I have Bipolar disorder, AMA

[Themadcatparade]

An insight thread in to the disorder.

I have battled through this as an undiagnosed condition in my youth and I’m now stable and unmedicated (and have been fairly stable for 4 years!). Ask me anything

Me too! Just here to see some questions :)

How aware were you if you were in an elated state? Do you remember afterwards what happened? I have someone in my family with bipolar and often wonder about this.

@SheABitSpicyToday feel free to join in with the answers!

@junebirthdaygirl It’s very difficult in my opinion to be aware when you are manic, because you genuinely feel that things are ‘normal’. Numerous times it’s only when I look back and take an outside view perspective and see the bigger picture that I think ‘oh dear I wasn’t in my right mind/did I really do that?!’

This can be a really hard thing to deal with. I can only compare it to depression, sometimes you know you are depressed, but more often than not you don’t realise for a long time and it’s only when you are months down the line you look back and realise that you was, if that makes sense.

I remember most things but when I was younger (teens) and it was bad, I used to have these episodes I called Blackouts where I had a gap in my memory from ten minutes to days at a time. My therapists always believed it was a protection thing, a way for my brain to cope with my actions.

Thanks for your reply. That does make sense. Best wishes going forward

You say you are stable and unmedicated. Would you care to share your journey to this point? I don't have Bipolar but have friends who do.. one of which is very keen to get off her meds.