Is anyone out there finding it difficult to do things you once enjoyed? This is happening to me with a vengance. Fighting bipolar & the anxiety that goes with it, along with SAD, and now radial nerve damage (the doctors and physical therapists are hopeful I’ll regain full motion to my hand and wrist as well as strength to my arm). Anyway, I was told I could ride a low-seated stationary bike at the gym. I just keep procrastinating. I also keep procrastinating about finding a job. I could make flyers and put them up around town advertising my skills as a writing coach. My obstacle is fear about going out to these places - I’m so sick of doing things alone. I want to talk to people and I sometimes do; however, I wonder if they can tell I have an illness. Have you ever just wanted to say to someone “Hey, I’m bipolar but you can still be my friend. It’s not contagious, I promise!” You know, I think people who are bipolar are worth knowing because they are compassionate, understand rejection, are highly intelligent and creative.
you may be type 2, like me. you get really energetic, can clean the whole house, organize every closet, maybe tackle a painting project… and then WHOOSH… back to not being able to get out of bed. type 2 never really reaches manic- we get hypo-mania (the energetic part,) but stop short of full mania (apparently the not being able to stop doing things, thinking your gods, you can fly, etc…) who me?.. i’ve never painted a wall at two in the morning! (yeah, right!) sue… i’m a scrapper & cleaner, too. we should talk!
have you ever felt like you were one withthe universe?
~ Lady ~ Yes, I have a really hard time enjoying the things I used to enjoy and can no longer stand the thought of ever working again. I don’t want to be around people and the drama that goes along with the workplace. I’ve always been treated for depression and anxiety, but last fall was diagnosed with biploar II disorder by my new pdoc & therapist (in the same office). Yes, I have painted my kitchen in purple, yellow and a touch of red. Manic?? I would think, but to me – I did it because I could! 
It stayed that way a few months and then one day I was so over it and painted it a normal neutral color.
Talking about bipolar people being creative, take a look at the book Exuberance by Kay Redfield Jamison. I loved her book called An Unquiet Mind That is, if you can concentrate long enough (like me) to read a book. ~ hugs ~
well , guys and gals , im very new to this i just got diagnosed , with bi polar, i get get very manic , i can go from being energized, to crying all in one day, and it scares the hell out of me and this time i heard voices, so for me, its hell on earth because people dont understand that my mind goes non-stop , i want it to, but it dont,and i have to get up and go to work ,like everything is ok,itr seems like to me , noone understands ,just how hard it is for me to just get up each and everyday,and pray that my mind will stop…
I have bipolar, crohns, anxiety, depression and fibromyalgia. I have very manic episodes but they don’t last long. The crohns gives me terrible exhaustion and the fms makes me hurt like hell. My mind still races like I’m on speed though. It’s very tough, my body wants to do everything in two minutes but it just can’t. I wake up at night. Sometimes it’s to use the restroom (crohn’s) but sometimes it’s just because my brain won’t shut off. Most days I’m resigned to laying on the couch feeling like a lazy ass, not doing the things that have to be done. I have been bipolar for about 15 years…Oh what I wouldn’t give to be “normal”. If that even exsists…
Katie
I can understand the frustration of all your dieseases. I suffer from Bipolar and PTSD and anxiety and depression. It seems that all the meds are just not cutting it for me or I have an allergic reaction to them. I am not only taking zanax and a med for tremors. I am coming off them slowly and then I will be on the zanax and med for my tremors. Coming off my Neuronton slowly, due to I have been on it for so long. Hopefully I will be able to handle the Bipolar without all the bad meds. that come along and I have tried and could not take. Lamictal ended me up in the hospital for 3 days. I had open wounds all over my back. And I was on it for 4 months with no side effects. Just one day the rash started and that was it for that med. My therapist said to just stay on what I am taking now, keep taking myself off the Neuronton. Heres to seeing if I can survive this without tons of medicine. Prayers would be nice. I do not want to end up like I was over a year ago. I am going to try and have positive thoughts about this new plan and I will give it a try. I just pray that I dont slide back down the ladder without it.
But on the positive side of it, if I can live with just my zanax and tremor meds, then that would explain what my therapist said this morning, I just might not need all the medicine they have tried me on.
Keep your fingers crossed and keep me in your prayers~
Consider it done survivor. i can sympathize with the meds. I take 7 prescritions and 3 supplements daily. I take 19 1/2 pills a day. Some days it takes all I got just to swallow them. I'm keeping my fingers and my toes crossed for you. Good luck!
Katie
I'm new here. Have been depressed, multiple losses,grieving,some say PTSD, complicated grief....(it's all hooey babble to me right now.....I jst feel lousy just as if I am evolving into a totally different me but I am seeking. My daughter has been diagnoed BP, I sure have alot of the same but late in life, my brother had some similar signs. Feeling alot of empathy as I read. Motivation...? What is that ? Procrastination....my sidekick.....
Am glad to be here! And proud Mother of a definately bipoar diagnosed, very creative,loving,kind,sensitive daughter. And very scared as she has had two near misses with getting away from her pain (better days now)..and most likely I will be too ...I've been a self-care person...anti-meds...some herbs,aminos and vits worked some for awhile. Now...functioning is waning and it is affecting me physically.
I was diagonsed two years ago at age 43. I didn’t have a clue that I was bipolar until I ended up in the hospital with a severe manic episode. That was the only mania I’ve had. Now I’m depressed every day. I’m on 5 different meds which seems like too much. I am not motivated at all and I feel guilty about it.
i suffer with bipolar and i dont take medicine for it if anyone can tell me if i should or just give me advise please thank you so much and god bless you.
I am bipolar as well, and I have always been a rapid cycler. I’d be ok in the AM, sometimes, but by the afternoon, I’d be at the bottom. But with the meds I’m on now, I’m doing pretty good. But it seems like the depression is always close by. The pdoc tried me on Abilify, but it had too many side affects so he took me off it, but I manage.