Can you fight it?`

My girlfriend is Bi-Polar and I love her to the point of doing anything I can to help.
My question is. When she is down. Do I try to bring her back up. Do I force her to get out of bed? Can she beat this by thinking positive?
A few weeks ago she almost lost me by being very rude and mean. I had driven 1000 miles to see her and she was almost to the point of being a Jeckel and Hyde. It came to the point that I had to leave and go back home and tell her that it was over before she stopped. She then told me that she was upset that she had lost her job and that the changes because of that made her go into a episode. She then asked me to please stay with her. Everyone else had left her and she needed a friend.
How do I handle things? She has already had a bad week when she has stayed in bed for days. Do I let her do this or do I say something?
Thanks in advance for all the help..

Bill McNamara

 

   Its very hard for people wwho have never suffered depression or mania to understand what goes on inside our heads when we are down or manic.

   My advice, from a person who suffers BP and also deals with a with a wife who has bad depression is to learn to let it go. I just don't take it personally when she is upset, and i understand what depression is and how it affects the mind.

   Acceptance in the end is what allows me to live with her. I understand that she isnt doing this just be mean, its a chemical imbalance that she has very little control over. SO when she is down i help by doing what i can, but in the end i let it run its course and wait for her to come back to me on the other side of depression. 

  BIll