I just wish there were a way that people without mental illness could understand what it's really like for us, especially our loved ones. You can read about bipolar all day, but I don't think you can understand it unless you actually have it and have to deal with the meds too. Same with panic disorder and definitely the eating disorder. Even the fibromyalgia. And the same disorder affects people differently. Some people with bipolar manage to hold down a job (and I am in awe of those of you who do) and some people cannot (I try, I'm in the hospital or near it in less than a month). H doesn't understand why, and it's even hard to describe the way things hit me to him. A lot of the time, I just don't have the words.