hmm,

Maybe I am not the best person for this. My opinions are sometimes strong.

I'll try to break down what you said, but If you don't like what I say,that's perfectly fine. I honestly don't expect everyone to agree.

You do not "have" to be medicated. You "choose" to be medicated. Maybe because you feel you need it, maybe it helps you, maybe not so much. Maybe the dr's believe that meds are the best or only way of treatment. But it's a choice anyway you slice it. You could just as easily choose not too either, see. I am not saying to not choose meds, merely that it is a choice, not a "have" too.

We are told by dr's that we "need" them, " life long" ect. Wonder why we don't feel like it is a choice sometimes? But really it is a choice. And acknowledging the fact that it is, gives you power. You wouldn't be a victim of having to be medicated, you would be choosing to use medication to help yourself. See how the perspective changes the situation?

Is mania bad? For who? For me, yes. Others seems to enjoy it. I don't, I get dysphoric mania and there isn't anything particularly enjoyable about it, nor psychosis for that matter. Other seem to enjoy mania, some are quite productive, some don't crash afterwards, some can manage it, they might not say it's bad. But I can't generalize, only answer for myself.

Feeling good isn't feeling manic. That might be what people say here, until they do something they regret, or come down from it. Basically feeling good.. means feeling good and not being ill at the time. I'm gonna say it like this even it isn't a popular opinion... there is a big difference between feeling actually good in real life. And feeling a "fake" manic good.

You were talking about how when you feel good that it's fake, well ya maybe if it's mania, just like depression. It's not fake in the sense that you don't feel it, of course you do. It's fake in that it is out of place, from what normal you would feel if the bipolar was not hampering with your mind. Bipolar created those feelings, your normal mind did not. Feels real, but it is almost just an illusion.

You choose medication to help deal with Bipolar, not that you have to medicate because of who your are. There is much more to Dan than Bipolar. Show me one human who would not be considered "defective" in someway. And who is determining who is defective and who isn't?

You are not medicating because you are bad, or because this is bad or that is bad. The point of the meds is to try and keep yourself on the ground long enough to learn how to manage better with other tools as well. Not to medicate the bad out of you.

I have bipolar, but I am not defective. I don't care if someone tries to tell me I am, I am merely a human. I would seriously question anyone that tries to sell the idea that some humans are defective, and some are not. All those people you see that appear to be perfect, happy all the time, no troubles or worries. It's not real, that's fake. They all have their own stuff on their own plate. You just don't get to see it from the outside.

I hope that makes some sense, I sometimes jump around a lot, writing isn't my thing.

With bipolar, if you really want to get anywhere, you have to take some ownership, some control, power, and some self accountability. If you surrender all that, you will feel like a victim. Not a very self empowering place to be.