I have been dealing with my bipolar for more than 20 years and felt that I had gotten a handle on keeping myself stable. My relationship with my doctor is good and we adjust medications as needed. Over the last two years, I have felt more out of control. Are things changing because I’m getting older? Will I eventually just explode? It is really difficult to say whether Bipolar Disorder worsens with age.  Unfortunately there is no black and white answer to your question.  The jury is still out on the subject and more research is required before this question can be answered.  Some people claim that their Bipolar Disorder worsens as they age and some claim that their symptoms become less frequent and less severe.  There are just too many variables and factors that are involved to really know either way. You have mentioned that in the last 2 [...]

I’m wondering if any fellow bipolarees have some coping tips for getting through a depressed episode or just a bad day after a period of stability.  I ask, because three months ago, my doctors finally found an effective medication combination, and my depression lifted almost immediately.  After living for over 5 years completely consumed by depression, when I now have a bad day, I fear falling back into that debilitating place.  Up to this point, I’ve been pretty good at reminding myself that bad days are normal for everyone, even healthy people, and I just have to be kind to myself.  But recently I’ve been feeling increasingly worse, and am pretty sure I’m having a depressed episode.  Any suggestions on how to ride this out, without falling further into the black hole that consumed me for several years?  I’m terribly fearful of what may happen.  How do you get through [...]

How common is rage in a manic phase for children with bipolar? I would have to say rage can be just as common as sleep deprivation, or agitation or any other symptom that goes along with mania.  It really depends on the individual child as to how common each symptom is. Because we are all individuals and that makes each of us different therefore our symptoms are different.  But for this article we will concentrate on rage.  We will use my daughter as an example. Bug was first diagnosed bipolar at the age of 7.  It was a rough road at first.  She had constant mood swings and her most frequent mood was mania and along with it came rage.  She would be so hyper she would be bouncing off the walls almost literally.  I mean you couldn’t have sat on her and held her down.  She would be playing [...]