Mental disorders can be confusing, as well as debilitating. They can turn your world on it's head in a blink of an eye. Bipolar disorder is one such ailment. Many people world wide suffer from bipolar disorder, but many more really don't know what bipolar disorder really is, and how it impacts and changes a person. Your employers don't understand why some days you just can't make things work. Your friends and family may not understand your excessive mood swings, and things around you seem to be stuck in a perpetual state of chaos.
The good news, if it can be considered that, is that you're not alone. Many people suffer from bipolar disorder all around the world. This may be little consolation when you are watching your world fall out from under your feet, but can be a major helper on days you're feeling just a little off and need something to take comfort in. Knowing you're not the only one who awakens some days and just doesn't have the energy or umph inside them to get motivated and going can help ease your pain. Knowing that there are others out there who understand you, and understand what you are going through can be just the thing many of us need.
What exactly is bipolar syndrome, and how does it affect a person?
Think of a roller coaster. As you're travelling along it you slowly rise to the top, and then all of a sudden the ground drops out from beneath you, and suddenly your plunging downwards at high speed, only to reach the bottom and be thrown back up to the top. You've just experienced bipolar disorder.
You see, with bipolar disorder there are highs and lows. The highs can seem to take forever to reach (these periods are actually called mania), and the lows can come on swiftly and send your emotions and moods plummeting back down to earth (this is a depressive episode). Some sufferers will take months to cycle between the two, while others, often called rapid-cyclers are closer to the roller coaster analogy. They swap between moods quickly, over a period of days, or even to the point of having both types of episodes in a single day!
This constant roller coaster ride can affect, and will alter and create issues in all aspects of your life. If you think things are going good, they really can be, but just as quickly your mood can change, you can become depressed and irratable, and suddenly those good things disappear. You lose your job, or your spouse because you simply can't bare to drag yourself out of bed in the morning.
On the other hand are the manic episodes. The side of things very few sufferers complain about. You're full of energy, full of spunk and life, and good to go at any moment. But your moods are erratic. You may be awake for days and even weeks on end. You can't concentrate at all (although some report during manic episodes they are more able to complete tasks and concentrate then at any other periods of time) and your life quickly spins out of control.
And that's really what bipolar disorder is. A constant spinning out of control. When your manic, you're spinning out of control with high levels of energy. When you're depressed, your life spins out of control because you've lost interest in everything and everyone around you. Life with bipolar disorder is exactly that, a constant spinning from highs to lows, and trying to balance your life on that hi-wire in between those stages, knowing at any point your mood and your life can go either direction quickly.
Sylvia Meier is author and owner of http://www.MyBipolarWorld.com where she explains in every day terms what it's like to live with bipolar syndrome. The ups, the downs, and everything in between. Diagnosed at just 13 herself, http://www.Mybipolarworld.com is an insightful look into her journey through the disorder.