I am a new member and I came across the post about whether there are any positives to bipolar disorder...I have to admit, it is easy to obsess about all the negatives such as the need to take meds and to regulate my sleep, but I have learned some positive things from my disease. I learned th...
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positives
as good as it gets
Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 01:13 AMre: positives
bipolarbear
Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 01:31 AMYes, the trick really is in the performance of having a positive attitude. One of my friends from support group always says that she doesn't want to sound like the Pollyanna of bipolar but she always suggests positive things to do. I find for me I really do have to try and do the good things like exercise and eat okay, course I don't always succeed...thanks for listening.
replyre: re: positives
Suzanne
Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 06:13 PMOh my gosh, POSITIVES from bipolar? No way. Mother asphyxiating herself with a plastic bag over her head when I was a teenager (after many other suicide attempts & her attempting to kill us children; yes, police were constant visitors at our house hauling her away to mental instutions) & her success--THAT was a blessing to have her gone (guilt to have to say that) but her physical & mental abuse were horrendous.
Act II: My own suicide attempts starting at age 15 (I am my mother's daughter). Skip through years of hell with misdiagnosis & wrong meds, etc.
Act III: Finally diagnosed with bipolar 1. Start year-long quest of combo of meds to try to get some stability. Awful side effects. Some to the point of hospitilization. OK. Stable 5 years. 5 mos. of hypo mania (pure heaven); didn't know it was dangerous; didn't report it to pdoc as I spent most of my life depressed this was incredible bliss; then, of course, sudden drop into depression & another overdose & trip to ER.
Act IV: For the past 2 years still trying to get stable again.
Positive? You've got to be kidding me!
replyre: re: re: positives
bipolarbear
Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 06:16 PMSuzanne,
I completely sympathize with your point of view, somebody else brought the topic of "positives" up and I was trying to say mainly that the positives for me have been about coping and developing my relationships. Have you ever read of or seen in people the so-called "seduction of mania" where people do not want to take their meds because the mania is such a great state of creativity or production or feeling GOOD? I can't quite get that. Yeah mania is fine until you are in the hospital and they are giving you a shot in the rear. My father was a manic depressive that killed himself with alcohol, the psychiatric treatment in the 60s and 70s just wasn't as good as now, so I try really hard to achieve a decent life for me. I deserve it. So do you. All best wishes.
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Yes things can be better in fact they can bre extremely good even living wit bipolar. Remember you attitude will in the end be what determines you ability to cope, to love, and to be loved.
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