Hi guys! I wish I hadn't missed the bipolar episode, mainly because I myself am bipolar. All I saw was a preview with those two dorky guys and one was saying how he saw a woman on the subway talking to herself so the other guy said oh well she must have been bipolar. I wanted to throw something at my tv because that was just so....DUMB!
Anyway, I thought I'd explain a little about what bipolar disorder is, in case anyone cares. Bipolar disorder is classified in to two categories, bipolar-1 or bipolar-2. People who are bipolar fall in to one of these two categories, though they may, and most likely will experience symptoms of both sides. Bipolar-1 describes the highly manic phase, people who are manic tend to be very...overwhelming. A lot of times people who are manic or when someone like myself is in their manic phase we can talk for hours about nothing, everything gets exaggerated, we can just "go" for hours w/o letting up. Bipolar-2 describes the deep depression part of the disorder. Although I know a lot of people experience depression at one time or another, this is pretty much the same thing on a little bit of a bigger scale. I myself am bipolar-2 and speaking from experience I can just say that I would never wish this feeling even on my worst enemy. Sometimes I just get to the point where I can't stand myself and I can't think of one good reason why I even need to be alive. A lot of times I will just cry and wonder why I have to feel like this and what did I ever do to deserve feeling like this? Other times, though this hasn't been anytime recently, I would get so violent, b/c on top of being bipolar, I have a horrible temper. I never hurt anyone physically except for myself I suppose. (The only incident that really remains clearly in my mind was senior year when I dug my nails all down the sides of my face out of frusteration at myself. I think I was worried about a project or something, I don't even remember now. ) And sometimes it might be one or two little things that set me off, but it can be anywhere from seeing a pretty girl and wishing I looked like that or getting a bad grade on homework. Before I started my new medicines I felt like this on a daily basis, however now that I have new stuff, these really horrible episodes only happen maybe once a week, and the REALLY REALLY bad ones happen MAYBE once a month, which I know doesn't sound all that much better, but it really is!
Neither aspect of the disease is very pleasant and many people call the switch from the manic phase to the depression phase a "crash" and honestly that's really what it feels like. Neither phase has a specific time that it will last, however depending on whether you're bipolar-1 or bipolar-2, that's the mood which you will most often feel. My brother is bipolar-1 and he does get depressed but those phases don't last as long as his manic phases, where as mine are just switched around. My mood can change from either one of these opposities in a matter of minutes. One moment I will be very giggly and hyper and then ten minutes later I am hitting rock bottom because I feel completely and utterly worthless or just feel so down that I want to cry. It's really scary to not be able to control your own emotions sometimes. I wish I could explain these feelings exactly so yall could really know what people with this disease feel, but i realize that's not possible!
As far as medicine goes....ugh, it's incredibly complicated. I have been taking different medications since I was in the 8th grade and they get switched around all the time. Currently I'm taking over 12 pills a day for my bipolar disorder. Some of them keep me awake so I also have to take prescription sleeping pills which are very dangerous for the liver, but they are the only thing that work so that kind of sucks. After awhile you kind of get used to living with this kind of affliction but it isn't easy. A lot of people I've met think that being bipolar means you're "crazy" but it's a disease just like diabetes or something.
As for those kids on MTV who someone said they needed better parenting, etc. I can tell you for a fact that parenting has nothing to do with this disease. It is a chemical imbalance, yes love and support from your parents is very beneficial, but it's not going to control whether these kids are diagnosed with bipolar disorder or not. The disease IS a serious problem whether or not people choose to believe that, and the medicines that are used to treat the disease have many dangerous side effects, so doctors will never just throw this diagnosis out casually. I am not trying to be rude by saying that, but I just know because my parents have been WONDERFUL, but I still have this disease and my life sucks on a daily basis. (My poor parents, both my brother and I are bipolar, I don't know how they managed to stay sane.)
Ok, now that I have written a novel for yall on bipolar disorder, I am going to go to bed! I hope this helps if you didn't really understand the disease. Thanks for reading all of this!
