Yesterday, my husband and I were discussing how it's easier, in a way, when I'm going manic, because I can just take Zyprexa & it knocks me down in minutes. Same with anxiety - pop some clonazepam & I'm calmed right down in no time. But with depression, there's no 'quick fix'. Good sleep helps (if you can get it), exercise helps (if you can do it), various medications help (if you can wait that long). And if all else fails, there's the crisis lines and ER. I just wish there was more instant relief for Bipolar Depression.
But then there's also the 'side effects' of these anti-manics and anti-anxiety pills that leave you sleeping till Tuesday, which is disabling in itself. So it's kind of ironic that the very 'treatment' for all of this helps one problem but causes two (or more) others, such as drowsiness(understatement) and weight gain. I suppose treating the Bipolar is the 'lesser of 2 evils', but I always scoff when hearing "But it's very treatable" because in my case, yes, it treats the Bipolar, but the treatments themselves are disabling. 
