People confuse mood with emotion….. mood affects everything about you. Your energy level, sleep patterns, appetite, emotional response (which emotions you feel and how strongly), your judgment, sexual appetite, etc……. Bipolar is not about being happy one minute then sad the next then mad, that is just having emotions….. The mood swings in Bipolar last a very long time, weeks to months to years and the average Bipolar only swings once or twice a year.

People never never understand the true severity of bipolar disorder. They also do not understand that for an "episode" to be considered Bipolar it has to last all day every day for a week……. That’s the minimum, in reality the episodes last for weeks or months or even years. There are cases where a person can have more than one or two episodes a year but it is really rare. There is such a thing as Ultradian cycling in which you cycle multiple times in a day but it is exceptionally rare and there are questiona about whether it is actually Bipolar but instead Borderline PD. Also you HAVE TO HAVE the mania (or hypomania) for it to be bipolar. Without mania it is just recurring depression.

The mood swings in Bipolar do not usually have a trigger. They come and go very randomly…… If someone with Bipolar is depressed or manic there is nothing you can do to bring them out of their mood short of medication…..

This is what Bipolar is like for me.

Depression- to tired to get out of bed, shower, brush your teeth….. lie in bed and stare at the ceiling for days at a time, crying a lot, feelings of guilt, and self loathing, may be suicidal but are too tired to even consider planning it, sleep 16 hours a day or more, eating too much or not enough. I get very paranoid and think that people are staring at me and laughing. I feel like people know what I’m thinking.

Manic – over the moon happy, hypersexual (like masturbating 10 times a day or sleeping with numerous men, strangers, your cousin…….decide you are bi because then there are twice as many people to have sex with, decide you are into BDSM and contract to be someones slave for a week), spending your mortgage money on african violets (or some other useless things), driving your car 120 mph, grandiose thoughts (like thinking you can put a new furnace in your house by yourself, or tearing the sideing of the house because youcan put ip new stuff by yourself with a hammer and a hacksaw), quitting your job because you are buying lottery tickets with your last paycheck and you know you will win…… only sleep 2 or 3 hours a night and feel completely rested, can’t concentrate, racing thoughts (it sounds like 50 people in your head all talking at the same time), talk really fast and loud because your mouth can’t keep up with our mind.

extreme mood swings, excessive talking, grandiose ideas, severe depression

here are some symptoms i have for you.
* Feeling unusually great and launching into several new projects
at once
* Sleeping a lot less, acting more fidgety, and talking much more
* Mixing up thoughts and being easily distracted
* Taking unnecessary risks
* Going to extremes sexually, financially, and socially