[~Christina]

How do you feel about your bipolar ?

Do you feel like a victim of it ?
Do you compare it to other physical illness?
Do you accept it ?
Do you fight it ?

You get the idea .. How do you think of your Bipolar ?

***I dont see my BP as a horrible thing , not a victim here, It is what it is and I just focus on keeping myself healthy. **

[Moose72]

Lately like cancer. Its eating away at my very being.

[Victoria'smom]

Short answers:

How do you feel about your bipolar? No different then my 2 eyes, a nose, feet or any other body part
Do you feel like a victim of it? No
Do you compare it to other physical illness? yes
Do you accept it ? Most days
Do you fight it ? Yes

Essay answer coming soon.

[gayleggg]

How do you feel about your bipolar ? I'm with Moose. It's like cancer eroding my very being.

Do you feel like a victim of it ? No
Do you compare it to other physical illness? Not really. I somehow still feel guilty about it.
Do you accept it ? Yes, it is what it is.
Do you fight it ? Yes, but I'm running low on caring anymore. The depression is exhausting.

[venusss]

Do you feel like a victim of it ? No.
Do you compare it to other physical illness? No. It's not. It's too complex for some silly "justlikediabetus" comparasions
Do you accept it ? Sure.
Do you fight it ? I try to. But it's more like cold war style... so i fight sneakily and by proxy. It's part of me, so no way I can "kill" it without killing myself in body and spirit.

[x_BabyG_x]

Ive only recently began to start accepting It (it was a shock for sure!) but ive had the symptoms now for over ten years so its more of me just thinking 'this is me'. A label on my mental state doesn't define me at all. Im not a victim. I am me!!

[x_BabyG_x]

ps - these thoughts will probably flip reverse once I have a crash again haha!!

[IndieVisible]

Love hate relationship. I go thru periods I deny having BP or any illness, periods I think I'm another illness, and periods I love feeling elevated. It's always a complete circle for me and it never seems to end for me.

[Victoria'smom]

I feel I was born with bipolar or the genes for it. It's a part of me that creates me, the good, the bad and all my events in life. I feel if I removed “that” a gene I wouldn't have life. There's just no “good” genes to replace it with. I can't see bipolar as something you can be a victim of because victim is reserved for situational issues and I don't see bipolar as a situational thing. Yes you can be a victim of the situations you find yourself in because of a disorder but not the disorder themselves.

I hope I don't offend anyone but I compare bipolar to a Seizure disorder. I risk more of a chance of a for a seizure without taking medication. However that does mean a “seizure” wont happen it's just less likely to. I imagine every person that witnesses (whether professional or not) gets scared of a ' grand mal' seizure (aka: mania). I imagine a ' grand mal' is especially embarrassing when it happens in public or in-front of ones child(ren) and probably scares the child(ren) just like mania does. Depression I compare it to a 'petite mal' seizure. “Regular” People know it happens, but don't recognize it, understand it, or pretend it's not happening because they don't know what to do. Just like seizure patients we take mostly seizure medication and we have to avoid our triggers.

Acceptance is hard for me. Not that I have bipolar it's the bipolar needs treatment that is my issue. I don't like the name, the treatment, the lifestyle changes when I've had this my whole life. I think the hardest part is learning that most people don't think like me. That things that I thought/think were normal are thrown into symptoms. That therapy make questioning my reality. That my coping skills are maladjusted because I'm suppose to rely on others and my professional team.

I fight bipolar by using my very strict rules and “maladjusted” coping skills. I go to therapy and the psychiatrist. I tell them the truth. I listen to all suggestions given and attempt them given by anyone. Attempt to reduce stress and avoid anything that can aggravate my bipolar into having an episode.

[UpThenDown007]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

How do you feel about your bipolar ?

Do you feel like a victim of it ?
Do you compare it to other physical illness?
Do you accept it ?
Do you fight it ?

You get the idea .. How do you think of your Bipolar ?

***I dont see my BP as a horrible thing , not a victim here, It is what it is and I just focus on keeping myself healthy. **

Sometimes I feel like a victim, but on the other hand my delusional manic episodes are the stuff of legends so it has its plus sides!

[tealBumblebee]

How do you feel about your bipolar ? I'm just starting to even accept that I may have it. It is what it is, doesn't embarrass me or anything.
Do you feel like a victim of it? Not at all.
Do you compare it to other physical illness? Yes, but I won't offend other people by saying what it is.
Do you accept it? Gradually working on it...
Do you fight it ? I like to pretend bp doesn't really exist.

[Moose72]

Sometimes I sit and pretend I don't have it at all. Then reality hits.

[A Red Panda]

I accept it. It's me. It's a large part of who I am.

Although yes, it has nearly killed me, it's ALSO shown me what I can be like at my best. And honestly? I would have likely ended up suicidal even without the bipolar-depressions because of my family life. So... at least the bipolarness of me has also been able to show me happy good times.

I don't fight it, but then again, I did harness it in when I was younger. I manage my behaviours so that I don't do the sorts of things I might regret later on.

I know it's an illness, but I don't really think of myself as someone who's ill. I've just got a wonky brain.

I definitely don't consider myself to be a victim. That's like saying that I'd be a victim of myself. Which I'm not. It's just that I've got a part of my brain that decides to flip switches whenever the hell it wants to.

Of course... there are days where yes, I would slaughter the bipolar if I could. No one likes depressions.

But I can't imagine being me without it. It's as much a part of me as my eyes. And my eyes are pretty messed up too!

[usehername]

I go back and forth between thinking it makes me a genius and feeling diseased. I guess that's the nature of the beast, huh?

[medicalfox]

How do you feel about your bipolar ? I'm not a fan of it to say the least.

Do you feel like a victim of it ? Yes for many reasons, but my other illnesses contribute to my bipolar symptoms as well. If I wasn't autistic and a few other things I feel like my bipolar mania wouldn't be so severe and I could have been much more successful. At least I'm doing better though.

Do you compare it to other physical illness? No, physical and mental illnesses are too different to compare.

Do you accept it ? Yes.

Do you fight it ? Fight it meaning trying to better myself? Then yes. I've been doing more for myself and trying to be much healthier.

[Trippin2.0]

How do you feel about your bipolar ?

I don't feel anything about it, that's like asking how I feel about my arms.

Do you feel like a victim of it ?
Nope, see "arms" reference above

Do you compare it to other physical illness?
Nope, I don't consider myself ill, that type of thinking destablized me A LOT.

Do you accept it ?
Hells yeah! I accept my arms don't I?

Do you fight it ?
Yes and No. Yes in the way that I try my best to not allow it to consume me or to indulge in damaging behaviour. No in the way that I mostly try and roll with the punches and surf the waves. I work toward co-existing alongside it in harmony, instead of an uphill battle between 2 opposing sides.

You get the idea... how do you think of your bipolar?

I think my brain is wired differently and its up to me to adapt to my reality instead of wishing for a different one

Originally Posted by ~Christina

How do you feel about your bipolar ?

Do you feel like a victim of it ?
Do you compare it to other physical illness?
Do you accept it ?
Do you fight it ?

*

I don't feel like a victim of bipolar at all. It just is what it is so I deal with it.

I do see it mostly as a chronic, recurrent illness. I can mostly keep it under control with meds (I've tried going completely without and it doesn't work for me). But calling it an illness isn't really a bad thing. I've spent my life around family members who deal with chronic illnesses that cycle in and out, so I've seen how these illnesses can be dealt with to manage them and survived through the rough times.

Therefore, for the most part I accept it. Again, it is what it is. Sometimes when I'm really in bad shape or (oddly enough) quite stable, I rail against it, but usually not terribly long. I have an excellent therapist and an excellent pdoc who keep me in touch with reality.

Edited to add: Notice that different people are able to come to terms with bipolar disorder in different ways and through various views of BP. It seems important to me to respect each individual's journey. We don't live in each others' skins.

[happywoman]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

How do you feel about your bipolar ?
Sometimes I feel embarrassed by my actions when out of balance. I consider concerns around bipolar daily so sometimes I feel bored by it.

Do you feel like a victim of it ?
Not usually, only when I am very unwell.

Do you compare it to other physical illness?
I don't compare it to other illness as there is such a large spectrum of how all medical conditions be they mental illness or physical illness present or affect people.

Do you accept it ?
I accept it at present but I'm sure it will evolve and change and the world population will think differently about it in the future and I will have to adapt.

Do you fight it ?
I suppose I fight it by monitoring my mood,sleep,thoughts and checking and changing patterns of living.

You get the idea .. How do you think of your Bipolar ?
Something to be wary of because it has caused disruption to my life but everyone has to face different challenges in life



***I dont see my BP as a horrible thing , not a victim here, It is what it is and I just focus on keeping myself healthy. **

[LadyShadow]

How do you feel about your bipolar ? Its like anything else, I am crippled by it, I don't enjoy anything anymore because of it

Do you feel like a victim of it ? No the days of being a victim are long over
Do you compare it to other physical illness?I am numb, but I am healthy so no
Do you accept it ? I have more than accepted it. I am it. It is me.
Do you fight it ? Gave up fighting long ago. Now I just live with it

[~Christina]

Thank you everyone that has replied or even read this thread .. I love reading the responses and seeing how people feel about Bipolar .. we all have such differences in how we feel and regard Bipolar ... its as varied as Bipolar it's self