Only my family and two best friends know I'm bipolar. When I was still working as a paramedic it used to surprise me at how so many of my coworkers would make fun of our psychiatric calls or patients, especially if they were bipolar. I mean geez...these are trained medical personell that should know better and have more empathy than that!! Makes me sick. You do sound like you are dealing with your illness and not avoiding it or ignoring it. I think you are doing great so don't let others people's opinions hurt you!!

Thank you for your comments :)

I'm tired of being bipolar too. It has been so painful for me. I'm you have to go through it too.

People don't understand because the majority of the BiPolar population don't admit that they have BiPolar, so they don't talk about it, so people don't have a clue what its like to walk in our shoes. Its hard to complain about friends and family not understanding or making jokes, when your not willing to speak up and say, "I have BiPolar, I don't appreciate your jokes" and start a conversation about what it's like to battle this disease.

This Disease is just like any other Disease, until people open up and conversations are started about it and what we battle to live life with it...then people will continue to have a negative view of it.

And if you think your Pdoc doesn't understand your BiPolar life, sounds like it's time to get a new Pdoc.....

Hi Chris, I'm glad you will have a job one day a week but in the mean time I hope that you can work on getting connected through your graphic design work into another company. Kudos to you for trying!

OlderCPer, sorry but I have to disagree with you..I am 47 and seen enough people that are bipolar and when they reveal it publicly they get avoided like the plague..This disease is not like any other disease either in my opinion. People with mental illness get treated unfairly with the general public...As far as my pdoc goes I may have said he doesnt know what its like but the man may have saved my life

I feel the same way. Bipolar disorder has robbed of so much.

Some of it depends on where you live. Where I live its a liberal area with UNC Hospital & University of North Carolina, and Duke Hospital and Duke University. I've not hidden my mental health DX of BiPolar from my employer, they didn't have a problem with it. My friends know I'm BiPolar and they don't have a problem with it.

Like you Chris I'm 47 and have been BiPolar since I was 20. I've raised 2 sons who've always known I had BiPolar and known we didn't keep it as a secret. We just didn't treat it like some big dangerous secret and we didn't have people freaking out about it around us. Chapel Hill and Duke are major Research Study Universities and they do tons of Mental Health Research all the time. It's something this is talked about here, discussed here, not frowned upon, studied to learn better treatment, etc.

I refuse to keep it a secret and always talk about it publicly which is frowned upon and used to drive my whole family nuts ( they don't talk to me now) and i have learned pretty much not to bring it up with my kids even though i was open about it all through their childhoods and thought they would have more understanding. but we do need to keep telling people it is a disease like any other and stop hiding it away in the shadows in fear. It is only through the spread of knowledge that we can make steps forward. the best of luck to you chris in getting back into work. i hope it goes well for you. Is this the lubrication plant? third shift? be well whatever you do. hugs

Most people don't understand other people. They don't understand the similarities, if they did there wouldn't be so much racism, homophobia, religious hatred etc. And most don't understand the differences either and that's not just about bipolar.

All you can do is look after yourself and your own.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through this. In my opinion, all people are normal, whether they have conditions or not. Even people with this condition, have symptoms which the rest of the population regularly experience. A lot of people have mood swings, and are 'emotional.' It's just that some people with this condition experience mood swings on greater levels. Nonetheless, it doesn't matter what health condition you suffer from out there. As long as you're enjoying your life, and happy with your activities and are around supportive people, that's all that should matter, in my opinion.

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed bipolar at 19 and am now 42. 1 bad manic episode that put me in a mental hospital for a week at 20. Since then its mostly depression and anxiety that I suffer from. But I too keep this illness a secret because of societys ignorance. My family knows. My husband and 3 kids know. I recently told a close friend and it was liberating! I even told another mom Im not friends with because she revealed she had depression and a family member was bipolar. Although I wont go out of my way to tell people Im at a point in my life where I am tired of feeling bad about it, tired of hating myself and blaming myself. I love who I am bipolar included....remember we are not our illness it is only obe peice of the pie of who we are. I feel the illness has made me a stronger person. I appreciate life, smiling, laughing more than most. Also from day one with this I have been a fighter.. i will never let the illness beat me or limit me I just push myself harder! I made myself go back to college away from home after a year off while hospitalized got my damn degree, i worked in a fast paced ad agency even though I was told to avoid stress, I had 3 children even though I suffered miserably with post partum depression with each one and needed hired help until i got back on my feet again. I wont let it beat me in fact it has made me a stronger better person. Try very hard to not hate the illness accept it and view the positives that will come from it. Dont give into it, you are a fighter too!