Berly, when I first saw a psychiatrist years ago, she gave me the following instructions:

1. Do not drink alcohol; it makes bipolar illness worse.
2. Do not eat or drink anything with caffeine in it; it makes the illness worse.
3. Take your meds.
4. Establish a routine sleep schedule and try to adhere to it.

Now, after years of living with the disorder, I've learned a few other things that might help someone. (And that is my sole purpose: to try to help.)

Some of us are sensitive to caffeine; for those of us who are, it's not good for us to use coffee, tea, or chocolate because of the effects they have on the central nervous system. (Read, please, Ruth Whalen's article called "caffeine allergy" on DoctorYourself.com) You will know it if you have a sensitivity to it, according to my latest psychiatrists's view. It takes a while to get it out of the system if you have the sensitivity.

I need a sleep aid occasionally and Clonazepam helps. (Himalayan sea salt is helpful, too, because it's a sleep inducer. American processed sea salt is different and won't work.) 5htp Tryptophan is also helpful for some folks.

Everyone's body chemistry is different so you will need to do what you can to find what you need to do to help your chemistry a little. Eating fresh vegetables and fresh salads is helpful.

You've probably been told that bipolar illness is a chemical imbalance (and also an
inflammatory condition, my psychiatrist says). Whatever you can do to improve
that status is helpful. My psychiatrist recommended the Omega 3 fatty acids to help.

Please do some research on helpful ideas for managing bipolar illness. There are plenty of them out there, but you have to pick and choose which ones you want to believe and see if some of them work. Please always discuss these things with your psychiatrist for your best help.

This illness is manageable and will improve over the years if you take the proper medications and are careful about your exercise and diet. You may be better off than ever before if you work at solving the puzzle, even though it is an illness.

I wish you a lot of success on your journey to know as much as you can about the illness to help you and make you feel stronger.

Good wishes and keep posting as you wish.

Genetic