What does being bipolar feel like?

It feels like you're walking on unstable grounds, except the instability is not from the ground, it's from you. You go to extremes between mania and depression. During mania, your judgment is poor because of recklessness, impulsivity and euphoria. You feel like you're always right and everyone else is wrong. While in depression, you're drowned by overwhelming sadness, worthlessness, hopelessness, and the wish to die. You are unable to function, think, analyze. Personally, I felt like I lost myself; I lost my mind and that is when I lost my will to live.

For me it's been very hard. Accepting that I had to take medication for the rest of my life was hard. Learning they had side effects was harder. It's a constant battle every day getting up in the morning is like waking up in hell. You immediately have to start fighting the constant voices in your head that have no pause button. It's an on going battle you won't win. There are no breaks. You want to live but you know can never be happy as long as you have it. The psychosis is worse it's the most excruciating pain you can ever feel headache. The depression is worse you no longer have enough tears to cry or fight left to fight it. Hypo mania for me is the worst of them all once you are up you know you can only go down for me the transition was always the most painful. You have medical side effects constantly having to listen to someone talk 24/7 without a break nobody believes it when I say I constantly hear a voice and having to fight off or fore see hypo mania by secretly spying on yourself. Through it all though we live on

Bipolar feels like an endless roller coaster. There are constantly fun and high moments, which swoop down into a low. During my mania, I feel like a goddess . I feel like I can do anything, like im invincible, so my self-confidence is so far through the roof, I can’t explain it, but when the mania burns out, the fun turns me empty . Without the highs of the manic episodes, I wouldn’t ever be able to tolerate the lows of depression. -lk

Personally its hell. I’m now 52, have moved with my 16yr old son,who I’ve raised on my own from day 1. I have not one friend (as usual) and, as I’ve been all my life, I just don’t belong anywhere. I’ve never belonged anywhere which has been overwhelmingly lonely and disconnected. Being bipolar, you’re already in the grips of loneliness so to combine the two, I feel defeated. I’m always now so angry with life. I was sacked illegally from my bank job, after having been with the company for 10 years then got a new department manager who was a bitch and decided to make my life hell as she didn’t like anyone with mental health. She taunted me for two years where I couldn’t take it anymore, finally broke and walked out. She had me sacked by making up a lie which was found to be untrue, I was given a $1700 payment as an apology and that’s it. 10 loyal years and now, after one breakdown after another, I just can’t do life anymore. I’m sorry. I’ve blurted out too much, something I do and then regret Welcome to my bipolar. I’m sorry

Bipolar can feeler like your in two different world's at the same time. Or that you have two different personalities. You have go from an ultimate low to an ultimate Hugh within a matter of minutes. Leaving many things in your daily life hard and relationships extremely difficult

Being bipolar is different for everyone who experiences it. As someone with Bipolar II, I feel it as prolonged periods of depression offset with short (day or a few day long) bursts of hypomania, irritability, motivation, and impulsive decisions.

There are days when you feel awesome, like you can do anything. Want to finish a month's worth of project in a few days? No problem. Sometimes you get a little or no sleep at all and you won't even feel tired. Sometimes, I tend to overspend money on buying things I don't even need.. which make me feel really bad after my 'Happy Hour' ends. When you get depressed, its like you crashed. You lose interest in things you enjoy, avoid socializing, and basically feel like you just hit rock bottom. There's no in between. Well, at least that's just my opinion.

Being bipolar feels like you are on an emotional roller coaster. The greatest piece of advice I can give to anyone struggling with bipolar is to find a supportive psychiatrist. Find someone that doesn’t make you feel like they are talking down to you and someone that shows genuine empathy, it is important you have that relationship because it is a lifetime partnership. Secondly, become disciplined with doing the things you know will help you. Sleep, exercise, healthy eating. If you manage these things then the mood swings will be less obvious and a lot of the time you can function as though you don’t have a mental illness. Having the symptoms of bipolar is terrible so being proactive at prevention makes life a lot easier.