Mine has gotten better since I have been on right medication. I'm 64.

Oh wow, that's awesome Ioum50. Congrats!! I hope that's me one day.

right on sonofsitka I have read that cycling usually slows down with age which could be good or bad but I think more like you you just notice and control it better.

I'm with sonofsitka -- even if you cycle more or less which who KNOWS if you do, you get more used to it and remember coping strategies from previous "adventures". I'm 40 (almost) and I think aside from lingering anxiety, I'm on a good cocktail of meds. That helps even more!

All I know is with the right meds and now great coping skills, I am feeling better with every year. I am in my mid 40's. My next step on top of these other foundational components-is to build a strong body and continue to put flesh on my interpersonal life.

I read in a Bipolar book that it gets worse with age. But I think it depends on the person and their coping skills they have learned through therapy. Mine has gotten worse over the past year but I blame that on med changes. I haven't been to therapy in years but have started back. My appt; is Sept. 10th so we will see how it goes.

My Pdoc has told me it depends on a lot of things

How early were you DXed and got into a treatment plan
How many severe depressive or manic episodes have you had over a life time

Also, if you go off and on to your meds, that deff will have negative affects as you age.

My Pdoc's oldest BP patient is in her 90's ...he says she does pretty well

I deteriorated over time. I used to be able to be social more than i am now. A lot of things have changed. Meds help me not to scream and cry but that's about it. For me my Bipolar has gotten worse and worse over time.

I'm better now that I'm on the right meds too. I'm 57.

I specifically asked my pdoc this question as I was getting older because it seemed my episodes were increasing. He told me that both frequency and duration increase as one gets older. I have found that to be the case with me. I agree that it's wonderful to be on the right coctail of meds and having the coping skils we have aquired. are definately counteractive to his statement. I am 61.

I've gotten worse with age. I now have panic disorders/agoraphobia. Life seem overwhelming most of the time, where it didn't used to in the past. I have more frequent mood swings, albeit small ones and my memory is pretty bad.
This could all be caused by something else, but it sure ties in w/my bipolar disorder.

My bipolar has remained pretty much the same, but I am more mature in the way I handle the ups and downs and I have more coping skills.

From the age of 18 to 46 I have definitely gotten worse probably because I'm not on the right medication. Moods have gone from slightly troublesome to not being able to function anymore when I'm depressed and doing stupid reckless things when elevated.

I was diagnosed at age 11 and after almost 13 years of being on pills that never helped I have had to come to terms that I am kind of hypersensitive to meds due to tons of manic episodes I've had to learn to deal with it all by just distracting myself from my thoughts and try harder to remember stuff or write it down before I lose the thought and I'm on lamictal now for me I have a bad sense of cognitive skills and my memory is shot ive had 2 major depressions 3 years apart from each other I'm bipolar nos so meds haven't helped me much

Is this an Aug post, hum and it's what date now. oh ya Thanksgiven month.
Right med's like car parts work . Time release for lifetime of living a full life.