It is a disorder that requires attention, support, and care in many ways. Going it on one's own may lead to serious destructive behaviors and sorrowful life.

But once you have those things you need in place it can begin to be managed and a more peaceful existence regained.

No, I will NOT freak out and murder an entire family.

Iam I think she got her degree from a toilet bowl.

Lol @dizzy. Your DP just makes your comment that much more funny.

Is telling your partner of 10 years, to eat a burger and die, consider homicidal thoughts.


My biggest thing is I want people to see and believe I have an illness that makes doing things a little bit harder. Every time I tried to discuss it with my sister in law, she blows it off like everyone feel the same as me, and I need to just " get over it". Nope, you get to go through your life without a chemical imbalance or whatever this is. Yes there are tough times but I get the tough times and the Bp in one. It does make it harder, and suicidal is always a option for me. That is not fun to live with that type of thinking.

Most illness you can not just get over with. But you sure can fight it and try to stay above it.

And here's another- people believe mania/hypomania is fun.

Hypo-Mania is not fun sometimes the energy can be but it is a bitch all the time. Sometimes you just got to use the energy to do some things good but when it comes crashing down on you pay back is hell.

1) that if you have rapid cycling more than 4 times a year you do not have rapid cycling bipolar ( something that a pdoc who specialized in the field got very frustrated about )
2) That being bipolar always sucks, because it doesn't always suck i get to see the world differently than others which makes me more creative and i get to see colors that average people never even dream of.(although it does mostly suck, but i try to find things to laugh at or it will over run me.)
3)if someone is not currently taking meds they are noncompliant, i hated that i take meds faithfully now, but there was atime when the meds i was given did not work or made me worse, i told them if they found ones that worked or helped at all i would take them faithfully and they finally did and so i do. i try to explain it like, okay so your knee is hurting , and so you are like dr can you give me something for the pain? and the dr is like sure take this. so you take it, but now your knee, back, head arm and foot hurts on top of it you feel nautious and can hardly breath...tell me would you keep taking that? or would you stop and ask for something else or maybe even have a moment where you think forget that i will just deal with the knee pain, or maybe you lack faith in that dr. .... that is not med noncompliance that is common sense. find a med that works and i stayed on,

4) that wiether i am on meds or not determines that i will mass murder people or that i am dangerous to anyone ever but myslef.....um i am morelikely when i get really sick to self harm, now i may say some awful things that feels like waking up after drinking too much and trying to put the night before together, which sometimes i get that feeling when i get really ill. no i probably wont harm you,

5) that your depression is anything like what i get through... it drive me nuts when averagepeople get sad and tell me i wouldn't get depressed if i just didn't think about it...yea and someone would not have cancer or diabetes if they just did not think about it. like comparing injuries between full on tackle football player and freaking golfer.

6) that i am lazy or i just dont want to be a mom/ or grow up or what ever insult wants to be hurled my way that day/week

7) meds fix everything. they don't its hard work

8) you are just not trying hard enough. or it doesnt even look like you are trying...i would not wish this on my sorst enemy but there are days when i think maybe if they just delath with it for a month, just for compassion empathy sake.

9) that our illness is all about us/ or that when we feel suicidal its because we areso selfish. selfcentered maybe, but i have felt suicidale at times thinking that if i was gone my husband and kid could have a better wife and mom and my hubby would not break his vows. its not true of course, that is the nature of the false thinking in our illness.

10) that all we ever think about is ourselves. um not in fact half the time when i am dpressed it is because i think of how aful this illness is and how guilty i feel for how hard this must be on loved ones.

11) half the things stupid books say to help us....they irritatte me so much, i am like that is the absolute worse advice ever.

and probably more. what a great topic thanks for adding it

the myth that mania / hypomania is under voluntary control - ie you can switch it off at will.

the myth that bipolar is just about mood swings.

the myth that various historical figures can be diagnosed in retrospect with bipolar.

Myth #1: People with Bipolar Disorder are not functioning in the working world. Here's what I mean: As a nurse, I often encounter patients with mental illness, though I'm not on a psych unit. Staff makes fun of them terribly sometimes. It's like it never occurs to them that a co-worker, like me, could possibly be bipolar as well. We just don't advertise it b/c of the stigma.
Myth #2: Our problems are due to weakness and character flaws, rather than mental illness. My family's general attitude is that if I just tried harder, everything would be okay.
Myth #3: Our illness is less serious than physical illnesses. I had a counselor say to me that I am perfectly healthy, & I should be happy I don't have some condition like heart problems. Truth be told, I would trade being mentally ill for a physical ailment in a heartbeat. At least then I wouldn't have to hide my diagnosis, and people would likely be much more supportive.