the diagnosis even meant... or what it would mean for the rest of my life...

it takes time, and it really sucks ***** in the mean time... but hopefully over time, your ability to accurately identify (and thus be capable of processing & dealing with) what's going on inside will also grow... and in time, you will be all the more in tune with your brain's chemical changes & how they manifest in your physical being... you will feel more empowered & be more able to effectively address what you're going through and hopefully manages some of what's causing it...

unfortunately, i don't think there are many things about bipolar that lend themselves to being tagged, identified & boxed neatly to fit on a shelf in any organized manner... the intangibility of what we experience, both physically and mentally, can be exasperating beyond words... i think that's why it's so incredibly difficult to explain to anyone who doesn't actually experience it themselves... and also why so many people in our lives have trouble gaining a full understanding of what we actually go through...

that being said, i am very thankful to have pc so i can talk to other people who have basically been in my shoes.. and not only walked a mile... but run a marathon...