I am relatively new to a BP diagnosis. As such, I continue to educate myself on this condition. All the while, I sort of missed the obvious.

I was speaking with a good friend of mine on Saturday night who has/had all sorts of addictions - booze, drugs, sex - driven by a PD. It cost him his marriage and almost cost him his job. I respect him very much and always have.

I haven't been doing well lately and was sort of concerned because I had a solid one month run of goodness where everything clicked. And then he hit me with what I already should have known. This will be a lifetime thing. It is a disease just like anything else.

There will be ups and downs no matter how we treat it. I assumed that it would get better and continue to get better until it sort of went away. But, like any addiction, it always looms in the shadows and can come out at any time. I got away from my routine due to all sorts of stuff going on right now and that caused a bit of a relapse.

But now I know - it's all an education and I still look at it as a blessing.