Do you have any friends with BP? If not, do you want friends with BP?

I've been wanting some BP friends for a while, but I've always been too nervous to attend a DBSA or NAMI meeting I wouldn't go as far as calling myself "socially inept", but there is definitely social anxiety.

I think a BP friend would be cool. All you guys here are such awesome people , so it's made me want real life BP friends! IDK... I think it'd be kind of cool to talk to someone who really understands what you're going through. That's mostly why I post on this forum.

I probably annoy most of you by now though. OK I'll shut up now!

[Miss Laura]

No I don't have any friends with BP. I have friends with other MH Issues.... I wouldn't say never to having friends with BP it might be useful to have someone else to bounce off of

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[st0psign]

my ex was bipolar I w/ mixed symptoms. didn't find that out until after we went our separate ways. might've been a good thing for me to know before hand.
I went into an IOP program a little over a year ago that was just for people with bp, I felt at home every day I was there.. I was surrounded by people who get it.

[gina_re]

I did. The four of us met in PHP last year. Everything was cool while we were in the program, but once we started to get discharged (two one week, another two weeks later, the last one a week later from that) and had to deal with real life, everything went left. They drove me crazy so I stopped being their friend. Except for one. The one and I tend to swing on the depressive side, so we understand each other better. The other two were way to manic for me, and I couldn't deal after a while. They still needed adjustments to their cocktails, IMO.

[eeyore1234]

I'm in a bipolar group (psychoeducation) and I meet with one of the girls an hour before the group, so we can talk. We're both very excited and happy to have a friend who kindda understands you better. And you don't need to think so much about what you say or be embarressed...
I hope that we'll stay friends and keep in contact when the group ends in about 15 weeks.

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Originally Posted by gina_re

I did. The four of us met in PHP last year. Everything was cool while we were in the program, but once we started to get discharged (two one week, another two weeks later, the last one a week later from that) and had to deal with real life, everything went left. They drove me crazy so I stopped being their friend. Except for one. The one and I tend to swing on the depressive side, so we understand each other better. The other two were way to manic for me, and I couldn't deal after a while. They still needed adjustments to their cocktails, IMO.

If you don't mind me asking... how did you do PHP while working full time? I've considered it before, but I don't have the vacation time. :/

Sounds like you met a lot of cool people, though. Those types of friendships are the ones I'm looking for... but I guess it's hard to find people my age. I mean, I don't mind having older friends, but it'd be cool to have some people in their early to mid 20s.

[ComfortablyNumb5]

I have one friend in real life with BP and he's actually really the only friend I talk to. I can tell him ANYTHING. And I always make crazy friends in IP. Makes the time go by.

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[Curiosity77]

I have 2 close friends with bipolar, and i'm dating a bipolar guy. I feel like i relate best to people who have the same issues. We seem to attract each other

[gina_re]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

If you don't mind me asking... how did you do PHP while working full time? I've considered it before, but I don't have the vacation time. :/

Sounds like you met a lot of cool people, though. Those types of friendships are the ones I'm looking for... but I guess it's hard to find people my age. I mean, I don't mind having older friends, but it'd be cool to have some people in their early to mid 20s.

I did so using FMLA and I had enough vacation time for the three weeks.
I'm not that much older than you. MI comes in all ages. I was with people as young as 18 and as old as 60 when I was there.

Originally Posted by gina_re

I did so using FMLA and I had enough vacation time for the three weeks.
I'm not that much older than you. MI comes in all ages. I was with people as young as 18 and as old as 60 when I was there.

Ah ok. I'll have to look into FMLA... but I would probably try to use short-term disability, since I think that's paid. (I have a lot of loans to pay off.)

And sorry if my post came off in a negative way -- I didn't mean it to. If I ever went to PHP or IP, I wouldn't say "no, you're not my age. we can't be friends". I would welcome friendship. I guess I'm saying... I would *like* to have more friends my age, and it would be awesome to find someone who's my age and has BP. I dunno. It's more of a preference thing I guess, but I'm not going to turn down a friendship because of someone's age.

[smallwonderer]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

Ah ok. I'll have to look into FMLA... but I would probably try to use short-term disability, since I think that's paid. (I have a lot of loans to pay off.)

And sorry if my post came off in a negative way -- I didn't mean it to. If I ever went to PHP or IP, I wouldn't say "no, you're not my age. we can't be friends". I would welcome friendship. I guess I'm saying... I would *like* to have more friends my age, and it would be awesome to find someone who's my age and has BP. I dunno. It's more of a preference thing I guess, but I'm not going to turn down a friendship because of someone's age.

I think we live in the same area and I can tell you when I was inpatient, it was all people in their teens and early 20s. I look young so I fit in, but I was among the 'oldest', especially for a first time hospitalization at 32. Not sure about partial though. DBSA was a lot of younger people.

Personally, I don't want BP friends, though I made them inpatient. I like being the crazy one in my relationships- more like, I know sometimes my drama is bipolar drama and I feel guilty when they try to help. For instance I hate it when someone says 'I'm sorry you're not feeling well...' because I know I'm probably being symptomatic. But maybe that's just weird.

[cmorales]

Back when I was still giving college the ol' college try, one of my best friends was MI. At the time her only dx was BPD but in recent years (after years of back and forth on the issue) a dx of BP has been added. Wild times, man, wild times.

We were both untreated (she had the opportunity but didn't trust pdocs), un-medicated and severely symptomatic. We were both heavily self-medicating. Her poisons were mostly uppers (coke, tweak, etc.) and mine was booze. As she came off the harder drugs, she increased her drinking and we then had a lot more in common.

Our friends had their hand full... sadly, most of our friends gave up on her after her third suicide attempt. I couldn't let go. She was the only person who understood the kind of stuff I was going through, and I [mostly] understood what she was going through.

I haven't seen her in years; lives up in SacTown now, but I still talk to her on FB sometimes. These days we're both in treatment and medicated. I'm still struggling to get my life together, but she's doing quite well; recently started grad school.

I miss her tremendously.