[usehername]

I've noticed that out of every hundred or so people I meet, I feel an instant, strong pull toward about 1-3 of them, and they often turn out to be bipolar also... I was just wondering if anyone else has found this to be true for them?

Sent from my MyTouch 4G Slide using Tapatalk

[Raindropvampire]

Usually with me if I take an instant dislike to someone I'll find out later that they are bipolar. Think it's because most of the bipolar people I've been around(family) are unmedicated, refuse to acknowledge that they need help, refuse to acknowledge that they hurt people and are generally abusive and unpleasant to be around.

Yes, I have known actually a fair amount over my lifetime, although in a few cases like when I was young, I didn't know they had that diagnosis. We had two very close family friends, women I considered 2nd and 3rd mothers, who I discovered later were diagnosed and treated for their bipolar disorder. Both wonderful women who I greatly admired.

In my church I know of two other people with bipolar disorder. We've gotten to know each other and are supportive of each other. We are all quite open about our diagnoses at church and have found our church to be very supportive of us.

I've worked with a few different teachers over the years who had bipolar disorder. All excellent teachers and again quite open about their diagnosis.

I've been fortunate that way to be in environments where my diagnosis wasn't something I needed to particularly hide and certainly not something I needed to feel ashamed of. Very blessed that way I realize.

I've known many - but they were from a local bipolar support group so it was pretty obvious lol

I haven't met anyone who I knew was bipolar. It would certainly be interesting to discover if anyone I know actually has BP, and what kind. My closest friends have not had mental illnesses.

[Victoria'smom]

Our close family friend I suspect has bipolar. Honestly I'd bet everything I own he has bipolar. He struggles so much and is so understand. he has found a niche that keeps him sheltered and fed no matter what and uses his (hypo)mania to the max. His personal life and finances are a wreck but when I say I'm getting sick he asks which way.

My husbands other close friends are DX. OCD, and depressed. We often joke people without MI are to boring for us.

As far as my family they won't receive help because " everyone that walks into a psychiatrists office receives a bipolar DX." No, we're just all bipolar.

[Curiosity77]

2 of my best friends are also nurses with bipolar, and i'm also friends with a psychiatrist who is bipolar. One of the nurses, and the psychiatrist, and i all work in mental health, so we have a lot in common and support each other. I'm really lucky to have friends who have similar problems. Somehow we all gravitate toward each other. Weird how that works.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[~Christina]

I met someone in real life that I met on this site ... Shes amazing !

[Atypical_Disaster]

Yes, I've met quite a few people over the years who have bipolar.

My goodness, yes! I've known more bipolar people than I can possibly count.

[dachsiejoy88]

I've only met one person IRL who was bipolar...and it wasn't a pleasant experience. I was about 18 and working at a fancy members only club. I met another waitress who seemed very nice at first, she helped train me and I thought she liked me...one day we were talking about her kids and she mentioned that she had a daughter about my age but she was heavily into drugs and otherwise was a major disappointment. The next day, she acted cold, mean, and distant to me and tripped me as I was carrying a pot of hot coffee that I nearly spilled on a table of customers, but I turned at the last minute and just fell face first on the floor, burning my arm. She ended up getting fired because the customers saw her trip me and so did many other people and it was very obvious it wasn't an accident. I try really hard not to judge other people but that incident was pretty scary.

[Mental reward]

Totally. Once we both know the other has bp, it's instantly like, ohhhhh, that makes so much sense. Usually there is an instant magnetic quality. That's been my experience. It's like that energy finds me.

[Supersonic]

I've never met anyone that I knew was bipolar. At least that told me they were. I would love the company though.

[grandmaof3]

I've met several people who are bipolar. In fact my pdoc who just retired a few weeks ago is bipolar. I think that's why we got along so well.

Originally Posted by rainyday107

I've known many - but they were from a local bipolar support group so it was pretty obvious lol

Same here, no surprise revelations there.

Of others… 2 come immediately to mind. One I met in recent times, very open about it. (Even though I wanted sooo much to tell him that I did too, I'm unbelievably glad I didn't. Fairly complex story, involving a malevolent non-BP.)

The other was after-the-fact. One of the guys I went out with in high school. About a year later, word was he "flipped out and got put on lithium" (we were both at different colleges, had no contact). Though my own world went totally off-kilter not long after, it was many years before I actually got dx'd. But when I was, this came back to mind. It also came back to mind that his mother was the fastest talker I've ever heard in my life. WAAAAAY fast. Lol, given genetics, it's not unreasonable to imagine that she was too.

I'm sure there are others. Probably quite a few. But I've moved a lot and not gotten to know people. Which works both ways. Nobody had much time to put the pieces together.

[BipolaRNurse]

I swear, if there's a hundred people in a crowded store and two of them are bipolar, the other one will find me and we end up bonding over our bipolarity. It almost seems like we attract each other like moths to a flame. I've always thought that was weird---what, do we give off some kind of aura that only other bipolars can see?

But it's not the worst thing in the world, because I've met a few really neat people that way. Which is good, because I don't know very many folks with it otherwise and I feel like an odd duck most of the time. I'm the only diagnosed BP in my family (although my older son is almost certainly BP and I'm sure my mother was as well) so it gets a little lonely. It's good to have friends who "get it".

[HALLIEBETH87]

I have a friend who used to take lithium and Prozac for bipolar. but now hes med free and feels good and acted super shocked when I said im on 5 meds

[TgFlux]

Happened to me many times to take it just as a coincidence. I'm totaly sure only for psychotic people because they told me. But other people also that I felt a strong connection for them from the begining showed similar signs and heard similar stories about them as I have experienced being bipolar. It's an interesting and irrationally nice feeling as I'm thinking of the past times it happened. I explain it as a kind of sixth sense or frequency tuning or something which is mostly a way from my side to give it more charm

[junkDNA]

my T is bipolar

[TheatreKid]

I would never wish bipolar on anyone, not even my worst enemy, but it must be nice to have a medical professional who understands bipolar from the inside.

For a little while my sister was displaying symptoms and I was worried she would be diagnosed as well but she seems to be ok now. She's hyper-religious but that's not necessarily pathological. And it works for her, so as long as she keeps her comments about how I'm going to hell to herself, I'm happy that she's happy.

When I was younger, a couple of times I found another person who was also bipolar, and I would have an immediate need to be close to them but thankfully I grew out of that. I would love a bipolar friend, but have never had one. I've met many through support groups. The first support group I ever attended I started talking to this other guy and there was immense energy there. We seemed to keep pushing each other higher.

I do have many friends who deal with depression or anxiety or OCD. A couple of my friends over the years had been hospitalized in the past. I've never had the occasion to visit a friend in the psych ward but last time I was in the psych ward they all came pouring in and the nurses were shocked. I'm thankful for that. And most of my friends are theatre kids too so we're all loud and dramatic and demonstrative (actually that's a myth. There are so many shy people in theatre and I'm one of them.)

[Mental reward]

Originally Posted by TheatreKid

I would never wish bipolar on anyone, not even my worst enemy, but it must be nice to have a medical professional who understands bipolar from the inside.

For a little while my sister was displaying symptoms and I was worried she would be diagnosed as well but she seems to be ok now. She's hyper-religious but that's not necessarily pathological. And it works for her, so as long as she keeps her comments about how I'm going to hell to herself, I'm happy that she's happy.

When I was younger, a couple of times I found another person who was also bipolar, and I would have an immediate need to be close to them but thankfully I grew out of that. I would love a bipolar friend, but have never had one. I've met many through support groups. The first support group I ever attended I started talking to this other guy and there was immense energy there. We seemed to keep pushing each other higher.

I do have many friends who deal with depression or anxiety or OCD. A couple of my friends over the years had been hospitalized in the past. I've never had the occasion to visit a friend in the psych ward but last time I was in the psych ward they all came pouring in and the nurses were shocked. I'm thankful for that. And most of my friends are theatre kids too so we're all loud and dramatic and demonstrative (actually that's a myth. There are so many shy people in theatre and I'm one of them.)

Although being hyper religious is not pathological...it IS delusional. :/

[TheatreKid]

Yes, hyper-religiousity is a pathology, but not every religious person is crazy. She adopted a religion my family is not happy with, but I adopted a gender my family is not happy with. She can function without a pdoc, I can't. I'm not going to throw stones. (ha ha look a biblical reference)

http://failbluedot.com/hyper-religio...mental-illness

[pawn78]

I made close friends with another unmedicated bipolar type 1 person, I even had a business venture going with him... That ended in a manic episode. Not good.

I don't mind bipolar friends, but unfortunately they can trigger me.

[Hopeful10]

Actually, my best friend is bipolar...we support and encourage each other through our mood shifts, and it's helpful that we understand what each other is experiencing.

I will never give up hope!

[bleutamales]

I thought my MIL was BP for years (before I was diagnosed) but turns out she has BPD. I'm pretty sure there are people around me that are BP but I'm so worried about keeping my symptoms under control I would never notice.