1. Post responses below

2. Very much agree with seeking out all resources and staying informed on all fronts . . . never thinking one knows it all . . . constantly seeking out the best support . . . HOWEVER, I am disappointed in your name calling. Honestly, David, calling those who fight alone, “DUMMIES” ???? That is sinking a bit low.

3. Dave
   you are so right! I have BP and I have a support system. I don’t have a main supporter because I live by myself and have no one else. but I do have a online support group that helps and my meds. I would invite others to mdjunction.com, it is a great place for people with BP and thier supporters. Dave you are a great person for all you do to help those of us with BP.
   THanks and God Bless

4. I really appreciate the energy, effort, encouragement and enthusiasm for living life fully and consciously that you share with us so generously on a daily basis – especially when ‘life’ for you with a cold and no energy doesn’t stop you from offering this gift to so many fairly anonomous people like myself out there.

   Thank you thank you

5. Hi David,

   I had a question and have used all my resources that are available to me. I just started a new job and my insurance doesn’t kick in until January. I am unable to get to the doctor and get my meds. I only have six days of meds left and the withdrawals are terrible. Is there any group that helps with this sort of thing? Thanks so much for the support. Jackie Travis

6. Dear David,
   you are really being of immense support to me! By the way, I am not from the US so I didn’t vote, but as all the world is doing I am following with immense interest the US citizens, confronted with two wars, recession and other problems, going their fascinating way before and through the possible choices on their election day. As for life with a bipolar, the notion of seeking help in every possible way is entirely with me, proof of that is, I am here :-); also I am convinced that dummies fight alone and smart people fight in squad. Unfortunately, this opinion is not shared by my bipolar fiancé, who thinks he can cope alone and without seeking help. Indeed, he is not even to the point when one realizes that there is something to emend in his life.
   One thing was specially helpful up to now for me anyway, when you made clear that support someone must not turn in you becoming a substitute in what he should be doing himself (excuse me, I don’t remember the world you used, but that was the idea). I fear I fell in that error for some time, but becoming aware of the difference was really illuminating for me.
   Thank you, and thank you for coming to us in spite of your cold. Cold seems a light illness, but in fact it can be so damned disabling. Good thing, you know it is just for some days, or even hours 🙂
   Gloria

7. Dear Dave.. I have to thank you.. I was at my wits end..My girlfriend of five years was acting strange the last two. it was out of character behavior. It seemed to come and go.. like PMS not every month.. every six or eight months. We went to her Dr. and told him what was going on… he had her take a Saliva Test (accurate hormone levels) she is 54 yrs. old and has been suffering with Menopause since she was appox 47yrs. old. Her tests came back and she was out of balance with almost non exhisting pergestrone levels. She was given a synthetic compound to compensate for this which seemed to help for about four months. Then the behavior came back but now it is every twenty one days.. that she seems to slip into a short run of mild depression.. and then into a Manic state. She was diagnosed as being Bipolar about a month ago, put on Meds. that she reacted to poorly Rash, tightness of chest and breathing problems. Her Meds. were changed but she did not start taking them.. untill two days ago.(she was told by the man she had met on the dating site that “They could work out her problem”) When the episodes became frequent .. she put herself on a dating site and met a man and fell into a physical relationship in a few days (Sorry my thoughts are a little out of sequence) and has come and gone about seven times exactly on the 21 day.. of the episode. When she is back with me.. she claims that she is sorry… and wants to try to become stable. But as soon as we start treatment… she gets a trigger.. weather an internal one or an email .. and she is off again… I think her case is semi unique… that it is triggered on a true time clock. I can’t seem to cordinate her Dr.’s and get them on the same page. What I’m getting at .. I want to thank you for your insight.. and the information I have learned from you about distortion of truth in this illness. I realized it..quite a while back.. but no one else saw it… I think now… she is admitting it to her self…. I hope that is a step in the right direction…. if you would like to continue learning about what is going on in our case so you can share it… please feel free to contact me via email. Thank you again… Lawrence S.

8. Hi,

   I hardly ever post here, but your email today really moved and inspired me. I have bipolar I (w/psychotic features) and am a Phd student at a major NE university. Nobody but 2 fellow students know that I have BPI. In other words, I have never told my advisor, my graduate director, etc.

   About 8 weeks ago, I had a manic episode, and in this episode I decided that I could do twice the work of every other student in my department (combined! There are 95 students!–so I thought I could produce about as much work as 180 people). There were some delusional things, as well, that led to this idea. The problem is, I acted on this idea (my primary support person- my fiance- is currently living in on the west coast until December, I had fired my therapist in July, I had gone off my meds, and I didn’t trust my pdoc so didn’t tell her the truth.

   The mania ended, (as they always do!) and all of the sudden I was faced with a MASSIVE amount of work (the work of 180 people!) I was suddenly the chair of our grad student union, the editor of a new journal, doing part-time grading work for FOUR different professors (part time=20 hours per week, so 20 by 4=80 hours per wek), tutoring students in a completely different department than my own, took up an offer to write a book chapter (about Bipolar II, by the way) which is due November 15th, and embarked on 2 other completely different writing projects. All of this on top of my three graduate classes and my already-comitted work as a research assistant (15 hours/per week of statistics). I also decided to paint my house.

   Two weeks ago, the reality of all this started crashing down of me. There was NO WAY I could complete all this work. I started panicing and started to spiral down into a depression. I couldn’t concentrate. Nothing made sense. I was paralyzed and couldn’t do any work at all, even the simple stuff. There was garbage laying all over my house, and I started skipping school.

   And then, something important occured. A professor of mine, who I greatly admired, asked me to stay late after class about 12 days ago. She said, “what’s going on with you? Every day I see you, it looks like you’ve been crying, you’ve lost weight, you look like you are not sleeping”- and I lost it in her office. For 5 days after that, I spent about 2 hours in her office, just crying. After she offered me her hand, I ASKED FOR HELP. On Friday last week, I called my graduate director and said I was in trouble. I ASKED FOR HELP. And you know what? He helped me enormously. He is helping me work with everyone I comited myself to, to see what comittments I can get out of altogether, and which I can push off. I then had to speak to my editor- ASKING FOR HELP. She wasn’t as gracious as some of the others, but gave me an extra two weeks to work on my chapter. I also ASKED FOR HELP from every one of my professors, and they are going to help me get back on track. And lastly, most importantly, I found a new therapist who I really, really like. I ASKED FOR HELP. I also went back on my meds, and ASKED FOR HELP from my pdoc.

   There are still other things I need to do to get myself out of this mess- like finding a good psychiatrist. And, I’ll also note that I didn’t tell any of those people that I ASKED FOR HELP that I have BP. But I am planning on telling them next week: because if they know, they can be part of my support system to help me be aware of my manias, and help me get help.

   In closing, I just wanted to say how very right you are about asking for help. Even though I was embarassed about crying in the professors office for 2 hours every day (who, by the way, I have decided to officially make my advisor, and I will tell her about the BP), and I was ashamed to have to tell the graduate director about my problems. But instead of shunning me, or making me feel humiliated, instead they helped me. And, they even said that they admired me for ASKING FOR HELP because it meant that I really wanted to get out of the hole I had dug for myself and get back to being successful.

   Thanks, Dave, for all you do for us.

   Kate

9. Jackie,

   I have three suggestions/ideas:

   1. Have you contacted the pharmaceutical companies that make your meds? All of them have programs to help pay for meds. For the most part, you can find out information on these programs (including enrollment forms) from the websites of these companies.

   2. Also, are your meds sold at Costco (or another discount store like that) or Walmart? They sell meds for $4. You can go online to Walmart, where they have a list of every drug they sell for $4.

   3. If not, I guess the last suggestion I could make is to talk to your pdoc (even over the phone), tell him/her your situation, and see if there is a different combination of cheaper, older drugs that can get you through. I know that is not ideal, but might be better than nothing. For example, Lithium is EXTREMELY cheap- as are the old-fashioned tricyclic antidepressents and benzos.

   Good luck!

   Kate

   Good luck,

   Kate

10. All I can say , This is about the best article to date

    THANK YOU .

11. Hi Dave,
    What a great analogy! While I totally don’t agree with Obama’s policies on a few things, I do acknowledge that he is immensely intelligent & likeable. He could have said “Me? Run for President? What are you crazy? I’m black! No black man will win the race for President of the US!” No, he remained positive & like you said, had a strategy & surrounded himself with successful people. Thanks for the encouragement. (I’m a supporter of a husband who won’t see a doctor or take medicine. He’s doing miraculously well, considering, but does need to be more proactive in his health & I need to be on guard for behaviors I see coming on)

12. Dave ,

    I probably should’t waste my time. During the election a couple of nights befor. I did some research. We have had four pesidents assassinated.

    (1) Lincoln
    (2) Garfield
    (3) McKinley
    (4) Kennedy

    With Lincoln It was in 1865, the part I thought was interesting was that Kennedy was killed 2 yrs short of it being a hundred yr apart.
    Lincoln had no formal education, Kennedy Made history,! He was the youngest and the only catholic to be in office. Kennedy was a harvard graduate.

    Martin Van Buren held office in 1837, ThersE was a depression during that time. 1929 we had another depression. In the 80’s we had a recession and now we are working either a depression or we are in a recission as of now.

    1817 the presidents salery was 25,000. 1831 it was 50,000, 1953 It increased to 100,000. When Ronald regan held office It increased to 200,00 with a 50,000 expanse acct. When our president now George Bush the salery increased to 400,000 with a 50,000 expense acct.

    It seems as though that certain presidents that has money to start with is use to a certain kind of living, I guess the Government picks up the bills for the White House (who knows) But I can tell you that I have never even seen that kind of money in my life time.

    Clinton – Had more piece and economic well being, Lowest unemployment,lowest inflation in 30 yrs,Highest homeownership in the country’s history,reduceD welfare, balanced the budget. So Clinton even though he was a womanizer our country was in better shape that it had been for a long time. He must have had some excellent advisors. HE WAS ALSO EDUCATED.

    I’m sure that Obamba has good intentions. We will just have to wait and see what kind of President.

    Hillary didn’t get enough credit, my being a woman would have like to see a woman President. Hillary First lady elected to UNITED STATE SENATE,
    First woman elected state wide in NY. ARKANSAS FIRST LADY for 12 yrs. Arksnsas University , Yale,Wellesley So Hillary was a educated woman as well as an accomplished WOMAN.

    CAROL

13. It is crucial to seek the help of professionals when needed. But the wrong professionals can cause more problems than what you started with. So, it is mandatory to have the ‘right psychiatrist and psychologist,’ otherwise, you can be lead down the WRONG path. Once you find the right professionals, you need to take their advice and work WITH them rather than AGAINST them.

    I have had at least 15 bad psychiatrists and perhaps a couple good ones. Instead of working with the two good ones, I categorized them all as bad and did not work with any of them. I sometimes even played games with the doctors, who eventually fired themselves. I should have worked with the good professionals and I sould have fired the bad ones, myself.

    So, like Obama, the only way to be successful is to have the right people advising you. You win when you have the winning team.

14. To KATE: YES, when we bipolar survivors are in a manic state, we THINK we CAN do it all. We think we are some kind of “messianic” person, with super-human abilities, that are God-given, and we’re the ONLY person who can handle the issues. I’m sorry you overextended yourself, but – I am soooo glad you ASKED FOR HELP. See how easy that was??!! And nobody held it against you, or complained that you shouldn’t have taken on so much.

    BUT – I do URGE you to tell those who are in an authority position who you work with, that you DO have bipolar disorder. You’d be surprised at how easily they will accept that diagnosis, and understand how you got in that “fix” in the first place. “Bipolar disorder” is no longer the stigma it once was – as Dave has said: if there are four people together, and you’re NOT bipolar, someone else in the group WILL be!! It didn’t become the “designer disorder” for nothing! So many people have heard of the illness, and it’s not uncommon for them to even KNOW someone else with it. Be OPEN: coming forth with your illness will produce more helpfulness than you ever thought possible.

    I agree with Dave, that ANYONE – politicians included – HAVE to surround themselves with “power people.” Obama didn’t win the election on his own; he had super-smart people behind him. With his lack of any administrative or executive training – coming out of even the Illinois State Senate without voting on ANYTHING (giving only “present” votes), he HAD to have a “machine” behind him. The “silver-throated orator” won him the election; he was charismatic, and had a huge ego to even think he could win. I guess the American people just fell for “form over substance.”

    What I’m trying to say is – Obama couldn’t have won WITHOUT his supporters. It’s as simple as that…

    BIG HUGS to all bipolar survivors and those who love us. May God bless you real good. I pray for our country…

15. Hello, Im been battling this with my boyfriend for almost 6 moths and he was diagnosed bipolar and now the Doctor is telling him he “might” have depression and now he is on 2 medication, bipolar and anti-depressive.

    I dont know much about it but to me depression is someone that doesnt like to go out and drink and he does like to do all of that. Also I been reading that bipolar and depression have almost the same symptoms except that bipolar like to party and people with depression don’t.

    Im confuse and very sad b’cs I cant help him. He is been so mean to me and he break up with me and don’t know if he is a episode. How long is gonna take him to find out if he have either depression or bipolar????? My question is b’cs I don’t know if he really want me gone or is his bipolar talking.

    I really need help b’cs he doesn’t like to talk about his illness.

    If anyone can give me a little help here. Please please please.

    God Bless you everyone.

16. Dave,

    I really have enjoyed you’re emails. They are inspiring to me and i really want to purchase your book. But i am in a bad spot. I had to leave my job due to a back injury and due to that i lost my health coverage. I have been very very depressed since i have basically been broke, board, and unable to get therapy because i have been suffering from major depressive episodes and i cant even take medication now due to the fact of having no health insurance. Its frustrating that i want help and know i need it but i cant get it with no insurance. I am very scared of how depressed i am becoming. I feel so stuck. You’re emails are inspiring and i am trying to keep Obamas saying in my head “Yes We Can”. But how can I with no health coverage get any kind of help I am in need of at this time. I want your book and I cant even afford that.

17. This is good information and very motivating. Thank you for your efforts. I have bipolar and this really helps in discussing with my wife some of the things I’d like to do to get more assitance. If it is in your email, it is almost an immediate yes!

18. Alegria,

    The best bet would be to give him some time and space. He probably is just really stressed out and more than likely blaming you for the stress. Just let him know you are there for him if he needs you and that you care for him and give him time and space to sort things out and figure out the real reasons for his actions. Depression and bipolar can both be very hard things to deal with it does not really make a difference which one because they both make you say and do things you do not really mean. Good luck. God Bless.

19. i’ve been bitching my past two posts and need to stop. while oft times excruciatingly difficult to be in, my relationship with a bipolar girlfriend is still worth it. i can’t say if the challenges faced today will be altogether the same as tomorrow’s but i’m still hanging in there. i did want to say something about online groups or forums: at present, dave’s bipolar supporter blog is the only online forum i feel comfortable using after experiencing hostility from others in forums said to be open to supporters. i also didn’t find them to be proactive from the standpoint of checking out options and alternative resources or points of view. thanks.

20. Good afternoon,
    Sorry! that you aren’t feeling well. I caught a virus last Sept a yr ago and thought I would never get over it. Of course I’m several yrs your senior so anything that has to do with respiratory takes me a little longer to get over it. ( I took precautions this yrs with vaccines. So maybe it won’t take me so long to get over any thing. If I should catch a virus.

    Suggestion for your cold or virus. Get an exporant caugh meds. Target has one, It must be good stuff I had to sign for it. Zicam is suppose to shorten a cold, I tried it last yr and couldn’t see a whole lot of difference. zinc is suppose to be good as well. Lots of liquids and juices.

    In reference to the 4 yr old. If the mother is convicted I’m afraid she is in for alot of misery if she has to go to prison. They have started another search here and I truly believe the child is dead. Or, she sold the child to
    someone and they have left the country. Chrildren just don’t vanish.
    Kids depend solely on their parents and even though sometimes they are mistreated their love will never stop for the parent. unconditioal devotion and love.

    Prison life for a child Killer will be a miserable life. prisoners do not have any use for them and therefor will make her life as miserable as possible.
    She might as well crawl off in a hole somewhere. She just doesn’t know what is ahead of her. But the thing is, don’t condem anyone unless you have walked a thousand minles in their shoes. That’s all I have to say on that matter.

21. Kate, you are great!

22. On the politic thing, the one that was elected was not my choice, yet I have the responsibility to pray for the leadership, whether or not I agree with their position. So I can pray accordingly. That who ever is in office will humble themselves before the LORD, or HE will end up humbling them if they do not listen to HIM ! Each has their own set of given weaknesses so that is something to keep in mind. So far as the rest of the subject matter is concerned it is not something that I am currently interested in at this time. The preceeding letter, content regarding the one who is a criminal, even though a human being and a sinner, even they need to hear the Gospel, to have opportunity to respond to it, and repent of their sins, it is up to that person to respond to the Grace of God for their salvation. If the choice is made by that person for Salvation, and it is genuine then the LORD will certainly work in that person’s life. If the person chooses not to have salvation, for their soul,then they will face the double consequences of imprisonment both on the external and the internal one of their own making from the crime commited the other in their mind and have no peace or rest until the Savior is real to their heart and soul.

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