Bipolar 101

Bipolar Disorder (as defined by WebMD.com-- link below):Bipolar is a complex illness. There are many different symptoms -- and several different types -- of bipolar disorder. The primary symptoms of the disorder are dramatic and unpredictable mood swings. The various types of bipolar disorder range from mild to severe.

There are indeed many different types of bipolar disorder. Bipolar I, Bipolar II, Rapid Cycling, Cyclothymic, and Mixed Bipolar. Most people don't know that these different types exist, let alone what the differences are. Allow me to enlighten you.

Bipolar I- "The Cop Out" Basically depression with one, maybe two manic episodes in the person's life.

Bipolar II- "The 'Norm'" A relatively slow swing between depression and hypomania (never reaching full-blown mania).

Cyclothymic- "Cop Out: The Sequel" Basically BP II, but neither depression or hypomania/mania ever reaching extreme.

Mixed Bipolar- "Hell" When depression and mania occur simultaneously. Tons of ideas rushing through your head at 10x the speed of light, but absolutely no ambition to even get off the couch. This is my "normal."

Hi. My name is Charmaine, and I have Bipolar Disorder.

That was loads harder than I thought it would be. Even now I'm wondering if I should just scrap this whole thing. I've only told a handful of really close friends about this because I was (am) afraid of the responses I'll get, the way I'll be treated, and the stigmas that go along with mental illness.

Now, I'm not saying that what I'm going thru is any worse than what you're going thru, my goal is simply to educate people on what Bipolar really is as opposed to what the media portrays it as. I'm going to aim for at least one post per week, but as I said above... loads of ideas with no ambition to carry them out. I'll just post my thoughts and feelings (nothing offensive intended).

Today's thoughts (that sparked this whole blog thing to begin with)... Do you know what it's like to have nobody like you? I do. I can tell when I walk into a room whether or not I'm welcome. I mean, when you see people talking then they suddenly stop and look all uncomfortable when you come round? It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. I get it. I'm weird. I always have been. **I'm hungry, but I'm dead tired** **This is getting long and I'm dead tired**

Yep. Tired.




WebMD-BipolarDisorder