Do you enjoy being bipolar?

I don't have direct access to my psychiatrist as I go to a community mental health clinic in my county, my case manager does though, and I plan on telling her and my therapist tomorrow...

I HATE being depressed...but at times I enjoy my hypomanic stages. When Im hypomanic I tend to me more carefree and exciting to be around but I also do lose my focus a bit. When Im depressed Im pretty much hopeless and ready to die. Being Bipolar IS a struggle but Im glad I finally know.

Sure don't. Bigger the high, bigger the fall!

I seriously hate it. Most of my experience has been crippling depression and the feeling of wanting to cease to exist.

Hypomania for me is short-lived and doesn't nearly outweigh the fall that inevitably comes after it or the agitation/general state of anger I live through beforehand.

It's awful & I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I wish there was a cure or a reliable drug that could be guaranteed to work across the board.

Having to live this way feels sub-human.

We are all pretty much in agreement, that it can suck!

Not particularly...mania makes me make bad decisions...mixed feels AWFUL...depression, well, you know how that is, it sucks. Bipolar ruined my life (it showed up in my 40s). I lost pretty much everything that made me, me...and I lost my marriage...and I lost my motivation to follow my dream, that I had just spent 2 years pursuing education to do and then had a breakdown. I have had to figure out who THIS person is now...cause I am not who I used to be. I'm still searching a lot of years later.

I hate being bi-polar but, I have learned a LOT of coping skills that even "normies" could use in every day life. I watch it in my family and I see how much more I am able to recognize and be pro-active in every day situations.

I am of the same persuasion. That said, I am glad that I am now stable on Geodon, even though it means no euphoric hypomania - I am glad because it means that I do not have to be depressed. But the insights I gained about my life from my hallucinations are priceless, and my creativity is a by-product of the illness - I was not creative before.

I am able to empathize with suffering because I have been through suffering. I do not want more suffering but I acknowledge that suffering has made me a more thoughtful, sensitive person. I also gave me keen appreciation of simple pleasures, because I have such strong memories of times when nothing was pleasurable.

To sum up, I enjoy being bipolar but prefer effective treatment of it to be stable. I very much enjoy being stable because I am capable of valuing it - people who are not mentally ill take stability of mood, ability to have a good night's sleep, lack of anxiety for granted. I do not.

I enjoy the creativity and productivity in mania, but it's mostly highly unpleasant and even scary. I had my first severe mixed episode in college and it destroyed me yet also made me realize how strong I can be in the face of adversity. I now have a better idea of my limits and what I can endure. So in a way I have become more self-aware.

I started getting sick when I was 36....symptoms started showing up. It was terrible.....in euphoric mania I was on cloud nine. On a natural high it was fun staying up late and hanging out BUT your thought process is off. I would hang out with people I just met that night! We'd go to night clubs together and house parties. Once I almost got raped. Again NOT thinking clearly. I just liked being around the scene. I was not much of a drinker. I shopped my savings account away. I was then diagnosed after I almost got raped I went to find out why I wasn't thinking right. I was seen two or three times then I was told I had bp1. I was taken off the antidepressant and put on a mood stabilizer which made me flip. I was mean as a junkyard dog. I was running people off the road for driving too slow. I cussed a lady out in the grocery store for walking in front of me too slow. I had a lot of energy and could not stand "slow". I went back to the pdoc and told her I needed help. She gave me another stabilizer. At the end they had to put me on two mood stabilizers and one AP to try and contain my mean mania. In spring and summer I get a little happy mania but not the euphoric anymore. In the winter I have some SAD. My whole life was turned upside down due to this condition. I had a pretty good job I had been on for a few years. Good benefits. I liked some of my co-workers. We would go out to lunch together. I had a breakdown at work (right before being diagnosed). I lost my job. I was able to get unemployment but then after had to move out of state for "so called family support ". I applied for SSDI in Nov 2012 and won in Oct 2016. I had to keep fighting and reapplying.
My heart goers out to those with MI "if" there content with having it cool. But for me no the hell I'm not happy or ok with having bp. I have accepted it. But I'm not flipping cool with it.
Creativity.....I scrapbook and knit

I'd give anything to be stable all of the time. But I don't regret my past experiences with bipolar and OCD: I think it has shaped who I am, which is a pretty awesome person. Now, if I could just let some people into my crazy world so they can appreciate the crazy me, too. Eh... f*** it. I'd just like to be stable, I guess.

No. I really don't. I don't enjoy any of my mental disorders.

I'd love to be normal.

No not at all....

I can't get a job cause of it
I have lost friends over it
I have lost my job cause of it
I lost my dignity
I lost the old me, the fun me

Having the label just means I can claim disability which sucks.

Guess the only good thing about having a Mental Health Illness is meeting the professionals, people involved in my care and the friends I have met through groups etc. That's it really

I don't enjoy it, but I don't know how else to be!

No. When I am symptomatic (and thus aware of bipolar disorder in my life), I am generally exhausted, depressed, agitated. There is no enjoyment in that. I much prefer when I am not symptomatic.

I hate it.

To be honest, I'm on the fence too, but I'd say I lean more towards no.

I enjoy it I guess since I don't have to work anymore but I couldn't even if I wanted to.

I was transferred between departments at work to a job that I absolutely despised which was largely responsible for my final mental breakdown. That was in 1993 and I have not worked since, only a few days here and there.

I miss the money and my 2000 sq ft house but I have grown accustomed to my new life and my new wife (12 years now) and would not trade it for anything.

I have been a loner my entire life nothing has changed there and I still enjoy it.
I don't mind being weird, fug em I say.

So yes I do enjoy my MI and what it has brought about for me (except for the money).

I go from severe depression to a mixed episode and then back again.
I don't enjoy that. I don't enjoy the heartbreaking isolation of depression and I don't enjoy the 'mind feels so loud you want to scream' chaotic insanity that is mixed states.

Heck no I hate it. Its affect on certain decisions I have made have brought my life down alot. I often used to question God on "why me", but eventually came to terms with it and accept it as part of my life, and a problem that I have to work around. I would give it up if it was possible.