Personally, I dont know how myself. I'm 22 years old. I have been diagnosed since I was 12. I disbelieved that diagnoses until about a year n a half ago. I have always had this and always will. I act totally and endlessly insane. Im depressed most of the time and dont know how to function. Im constantly trying to change my life as to feel "better", nothing works. I havnt found a med that helps me either. Still searchin in that department with trial and error. Wow..im prolly not makin ya feel better.lol. Things that have helped me. REALLY REALLY! get intune with what triggers you! I think thats key. If you know something is going to set u off then remove urself from it! it helps. uh..Avoid substances..uh..Dont let urself become a victim of bipolar and what i mean by that. Is dont let it be an excuse for your behaviour. Dont do something horrific and then say well its okay that I did that because im bipolar..we've all done that im guilty too..but ive come to realize that victomizing oneself does not make things better. It just gives u an excuse to not change the things that you can. I am a strong believer that all of us with bipolar disorder can live and function like "normal" human beings..that it just takes us a little bit more work than other people. Constantly trying to deal with our emotions. I think there are triggers to most of our emotions. I have had weird experiences where I have realized that certain things have been triggering me into a depressive state. and they were the most absurd things..so thats why im saying really really pay attention to ur triggers. I have also been witness to allot of bipolar people or their family members who use the fact that a person has bipolor to enable abuse to continue. I think that is dangerous. Very dangerous! I believe that we all need to find healthy ways to deal with our emotions and I do also believe that abuse is something that has inflicted bipolar disorder in allot of people..allot of us bipolarians have been abused. Hense why allot of us become asbusers. and its so not cool. Abusive bahviour no matter who it comes from is never acceptable..So please learn what ur triggers are and find healthy ways to release the negative emotions. Even if it means when u get a trigger n get set off with rage or anger if that is what u experience..then maybe have a room in ur house specificaly made for destroying? Junk rooms work fabulously! Just run int hat room and throw shit around and break shit and yell and scream! until it passes..do what u gotta do so u dont hurt others is my philosphy..Another thing ive learned from having bipolar is that Im really sensitive to peoples tone of voice or body language. If someone says something that i perceive as angry..it will set me off. Not generally into a fit of anger..i just get into a fit of fear if that makes sense? i get super anxious and I feel automatically like fleeing the situation but i feel angry as well. its the flight or fight experience i guess. n im no fighter..im a cryer..lol. so sometimes if someone sounds mad in my perception ive found that allot of the time it is my misperception..they actually are not mad at me. I've just assumed that from their tone of voice..so what has helped me is to ask people..as scary as that seems and sounds. If i feel someone is mad I will just go why are u mad? n then the next thing they say i can usually tell if they really are n if they arnt really mad at me then it will usually just stop the anxiety altgoether. Another example is that ive noticed that im really sensitive to people rejecting me. It will generally trigger me into a mood of loss almost, unwanted and unloved..into depression. Ive been in a few situations where I have felt all of that but the persons intentions were not meant to reject me but I took it that way. Especially in my dating relationships..like my last bf one day he had made plans with me to go out after his classes then he called and cancelled because he found out he had an assignment due the next day and apologized n we made plans for the next day. I took that as rejection..i automatically assumed that he just didn't want to see me and he just didnt love me n i prolly took it as far as to convince myself that he was out with some other prettier girl. soo ive come to know myself that when i feel rejected i NEED to talk to the person I think is rejecting me and work something out so I dont feel rejected. My last bf he was very understanding about this. And we worked things out that when things like that came up, he would take me with him to ease my conscience. So say he had to bail because of an assignment. Then I would help him with the assignment or be in the same place while he worked on it. and that really helped allot. I find that as ive gotten older my bipolar has in some ways gotten worse..but in some ways gotten better. I no longer cut myself. I have tho gone out and compulsively got a new piercing here n there. um my fits of rage have decreased allot since I was young. I rarely get fits of rage anymore. I still get mad but I have found ways to keep my anger more internal than external. However, my hypersexuality has increased extremely. It has had some very negative affects on my life and caused allot more pain than i needed. My substnace abuse has increased allot. I drink almost every weekend and every now n again I go on 3 day long benders..usually when im already in a depressive state. Um I find that pot really helps me actually. I know that sounds rediculous. but it mellows me out for a time n makes me think more positively. but seriously stay away from substances they seriously just cause more pain and are not a way to solve problems they just cause more problems. I cant smoke pot if im alraedy in a euphoric state otherwise i get 50 times more crazy..soo its pretty intense at times..hmm..what else. i thnk im rambled myself out..lol