Successfully Managing Bipolar Disorder - 4-Step Plan for Managing Bipolar

Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer

Natalie: One last thing I'd like to address and then we'll get to some audience questions: You have written several excellent books on bipolar disorder. You write regularly for Bipolar Magazine. So I know you've met and interviewed a lot of people living with bipolar disorder. What common characteristics or traits do those people who are successful at managing the symptoms of bipolar disorder have versus those who aren't so good at it?

Julie Fast: Here is something interesting. Over the past four years, I have received and read over 30,000 emails from people who have bipolar disorder or who love someone who does. And out of all of those letters, and I am not kidding, not one of them said something new about this illness. We all get sick in the same way. I have had letters from Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Australia, Finland, etc. and they all have the same questions and stories. This shows me that this is not an individual illness with an individual cure.

This means that a set management plan that is specific in what needs to be done, will work for everyone. Oh, I would say that the people with a management plan that they use every single day, are the ones who are successful- they take the meds they can take and always keep trying to find new ones that work more successfully, they watch their sleep, they accept that partying or working at a stressful job will probably make them ill, they surround themselves with supportive people and teach those people how to help them, they keep going no matter how sick they are or how much they want to die and they know the first signs of mania so they can get help before it goes too far. And most of all, they know and believe that this is a serious and often life threatening illness - they have done nothing wrong- the behaviors can be embarrassing and scary at times, but the person with bipolar disorder is not flawed in any way.

I would say that the people in this chat room are those who are doing what they can to get better. This illness can take everything from you. You have to be ready to fight it in anyway you can. People who manage it successfully keep going even when they feel too sick to function.

Natalie: Julie, here's our first audience question:

alice101: I have a question: Julie, you said that you went through several doctors before you found a good psychiatrist. how does one go about finding a good doctor?

Julie Fast: I had three docs before I found the right one. One of the problems, of course, is insurance but here are some suggestions: You have the right to interview your doctor just as you would any employee. We forget they work for us: we pay them!

My doctor is amazing, and has been good to me (he is the coauthor of my books) but you have to be selective. You will know when you have the right one because he or she will look in your eyes and really ask how you are and then in a really short period of time, make you feel that things are going to get better. So shop around!

rleet: How do I remove my own frustration and focus on helping? I am a caregiver.

Julie Fast: Well, that is certainly the most important question. First of all, anyone who has to help a person with bipolar disorder is going to get very frustrated. You never know who you are going to talk to! Will they be depressed today? Or yell at me?

Here are some tips: Remember it is an illness, and the better it is managed, the less frustration you will have at their behavior so management is the first step. Second, set limits! You have the right to your own life. Let the person with the illness know you care, but that you need them to help themselves while you help them this is such a huge topic- Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder covers the question in more detail.

Rainycloud: What do you do when you live with someone who denies your illness?

Julie Fast: I have a friend who just had a major manic episode. Her father simply refuses to believe that what she did, had anything to do with an illness. He doesn't understand Bipolar.

You have a few choices: Ask them to read my first book Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder. At least they could see that the illness is real! Next, do what you can to get better and find someone who does believe you and wants to help. Sometimes the answers to these difficult questions can seem harsh.

Also, you can gently ask for help from this person, but you can't change them. It's tough.

Robin: How do you feel about the Bipolar diagnosis for young children, around 11? Do you think if you had been diagnosed earlier, your life with bipolar would've been different?

Julie Fast: That is a good question. I actually believe that bipolar disorder in children is quite different than the adult diagnosis. Children have more behavioral problems as well as acting out problems. I did not have the signs of bipolar at age 11, so I think that bipolar is being used as a bit of a grab bag for kids and needs to be watched carefully. I definitely would have benefited if I had been diagnosed at 16 when mine started

Natalie: Here's an audience comment, then we'll go to the next question:

merril: Juvenile Bipolar is often like oppositional defiant disorder... with a bit of ADD. The most challenging part is to find medications for someone whose biochemistry is changing by the month or more often!

Julie Fast: I totally agree- in fact- I have read that the ODD, OCD, Anxiety and Bipolar symptoms are now all lumped into a Bipolar diagnosis.

Candra: Hi Julie! I have ultra-rapid cycling bipolar II, and I was wondering: when do you personally know you are having a psychotic episode? What symptoms do you exhibit, and what can you do to prevent it from going any further?

Julie Fast: Psychotic symptoms include intrusive thoughts: I want to die, I wish I could be hit by a car, I suck, I am a failure; hallucinations, seeing yourself get killed, seeing animals scurry around chairs, hearing things or smelling things that are not there; suicidal thoughts - active and passive; paranoid thoughts such as - someone is following me- or people are talking about me at work; and finally delusions where you think something such as a billboard has special meaning for you. It's very uncomfortable and I have lived with these symptoms all of my adult life.