Does anyone with Bipolar lead a happy life ?

I am more or less happy.

A good part of the time I am happy. I have the basic necessities and more. It is the little things that make the difference to me.

i am sad most days, but there are happy times. I get so depressed sometimes and i dont know what triggers the depression. my meds help, mornings are the worse, night too after i take my clanozapam is pretty depressing too. i dont have a job., but did some volunteering for awhile. had to quit volunteering after 2 years as it made me depressed. Working with the elderly at the hospital. I also once volunteered at the cancer institute for a year.

happyness for me is coming on here, listening to my music, and being able to play my online based rpg's.

may not seem like much but it's diffrent for diffrent people

Most of the time I am content with my life, and I usually find something good in every day.
But I have had long periodes with debilitating depression. And sometimes I get into really dark moods that can last for several days. As a result I treasure the good periodes even more. Happiness for me is doing things for and with others. Then I am at my happiest. And now that I found PC, that makes me pretty happy as well!

It's not as bad as the things other people have to deal with. Maybe I'm not exactly happy, but I'm grateful.

I am content. Not everyone leads a happy life with or without BP. BP doesn't make my life bad. It makes it very interesting. I've been learning to control it well.

I try really hard to be grateful. I am grateful for many reasons. Happy? Honestly, I'm not even sure what normal "happy" is - or maybe I just don't remember.

I would say I lead a happy life. I have a loving family, a good job, general good health, I laugh. I will say life is much more stable and generally better and happier since I got on meds. And since the children are out of diapers. LOL

On certain days, yes. On certain days, no.

Sometimes I'm grateful for the highs and lows and feeling everything so very deeply but it scares people away. I'm not on any medication by choice and I want to feel everything and accept myself for the way I am. It's very hard. If I could meet others who understood and accepted me for the way I am then I think I could be content at least.

Hi Pepper2009!
Thanks for your reply.
Can I ask how you control your bipolar symptoms.

I look forward to your reply

fingers1

I take my meds as prescribed. It took a very long time for me to accept that I need them. I still have highs and lows but try to head them off. Sometimes that means adding another med to calm down the high. I call and make an appointment to speak with my therapist if I begin to feel depressed. If I need a break, a day just to sleep and recharge, I will take a day off work and not allow myself to feel guilty. Taking one day off is better than having an episode and being absent for two weeks.

I keep a pretty low profile life which helps avoid a lot of triggers. There will always be something that can set me off (up or down) but I think it through. Angry is still challenging for me. I try to take a step back and think: does this situation warrant the level of rage I feel? I use music to distract myself. I have a very eclectic library and usually find something that soothes my troubled mind.

Also, I enjoy writing. I don’t journal about my moods because that never worked for me. I didn’t like reliving on the page what I was already suffering from in my mind. I’ve written a few books (unpublished, purely for my enjoyment). It’s therapeutic to be in control of my characters lives and obstacles.

That’s pretty much it. Sorry to be so long winded!

My methods are pretty much the same except I'm no longer medicated. Well unless you count the 5 Ativans I've reluctantly taken in the past year

Nice to read about another member who seems to be living a bipolar friendly lifestyle and that it works well for them. That's how I look at it anyway, I do my best to live in harmony with my disorder, both of us have to live my life, its never going to be either or (unless I allow it to rule me or a cure is magically invented) so I do my best to make "space" for it. Just like in your examples of taking a day to sleep and recuperate, living a low profile life style, taking a day off work to prevent having to be absent for longer periods.... Basically its being mindful of your mental health needs and making appropriate concessions for them.

Ps. My anger is still a WIP as well, so far I have been able to confine my rages to my home, which is good enough for the moment.


I hope things continue to progress in such a positive manner for you.

even when i'm happy, in some sort, i am still depressed. does that ring a bell for anyone?

I guess I'm secure. Roof over my head, food to eat, children to love (even if I don't see them as much bc of my illness), dogs to hang out with. But happy? No, I'm definitely not happy. I have my moments, but depression pretty much rules my life.

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yup......

I feel better since i got a dog. Not when she was a puppy -- she was a real rascal then. But now that she is an adult dog i find her very comforting. I was mostly unhappy for 15 years after my divorce -- that's a long time to be unhappy. I don't know how i made it thru but now i am glad i did. If i had to do it over again i'd get a cat, tho. A dog is a little more work than i bargained for. She's very worth it, tho, and i'm used to it now but it was a trial adjusting to life with a dog.

Yes... but only for a few days, maybe week at a time...

Yes, it's possible to lead a happy life with bipolar disorder. There are parts that absolutely suck, but it doesn't mean your whole life has to suck. As long as you have a roof over your head, enough to eat, and someone who cares about you, you're better off than a lot of folks. :-)

I am currently in the middle of some terrible hypomania becoming confusion and irritation, paranoid thoughts, minor delusions, like I know it's not totally real, and at the same time I can't turn it off...
:-/
But last night I was SOOO high...
It's just off the meter...
But at the end of the day, I'm not sure I'd trade it in for a neuro typical life...
Happy? Not sure... Definitely engaged though!
Bipolar people have so much heart! An extreme ability to engage emotions.
A gift and a curse.
That's all.

Soon...
MT

I've had happy times, sad times, and crazy times. It's a big cycle. But mostly i am very lucky with the way things are now. But it sure didn't feel happy at all at other times in my life.

I have been wondering the same thing. I don't even know what normal feels like anymore. I feel numb and tired. I do have good days but they don't seem to happen very often.

Bipolar
Wellbutrin XL 150mg
Epilim CR 1200mg
Seroquel 50mg

When i am in the grips of depression my answer would be NO! But right now i would say yes
Happiness is attainable..whatever that means.
Does anyone with bipolar live a easy life? Now thats a different question

One of the weird things about bipolar in my experience is that as much as it can feel like 'you' are in a good mood, or 'you' are in a bad mood, it can also feel like there is someone who is in a good mood, and someone who is in a bad mood, they are different people, and you are both of them. Does that make sense? So it's like when we're happy, it's not like that person comes to be in a bad mood, it's like this other depressed person takes over. I am not saying it IS that way, I'm saying it feels that way. But when we are happy, it feels like we can just keep being happy, and when we are down, it feels like we are never going to be up again. The states are so separate it's kind of hard to answer the question. Does anyone relate to that?