NO HATE MAILS PLEASE......

Are you born that way or can lifes problems make you that way?
Or is everyone a little bipolar.....
Here lately, I feel like im riding the BI POLAR EXPRESS...... TOOT TOOT.....

I'M SANE AS THEY COME

My ex is bi-polar. It's a chemical imbalance, nothing life can just create as part of you. What you may be going thru is stress. Some similar things can be like stress, depression, etc. Might want to do some research. But, bi-polar is definitely a chemical imbalance & should be treated with medication. He wasn't treated - main reason for divorce. Unmedicated bi-polar can be a nasty thing if severe enough.

Yes.....

And beautiful too

I think u r born with it... my doc said I have a touch of it... but every now an again I will get depressed for no reason at all

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AW THANK-U

Good points.... I think im just battling my demons Life is hard.....

Very well could be. I go thru the same thing sometimes. Sometimes it's easier to deal with what life throws at us and other times MUCH harder to maintain. Stress has a way of really screwing with emotions. My doc put me on a mild antidepressant at one point. Not for depression, but to help with stress. Only took it for a month, but it helped me get situations more in focus instead of seeing it from an emotional standpoint all the time.

Is this a new feeling? I believe that it starts showing up in the late teenage years and early adulthood.

i'm bi-polor and it's not that easy.

Trust me..... I wasn't poking fun......

I am bi polar and medication has changed my life. I am afraid of heights, but I went skydiving and ran a full marathon in 4 1/2 hours in the freezing cold during my crazy times. But, when I got depressed I just tried to off myslef because it was so dark and depressing. I feel balanced on medication now.

I believe we're born with it. My own illness came out in early childhood as hyperactivity, and manifested by around age 14, where 3 of my 5 senses were briefly magnified in my first euphoric manic episode. My hearing and sense of smell vision went on overload for a brief period, almost as if the volume control and went to maximum. It was pretty trippy. I'm probably very fortunate compared to most, in that my diagnosis has symptoms ranging from depression to hypomania, which is a milder form of mania.

My own diagnosis is Bipolar II disorder, although I did have a full manic episode due to of all things, seroquel, in early 2007, which was the first time in more than 25 years that I was hospitalized. Some things can enhance the illness, which for myself include anything that mucks around with the dopamine receptors of the brain, and almost as bad, stress. Substances I don't partake of include anti-depressants, alchohol, street pharmacy drugs, or any medication I research that manipulates dopamine receptors, to prevent at least medically induced mania. It's been almost 5 years since I've drank alchohol because of how it affects me. In terms of going out places with others who drink, that doesn't bother me, but it would bother you if I drank, as it puts me in either a euphoric or dysphoric mania and can cause the alergic reaction of breaking out in handcuffs. The only anti-depressant I would consider at least for my condition is called lamictal, which does not prevent mania, but is also known not to induce it, either. From 1980 to 2005 I was not taking any medications at all, but I did from early 2005 until a few months back take mood stablizers, lithium and trileptal, which blunted me slightly but otherwise were only used to deal with a stressor, living with another person with a mental illness of a more accute nature. Once I gave up on the marriage, I found that I myself (speaking only for me, please don't quit if you're on because it works for me), could function as I did before without medications once again.

Very few with BP are not intelligent, but manic moments are not a good time to make important decisions. As for BP as an asset, well, I'm an inventor, which means racing thoughts have a place to go in a positive way, and this too is not unique. More often than not, we feel more strongly than normal, and in lue of medications, I try to keep in mind the median response to a given stimulus as a baseline for "normal". Where possible, I have fun with both it and others who are just too damned serious about their illness. Just like Monk says in almost every episode, "It's a gift, and a curse". One thing I always encourage people with a mental illness is to find their gift, whatever it is.

Now about these normal people...
Much of the "normal" people out there seem to have a rougher time of it. Sometimes I wonder if it really would be a bad thing if bipolar disorder were contagious, instead of genetic. Not the accute flavors, such as Bipolar I or schizzoaffective disorder, but just a little crazy; crazy enough to see the humor of life's normal observations.

The first time I saw your photo, my first thought was, "Okay, this screams dysphoric ravenous mania".

Oddly enough, many medications have an opposite reaction for me. In 1980, I was prescribed an anti-depressant. It was the primary factor in a suicide attempt. Seroquel, by itself can induce mania, which is supposed to have an opposite effect, preventing bipolar mania. I don't even want to know what the street pharmicuticals would do, especially the ones that jack up dopamine receptors. It's pretty easy to make people laugh. I just say exactly what's on my mind, and making sure not to volunteer how serious I really am. Usually people are busting a gut before too long.

Some are born with a genetic predisposition to inherit bi-polar down the road. But there is also a very strong environmental factor involved. Meaning a sad or traumatic childhood can lead to the development of bi-polar, in most cases between the ages of 18-30.

As a kid, my tendency to say weird, unusual things distanced myself from my peers to the extent that I was plagued by extreme bullying. After dropping out in 9th grade, I went through a long period during which I experienced what I now believe to be post-traumatic stress syndrome, during which I pushed people away with my hostile behaviour and tried to avoid reliving the events of my school years at all costs. Upon reaching adulthood, I realized how important relationships were in life, but as I rejected the anti-social attitude, I began suffering from the first of a series of depressions. Peppered in between the depressions were usually briefer periods of euphoria during which I felt extremely happy for no reason at all.

Personally, I always shied away from taking medication (due to some bad reactions with prescribed drugs during my youth), preferring instead to manage the disorder on my own. However painful that still may be from time to time, I try my best to focus on positive thoughts to dampen the bad feelings. I deal with the occasional urge to jump out a window by telling myself that it is a depressive bout, a mere state of mind, and it will end eventually. Please do not misinterpret that last sentence, as I am not suicidal.

I don't recommend any of this...in dealing with depression, one needs all the help one can get. For someone with depression it can be almost impossible to find positive thoughts. I'm just telling you what has worked for me.