Hi there,

A brief introduction - I am a woman who has just started dating another woman who is bi-polar - she was very open about telling me, I think its because I said that i previously worked in mental health. She told me what drugs she was taking and I recognised some of them and we talked about that for a little bit. But she changed the subject quite fast and referred to herself as a 'nut job'..
Although Ive worked with a few people who were bipolar, this was in a residential mental health home and the people there had mixed diagnosis and I never saw them outside of this setting. So I would actually say I have very little knowledge with regards to bipolar and everyday life.

We've only been seeing each other a few weeks, and so far have spent just a little bit of time together, although we have talked on the phone a fair bit.
She is in training as a medic so holds down a really important, responsible and pressured job.

My worry is, I really like her - she has a strong personality and seems to know what she wants - although sometimes she is really abrupt and says things that make me feel a bit rejected. We spoke this morning - she phoned me at 8am on my day off, woke me up and i called her back - she seemed quite manic actually and I think, said some inappropriate things - just things I thought were a bit sort of mean...oh, I'm not sure I'm explaining this as articulately as Id like.
Im having trouble differentiating her from the bi-polar.. i think thats what I'm trying to say. When we spoke later today she seemed to have quite drastically changed from this morning - she told me she had her ex coming to stay with her this weekend and how did i feel about this. When I said It made me feel a bit strange, but its OK she just got really verbally aggressive and told me I was 'kicking off'. Which, I'm probably the most passive person you can imagine! She then told me she was feeling manic. And when I asked her what that meant exactly, she said something along the lines of 'watch how many things i can mess up and destruct in the next few days, and ill get back to you' - it was horrible it made me feel so sad. she said she was feeling crazy. I asked her what helps? She said drugs and friends who won't judge her and that understand - to which she said she didn have many in the part of town she's moved to. I told her I was always on the end of the phone for her......but how do I deal with this, to help her feel OK?

I just don't know what to do ... please help. I feel so helpless and I really do like her a lot. She is very, very spiky and Im not sure how to respond.

Thanks