Looking back i'd found that i joined this forum a year ago, and boy do i feel like i have learned a lot by being here. Here are a few of the things i have learned. (feel free to dissagree with any on my list or add some of your own)
1. BiPolar affectes everyone differently, but that many docs only use the medical definition of BP and then attempt to fit a square peg into a round hole, so to speak. Listening to you all here has shown me that there are so many more sides to this disease than what i orginally thought.
2. WOrking off number 1, there is no one medicine that works the same for everyone, and that we all have wildly different outcomes to different meds and treatments. In short each successful treatment has to be perfectly tailored to each individual.
3. You have to be willing to forgive yourself and move forward with your treatment. Beating yourself up over thing that you did while you wern't in your right mind doesnt help anyone.
4. Being able to laugh at yourself and how you feel has helped me gain some control over this beast. Just accepting that i'll never be rid of it and that the most i can hope for is a truce has been very freeing to me in an emotional, spritual and mental sort of way.
5. Finally having a place such as this where i can talk to people who truely understand what i am feelign and going thru has been a godsend in its own right. Plus i enjoy being able to lend a shoulder to those in need because i understand that they will be there to lend me one if i ever need it also.
Thanks for listening and everyone have a happy holiday week.
Bill