Well, if you have some sort of faith then use that. Me I use EVERYTHING meditation writing and reading. TALKING to EVERYONE HERE.

I use art and drawing decopauge etc to get through the rough bits.

Just remember you are NOT ALONE EVER!!!!

you don't gain weight if you don't take depakote :)

I don't know how those people in the past made it through without meds, probably by faith, but I read a book that keeps me taking my meds everyday and keeps me looking up. "An Unquiet Mind" by Kay R. Jamison, better than "A Brilliant Madness". And I cut a bunch of really cool stuff out of magazines and cd covers and stuff like that and made a really positive, happy collage. I just look at it and I can't help but be cheered up. There's lots of stuff to do, can't think right now.

Lithium is an natural element on the periodic chart, it has been around for an eternity. I think medically it has been used since the early 1900's.

Lithium didn't turn up as tx till the 70's.

Some people can live with hypomania. They just can. We're all different. Barb, I take a handful of pills every night, I have been RAGINGLY ill for seven years and not-so-ill for another four on top of that, have been in hospital either 13 or 15 times, I cannot recall. And yet, I have absolutely no real objections to my life, I am a happy person, I delight in my horse and my pets and I work when I can. I am 30 years old and I have a crappy marriage and a crappy family. My friends buoy me as does my riding and my writing.

Without meds I'm sure things would be a LOT worse. Now, there are lots of different degrees of BP and you see it all over the place here. In the distant past I think people who were very ill were "taking the cure" a lot; those who were not-so-ill coped as best they could. As to Jim Carrey etc, well, shoot, if you made that much money you would have top physicians and a physical trainer and someone personally assigned to keep you away from donuts too. LOL!

We do what we can to get through our days. I find the HARDEST thing for me is learning my limits and living within those.

Blessings.

Keep talking to God. He will return in His own time, and I, too, hope it is soon. Remember, also, that God will not give you more than you can handle. Take confidence in that. I know I certainly do.

I think all those people made it because they had no choice. One day I was complaining because I take so many meds for so many reasons. I said to myself" My Grandmother never even took this much medicine!". then I stopped to thank God that today there are so many meds for so many things.
We may have it hard because of BP, but we have it so much easier than people used to. :-)

I managed in a "hypomania" mode for years. I was the talk of the party, quick with words, endless amounts of energy. but man, it sucked when I crashed. My crashes got harder and harder.
my decisions got harder to live with too

Baggyknees: Oh so so so so so right! My grandmother was periodically locked up for six months at a time because she had, "spells". Can you imagine?

But you do gain weight if you take Lithium....aaahhh!!!!

I agree with all these people here. Especially who ever said that the professional people have therapist and pdocs and persoanl trainers lined uo the museusses, relax time got knows what. In Licolns day he had a lot of physical labor too so I guess that could count as exercise. Our lives are just not the same.

As my sister says there will always be pp who are BP and have it better then us and there will always be pp who have BP that have less then us.

A lot of ppl in those times just as now self medicated. Booze, coke and whatever else was available.

As far as Lincoln, laudanum as it was called is basically just liquid morphine. So many things that are now baned were sold out of the back of a wagon as snake oil for 5 cents a bottle and it cured everything from a sore tooth to gout.

Hell I don't know. LOL

I once saw on the history channel that cocaine was sold in the sears and roebucks catalog....can you imagine??? they said it was mostly housewives that purchased it...lol

Coco-Cola Invented 1885

1903 - formula changed to remove the coca leaves, which the drug cocaine is derived.

He could have been a alcoholic.
or suffered from diabetes.
No one knows for sure.
Some people say he was gay.
I think he was just a good smart president.