[Silverette]

I have recently been diagnose as being bi-polar. I mean, I have realized there was something wrong with me at some point in my life, but why now? When everything is going wrong, I get diagnosed with this! How do you deal with being bi-polar?

[Dane]

I'm struggling to deal with it too, but each week that passes, I find that every day gets a little easier to deal with it. What is working for me is I've been reading as much as I can about bipolar - to know what is happening and why. Pick up a good book at the library and jump in.

A bit of advice I got from a someone is don't be defined by your bipolar label; just because you were diagnosed with it doesn't mean that you change as a person. At the least, now you know what has been wrong all these years (I know after the initial shock, I was relieved that I had an illness and that I wasn't just weird on my own).

Keep your chin up, just a few days ago I was down because I felt alone. Now I'm fine. When someone asks how I'm doing I might say "oh, up and down" for a laugh.
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Gotta keep positive! Take care.

[TheCheshireCat]

Hullo. Let me just second how important I think Dane's observation is. When I first got out of the psych ward and was in an outpatient group for my bp, I'd notice how people tended to introduce themselves. They'd shake hands and say, "I'm bipolar" or "I'm borderline personality disorder." It was as if they'd come to view all the other aspects of themselves as attachments to the illness. I've worked hard to avoid that, but it's a bloody easy trap to fall into. Still, if you start seeing everything you think, do, and say through the lens of "I'm bipolar," I think you're going to be selling yourself short. People can see all their actions as being tied back to some sort of bp-originated motivation. I like to think of it as similar to another chronic lifelong illness, diabetes. Certainly, being diabetic has a profound impact on a person's life, but because the organ affected isn't the brain, I don't think I've ever seen friends who are diabetic view all the choices they make as being the result of that condition. Just my two cents worth based on experience. Cheshire Cat

[BlueFaith]

Being Bipolar is not easy to deal with. I'm having a hard time with it myself. But I know that there has to be a way to deal with this illness, just like there are ways to deal with other illnesses. I've learned alot about it by searching the internet and by talking to other people that have it. Just hang in there, ok?

[Hope4me2]

Jen
all I can add is take care of yourself....do something relaxing when you can just for you...