Lived Experience Forum

[Tilly3]

I was diagnosed ten years ago with bp. I have felt very alone I would love to chat with other ppl with bp. 

[tyme]

Hi @Tilly3 ,

Welcome to the forums. There are many others here who have a BP diagnosis. I hope you find belonging and connection here.

They will be able to provide some insight into what is happening for them.

Hope you hear from other community members soon.

tyme

[Tilly3]

Thanks for the reply I have always just kept the fact I have bipolar a secret. I havnt been on my meds for a while now I did some stupid shit the last few weeks I need to sort it

[tyme]

I'm so sorry to hear that @Tilly3 

I hope it gets sorted soon. 

[ShiningStar]

Hi @Tilly3 

I just wanted to reach out to welcome you to the forums - it’s great to have you here 💜

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been feeling so alone and in my experience, this can be a really tough and miserable place to be 💜

As such, I’m just so pleased that you decided to reach out to us here and I hope that you’ll find the sense of connection and belonging that you’re searching for 💜

A little while ago, one of our wonderful Community Guides @Shaz51 created a thread called Let’s Talk About Bipolar where members of our community can come together and share some of their experiences in relation to living with bipolar disorder 💜

As such, I’ve just shared the link to this particular thread below - just in case you would like to take a look and join in some of the conversations 😊

https://saneforums.org/t5/Our-stories/Let-s-talk-about-Bipolar/td-p/1023041

Also, just while I remember, one of the things that really helped me when I was new to the forums and still finding my way around, was that if you would like to chat with another forum member, or reply to one of their posts, place @ in front of their username just like I did at the start of my post to you i.e. @Tilly3 that way, they will receive a message that you have contacted them 😊

I hope that this helps you a little bit and please know that you’re always welcome to reach out to us here whenever you need to 💜

Take kind and gentle care of yourself,

ShiningStar 💜

[Shaz51]

Hello @Tilly3 , i have tagged you to the Bipolar thread 

and also this is what one of the members wrote to share

Super late to the party with this post - Really glad to report feeling well and have been for some time.

Rather than just saying “I’m good”, I thought I might share a bit about what has been working for me to keep everything stable.

1. Medication - getting that right has probably saved my life. Consistency taking them is key, then managing side effects.
2. Managing side effects - taking fibre tablets to help with digestion and health bowel movements, exercise to stave off weight gain, moisturiser for skin dryness, coffee for “asleepyness” in the mornings (like how I justified my coffee addiction haha).
3. Exercise - also to manage potential weight gain + good for mind. 3 x weight sessions p.w. + running 2-3 x per week. Interesting, finding weight fluctuates a lot and is very stubborn. Hard to lose weight but good to maintain weight.
4. Routine - helps me to monitor moods going higher or lower + keeps everything stable. Exercising on the same days, waking up / going to bed at a similar time each day, taking medications at the same times, working strict hours (trying to stay away from overtime / becoming too goal oriented - trying to manage potential hypo-manias)
5. Therapy - I have found a good program to treat underlying issues I have had over the years / deal with the shame created by the grief I caused during my manic/depressed phases. 
6. Sacrifice - quit alcohol (150 days sober), and have ceased medications that were dialling up the manic episodes. Very careful about what I put into my body and potential impact on mood. Needless to say no illicit substances either. I find that substances are the quickest way to precipitate an upward or downward swing, so I’m steering clear altogether.
7. Social activity - staying in touch with friends, making new friends. Trying to create positive feedback loops in my interactions with people. I have found success in keeping interactions short, sweet and positive with the people I hurt during my last downward swing/hospitalisation.
8. Transparency - letting select people know about my condition and what it has been like. Finding that many people share their stories right back.
9. Patience - a lot of things could be a lot better than they are right now, especially after the issues I caused for myself while manic. I am learning patience, and to look after myself while waiting for things to improve socially and financially. 
10. Keep turning up - no matter how I feel, it has been important to keep turning up for work, turning up for social appointments, turning up to exercise, and to keep turning up to doctors appointments. All of these little interactions, I have found, compound into big improvements over time.
11. Tracking moods - I use a fantastic app called “eMoods” to track my daily moods, weight, medications, social activity, self care and more. Creates great data for myself and my physicians.
12. Self care - journaling, therapy, finding downtime, meditation, massages, retail therapy and more. If you don’t look after yourself, who will?
13. Prayer - daily prayer and gratitude journaling, turning to God to help me with this condition and to work all things for good. Asking for healing so that I may be of service to other people and myself in a positive way. Realising that I cannot do all of the above by myself, and that it is OK to ask for help.

Hopefully someone out there will get some benefit out of this. If anyone has additional suggestions I’d love to hear them - something tells me there is a lot more that can be done to remain stable and keep working on improving our ability to live with this condition.

Much love to those out there still suffering or in the midst of a mood swing. I’ll be praying for you.