Rant on!! That is a HORRIBLE thing to say. Tell her next time she gets sick you'll be sure to tell her to THINK HERSELF WELL!

I don't blame you; I'd be ranting too.
From your 'friend's' standpoint, maybe she thought she was giving sound advice. Some people THINK they understand being bipolar but they don't and many think meds are just a crutch. I wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for meds.

Well, you have something to say to her if she ever gets cancer or diabetis. Just go out more and go to the gym and you'll be right as rain!
Ignorant people....
peace, t

First of all, tell her to spend one day, or even one hour in your shoes when you are not feeling well. She needs to really educated herself a little better on bipolar, bbecause it is not a copout and meds are not a crutch!!! RANT ON!!

Oh brother!!! When my DH told me not to expect him to "hold my hand through this" I was so angry and I told him he'd better HOPE he NEVER gets sick cuz I will not hold his hand thru it either!!

Ya, just stay in touch with her for the sole purpose of waiting til she gets the frigging flu or whatever and tell her it's all in her head and she should take up jogging! Some friggin' friend!!!

rant on honey , try to ignore her , last week it came out that one of my friends doesnt think im bipolar , i just come on the internet and read up on it , so there you go , i thought to myself she must think im really messed up if im comin on here just to try be bipolar lol and the litium n setraline i must be takin just for fun !! only ive been takin them for months now n im still not gettin a buzz of them lol

It's funny but I think most of us have tried her advice until we surrendered. Ya know diet and excercise. Remember how it felt after doing that and still being f'n wierd. I was really thinking I'm the only one in the world like this. Then one day i surrendered and look how many we are. I'm sure that advice works for her when she's down. Probably not understanding. Really who cares, just don't talk about that issue with her. They really don't get it.

There is a deep moral to this story and it is one we forget often.

Us Bipolars can understand the non-bipolars mind as much as they can understand ours.

Assholes all of them.

One of my hospitaal visits told me to telll me friends I was bipolar and that if i called them to just let me rant for a shoort time. This happenned twice and I just about lost 2 good friends. No I tell oone. Ip put ona happy face andd call my frieends and lsten tothem talk try and have somethinng myself to say. Outside people have such odd ways of thing. Kusst pulll yoourself up by your bootstraps and get going, worst one I heard.

This is a perfect example of just how misunderstood we are, except by each other. And another reason why I'm so glad we all can meet here every day.

Thanks for all the support, my mom too also told me she thinks i've made it all up in my head. She said i won't be on meds for very long because she reckons it will all just "go away". I wish!! I just don't know how she can say that now when before i was diagnosed she was adamant that i was a quirky, if a little strange, even from a child and i didn't have a problem, it was just the way i am!

I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, i cant see how i could get a kick out of it?

However, I also think they do care, they just don't want to believe it. My mom keeps saying "i dont understand any of this".

She has the internet, she knows the docs number, she has MY phone number, i'm sure she can find out what bipolar actually means if she can be bothered one day instead of whining. You may think i'm exaggerating but if you asked my mom what it was - she couldn't even tell you the symptoms. really.

good one, ttatum! Do rant here, it's what this place is for. This "friend" is ignorant. I keep saying this but she should read "UnQuiet Mind" by Kay Redfield Jamison (available at libraries if you can't afford to buy one for her--paperbacks available on amazon.com for cheap). Give her a copy & say "Read this, then let's talk about my condition." But I SO agree that, when someone has cancer, everyone is all sympathetic. But when it's something the matter w/our Brains--they figure we choose this.

Rant on. My mother doesn't know what the word bipolar even means. Forget about trying to educate her. Same for most other people I know. What the hell. They all think they are being helpful in their own heads, but oh so not helpful because they aren't in our shoes. Sucks, sucks, sucks!

i agree with bbipolar - im not going to try and educate someone about something they think i'm making up.

At the end of the day, if it was my daughter (or anyone close to me) i'd make the effort to look it up and be supportive.

My dads even better - I havent told him and neither has my mom because he thinks that its not a mental illness unless you do something like run the streets naked attacking people. lol its not funny really but if i didnt laugh id cry!!!

sally, are we sisters? Cuz, I think you are describing my folks...

Tell your so called "friend" to kiss off... With friends like that...sheesh! ((hugs))