there have been attempts to explain the bipolar condition to others. I read "An Unquiet Mind" by Kay Jamison, phD. It was fabulous. Here is a highly educated woman who has an extensive understanding of the mind and she has trouble with her thoughts and feelings, yet intellectually, she knows it isn't rational.

I read that.Yeah , it's great as a buffer.In individual realities...nah
I'm not on about books, I'm on about the real deal

She also mentioned that friend she had dinner with..and he didn't like her having BP..he felt let down and she was disgusted.

*sigh*

I must say that was well l put. I use to be very open about my bipolar condition, now I don't tell anyone till they have known me awhile. For the reasons you have mentioned above. I think the fact that we go thru periods of normalcy have alot to do with this. You may be totally in control and with it one month then the next your not. So the people you saw on the days you were in control think you're a-ok and the next group you see thinks your a psycho, or you need to be hospitalized. I never realized that this disorder was so complicated, until I started doing research on my own.

Pluck i feel that I've come close and really found a way to put it thier terms and they smile politley and I see see that look of you are so traumatic or wacked and why don't you just stop telling yourself these things. Or for Pete's sake why are you on meds if they don't help. Your are right. Acceptence is the key. Why beat a dead horse. Since I've been on htis site, I don't care what others understand. I have a whole lot more compassion for myself these days. We are some dam strong individuals, even warriors!:)

Done of us are are the same, it's like we all have our own make up. some of us can't take the same medication as the other person. some of us will get more depressed or manic
then the next person.we have a common bond with each other. And I say I won't have anything to do with anybody unless the understand me. I am grateful that I do have friends that do.

Wonderful post Pluck and so true. Even within our own group of people with bipolar disorder, we dont "always" understand what another is experiencing. For example someone with bipolar one and bipolar two. However, we understand each other on a different level. I hear alot of people refer to us as "insane". I disagree. We have a mental illness encompassed by chemical imbalance. I see myself no different than what you call a "sane" person. My illness is not different than a physical illness they have. I have the ability to develope coping skills to deal with mine, that they dont. In most cases we are highly intelligent and creative. I share my disorder with all the people I love and my good friends. New acquaintances, I allow to get to know me for me to avoid them "labeling" me because I have a disorder. For instance, I wait until I am strangling them and their eyes are bulging out, before I tell them. LOL, sorry. I hate always being so serious so I have to catch myself once in a while. I agree with you Pluck in the post but we dont have to make it so important that they view us the way we want them to. No one actually does that in life.

Thanks, everyone.
Shelly, you always put things in a great perspective.
I remember that 'serious' thing.I was so serious I suppose.Not serious enough too.

I hope this wasn't seen just as a vent.It wasn't a vent.I don't know what it was.I really appreciate all the replies. Thanks.

What scares me is that my Pdoc will never know what it's like to be bipolar. And yet he's in charge of my illness.

True.I look at my psych and see a Big Text Book in front of me.Like a Warner Brothers cartoon

that is so true i battle a cemical deppression and things can be just fine and out of no where i start crying for no resaon. and the only ansewrs i have r you dont understand, and you never will.

the hardest part of my realtionship with the person i been woith for 2yrs is that i found out throygh paper work i waas packing up because we r moving, is he is bipolar him,self. i was shocked ot find this out,

he just finshed school and has a good job, i am going back to school in the fall to get a better job. when people see us out i n public no would ever guess this, it has made for new challenges in are realtionship howvever they are a blessing. knowing is hard but it gives you a place to start, not knowing leves questions doubt, and no anesers.

GOOD for you

Reality is seen by no one. Not by others; not by you, yourself.
Everything is filtered through one's senses, and is therefore nothing more than one's subjective view.
But perhaps that's a bit too esoteric for the point you are trying to make.
'We' don't understand 'them' and better than they understand 'us'.
If we were able to fully understand them, their plight in understanding us would probaly become perfectly clear, understandible, and quite reasonable. And would therefore not 'bug' us so much.
There's plenty of norms walking around who feel that no one understands what it's like to be 'them'. And they're right, too.
I do find it frustrating at times, trying to communicate what it's like being me.
I don't think that anyone is capable of fully understanding anyone else.
I try to keep in mind that it's probably just as frustrating to 'norms' as it is to 'us'. We speak a different language and it seems the neither group is capable of really learning the other's language.

to me bipolar is like cancer of the mind. it consumes me. sometimes i go into "remission" but i know in the end it's gonna kill me.