[popeye]

I think I do but I have been sick for so long I don't think I know what my "normal" is.

[GreenIvy]

I do feel normal when I am stable for awhile. This year there hasn't been much of that since I haven't been able to stabilize, but in the past I would stabilize for quite awhile (2-4 years) between episodes. When I stabilize for a longer period of time (6 months or longer) it is easy to forget that I have BP since I am not plagued with the symptoms.

[SunAngel]

Originally Posted by popeye

I think I do but I have been sick for so long I don't think I know what my "normal" is.

I do have times when I think I am normal but I really don't know what normal feels like, so I am not really sure.

I have a lot of MI's so I am not sure what normal feels like for me.

[wing]

I have short periods of time (a week or two) every once in a while that tease me into thinking I can actually be stable and fully functional.

[Ryask]

I was normal almost the full summer

[teresapooh98]

as of right now I don't know what normal feels. I haven't felt normal for at least a month or so.

[Astridetal]

Originally Posted by wingin'it

I have short periods of time (a week or two) every once in a while that tease me into thinking I can actually be stable and fully functional.

I do too. But usually they are just another sign of my mental health problem.

[lostbythesea]

I dont know what normal is any more. i dont feel like i did prior to becoming bp.

[Inedible]

Most people are neurotic in many ways, but they are functional. They manage to get most of their needs met. If they are lucky they even get some of the things they want. That is what it is to be normal. If you over-estimate what it is to be normal and under-estimate yourself, you may be being far more critical of yourself than you have reason to be.

To answer the question, sometimes I do feel normal. Fortunately it passes and I feel better.

[astone131]

I cant rememeber the last time I felt normal. I have been diagnoised for so long that I really dont know what normal is cause this is all I know

Originally Posted by popeye

I think I do but I have been sick for so long I don't think I know what my "normal" is.

My "normal" is how I've always been. Which is to say, not normal.

[espritlibre]

I think I've felt 'abnormal' throughout my life. I was all too aware that my parents didn't know how to handle me. I threw epic tantrums as a child (long after most children have grown out of that) and my mood could change (and still does) at the drop of a hat. As an adult, I still feel I am not like everyone else. Even when I'm not severely depressed/anxious/crazy, I handle things differently. I read into things more. I react to things more strongly.

I'd say most recently, I've been acutely aware of not being normal for about a year. Like several others have said, I can't remember what it feels like to be "normal". Sometimes I don't even want to be. Whatever this thing is inside me, I feel it is a part of me. I almost don't want it to be 'cured' or kept under control. Sometimes I feel it would be like losing part of me. Of course, other times I feel like it's killing me and I desperately want help to beat it, so...!

Nikki, you mention sometimes going several years between 'episodes'? I am still trying to figure myself out in terms of what happens with me (I post on this forum because it is the one I seem to identify with the most). My biggest 'episode' by far, the one which ticked so many boxes for 'manic episode' and lasted for several weeks, was 4 years ago. I've had different 'episodes' since then, but always for a far shorter period of time and not as intense (apart from one at the end of March which I mentioned in another thread, and even that one was very different from the 2007 one, and again much shorter). I can't discern any pattern at all - every 'episode', be it depressive, anxious or 'other', seems completely different.

[manicminer]

Exactly popeye. WTF does "normal" mean anyway?

[greylove]

I understand the question (from my point of view) I haven't felt even remotely normal since my Bipolar 1 diagnosis a year and a half ago. It's not just about Bipolar; there are so many other things going on, I grieve for my lost "normal" every day.

[GreenIvy]

I have gone 2-4 years in the past. Normally I am able to stabilize and stay there for quite awhile. I think it has to do with the lifestyle changes I made after the first time I was hospitalized and the extreme self-control I learned growing up. When I am stable I don't feel like I have BP...I can come close to forgetting that I do since I don't have to deal with the symptoms. When I can almost forget that I have BP is when I feel normal, like my feelings and thoughts and actions are just me and not from BP.

[Confusedinomicon]

I think normal is what I perceive. Not always considered 'stable' though. I have my ups and downs, even if they can be a little more extreme...>>;;

In terms of personality, my dad said I am eccentric at best. XD (Boyfriend agreed t.t)

[Tsunamisurfer]

Originally Posted by manicminer

Exactly popeye. WTF does "normal" mean anyway?

I have no idea what "normal" feels like, except that I have at times been less aware of how I feel. But then I have had some rather shocked responses to my sense of humour at times like that, and I realise that I am operating on a different plane to the people around me.

I guess "normal" isn't always about how we feel.

[mel80]

My q to you is what is "normal". I've never known a "normal person" so if one could enlighten me that would be great.

[BlackPup]

for a long time my mood was all over the place and I really didn't know what "normal" was.... Lately I have been much more stable and have found a place that is my "normal", not manic, nor depressed. I can still be happy and sad but its not extreme....

[Moose72]

Normal means in remission. I've had that diagnosis before. Comes and goes.

[allme]

Oh sweet remission where are you?

[Secretum]

I've had periods where I wasn't actively suffering from my mood symptoms. I may still have been a little depressed or hypo, but it wasn't enough to really bother me.

If you define "normal" as "the ability to strongly relate to those around you", however, then I haven't been normal since I was 11. :P

[kj44]

I did last week, for about an hour, then it went away!

I have to agree with innerzone! "My "normal" is how I've always been. Which is to say, not normal." Not only do I have my MIs, but I'm also just an eccentric person to begin with. My "normal" mood as I understand it is so close to hypo, it gets tricky to determine if I'm okay or I'm spiralling downward! I reject any & all collective standards of normality anyway-- "Normal" is up to the individual & is only a measuring system to determine whether or not there is something amiss to lead them towards a deviation from their core self; i.e. spiritual crisis, physical ailment, mental disorder, etc. But life's journey consists of many deviations from the norm: That doesn't make you strange or complex or alone, it makes you human!

[missnthekids]

I am not sure I ever feel normal, I see glimpses of it from time to time, but on nights like this when i lose it on my children I think normal is just a fantasy.