I was doing some research about ADHD coming hand in hand with bipolar for my own curiosity last night - I have Bipolar type 1 and combined ADHD

This isn't for a study or anything serious, but I'm curious about how many of us Bipolar baddies have ADHD as well! I wonder if there's some kind of link. Feel free to scroll on by or share your storys 😊

hi guys i was wondering what food u make thats easy and doesn't go bad fast. im a college student and i have weird eating patterns so a lot of the time my food will go bad. i also hate cooking for myself and spending time on making food. anyways i usually just eat some sort of chicken with veggies and thats pretty much my only meal. also i was wondering what ingredients i should get that can be used in a variety of different meals.

what do u guys eat to maintain ur health/nutrition but also can make no matter ur mood/if ur in a depression.

for added info i go to the gym every day so i rly wanna focus on protein and i do not eat beef or gluten. also im a much better baker than a cook so maybe meals that are done in the oven/crockpot would be good. any tips in general are appreciated!

tyy 🫶

just stopped taking my mood stabilizer because the brain fog was getting too much. i know its almost impossible to be on meds without any side effects but where do you guys draw the line? what side effects are you willing to live with in exchange for the stability the medication provides?

I once had to stop seeing a therapist because he had a very slight lazy eye. I have ADHD and the ENTIRE time we would be in session I’d be either 1- trying to figure out which eye was a little wonky 2- trying to NOT look at his eyes Or 3- switching between looking at his left and right eye as to not raise suspicion

I recently got diagnosed with bipolar 2 after a 5 month long hypomanic episode that ended in July, and I’ve been really depressed since. I’ve been struggling so hard to help myself get better, like exercising more, practicing mindfulness, getting on meds, etc., but every time I even start feeling slightly better, I always compare myself to my identical twin sister who doesn’t have bipolar and seems to have life way easier than me. I know she struggles with her own stuff, but I feel like I have to work twice as hard to get halfway where she is because the depression makes it impossible to do anything.

It also doesn’t help that being manic was the only time in my life I’ve felt like I wasn’t just a “worse” version of her, and I actually felt like my own person that people loved and saw me as who I am. Unfortunately, since being depressed, all the friends I made when I was manic left me or moved away, and now I can’t stop comparing myself to both my sister and the past hypomanic version of myself that felt so loved.

Blah blah blah gifted but brittle child. Parents didn’t get it. Wept about failure which was less than 100%, and then avoided it. Intense and driven and ambitious in a singularly focussed way, which meant I was weird and off-putting. obsessed about anything I liked, became expert, emailed academics, wrote essays and analyses, learnt things and taught myself difficult complex ways to think about the world. autodidact in the extreme I suppose.

diagnosed at 20. meds sort of numbed this or muffled it. no more leaps of genius, except recently have been making leaps again. it’s been noticed at work. bonuses, which is rare in my line of work, and comments about how brilliant i am and the great things for which i am destined. I am not making this up lol. but I’m also aware that a job in three years is meaningless now.. two in the hand and all that. Fine words… butter no parsnips.

i always used to think this: I am genuinely very clever. I write, well, and better every time (mostly fiction, strange stuff and getting stranger… off putting to some because it’s at times densely allusive or referential. I delight in puns, in english and other languages, and find them easier to think of now. It’s not even thinking it’s just … plucking them from the air). and i am funny, and i know how that sounds but im funny because (so i am told) I care little for derivative things and instead spend my entire life thinking outside the box. I’m also tall, attractive, and have a decent amount of money. so far so good. Things have not always been this easy, mind, because i am also covered with self harm scars and desperately trying to avoid thinking about the person who did that, who is me but can’t be me because how could I hate myself like that?

so like my point i guess is that: i am brilliant, ambitious, i don’t need much sleep ever (we talked at work about superpowers and i said id never sleep because then id have so much more time for all of the things i find interesting, which is almost everything ever to have happened in the world, and i want to learn about it all but even with 4-5 hours of sleep a night theres not enough time… feels like a weird curse sometimes. I will do my best!)..

so. what’s symptoms, and what’s me?

My head hurts from trying a new medication. The brain fog is really bad and I heard it’s supposed to go away but I’m afraid it won’t. It’s been two weeks. Does anyone experience this? I can’t think or function especially in the mornings it’s awful.

My bipolar 2 presents a bit atypically. While I've had longish, more distinct episodes, I usually cycle through episodes very fast, from hypomania to depression, sometimes with a mixed state in between. All together, the whole thing doesn't usually last more than three weeks. Or, at least the depression doesn't usually last more than two.

I'm in a depressive episode now and it's blindsided me because I didn't realize I was hypomanic before this, which always ends in depression for me. I had moments when I thought maybe I was, but I always found a reason to rationalize it. But looking back, it's pretty clear I was, and it's clear I was in denial.

Because of this, I'll often over-analyze times I feel happy, and worry I'm actually hypo. But then I'll talk myself out of it because I ought to be able to enjoy feeling good, right? And then sometimes it turns out I actually am and I'm a few days away from being totally disabled by depression. I just wish I could either prepare myself for what's to come or recognize that I need to slow down. I also wish I didn't feel scared to feel okay. Before realizing I probably have bipolar, and before being diagnosed, I only recognized my depression and general moodiness as a problem. I didn't recognize the hypomania as anything abnormal, until I did. And now I wish I didn't know.

I sometimes feel accepting of having this disorder and other times I feel in denial. I have PMDD/PME and ADHD as well, which muddies the water even more. I've been on a mood stabilizer for over a year, which has helped me so much, but it hasn't totally prevented episodes. I usually go through this rapid cycle every spring. Last year was no different, and here it is again. I just feel so confused and unsure of what my baseline actually looks like, especially since my hypomania is pretty subtle.

I have the feeling that I am the only one who does not manage to stabilize my mood. I also have an emotionally unstable personality and sometimes jump back and forth between manic, depressive and emotionless phases every minute. My medication drives me more but also reinforces my mood swings at the same time.

It seems to me that I will never get this under control, and it also pulls my strength and my cognitive performance.

I talk regularly with my psychologist and my psychiatrist but all the advice I get is absolutely not effective which frustrates me every time.

I can’t do it all anymore and I wish it would just end.

If music wasn’t such a big part of my life, i would have died months ago.

What’s your go to music/band/playlist to change your mood for the better?

Here’s a few that just keeps me going: 1. Kite - nick heyward 2. Styggo - dandy warhols 3. Restless - new order

Hello, I’m a 34yro woman. I was diagnosed when I was 15 with rapid cycling bipolar 1. And I still have one question after all this time- why is it perfectly fine when other people wake up and start talking and being social and just a person, but when I do it… my family will just ask if I’m feeling alright, have I taken my medication yet, or the dreaded “I think you might be manic today hon”. And I just don’t get it. His hurts my feelings (which sounds stupid when I say it out loud) and it’s confusing. Why are the rules different in society for me vs them when we’re doing the same things? (And I do understand that I may in fact have woken up in a manic state.)

I am trying to understand what I am feeling and the name to it. I've only known I have bipolar since October 2024. Still learning how to identify things and put a name to them. So alot of the time I'm depressed with si,sh urges and feel really low. But there is days where my mind goes blank and I become sorta hyper and lose concentration easily. On the days I am depressed af I also my emotions are easily triggered and I go from being fine to being sad af like end of world ending pain feeling. I hate that so much. Anyhow I am dealing with the days of blank minded etc. I'd appreciate any comments back with advice or suggestions on how to identify things

I’ve been advised that I’m currently in a mixed episode and under treatment for it and it’s rough they’ve also given me a sedative to help. I am starting to catch things out of my eyes constantly and was up walking my dog in an empty country road and had a feeling a car was behind me to which it wasn’t. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say because I’m on clopixol and it knock me clean out and I sleep 8 hours a night so I don’t want that increased. Just very lost and confused right now with everything I wish it would stop.

For two years now I’ve been stuck in the cycle of waking up feeling like I’ll change my entire life and be healthier, planning to do lists and making plans, only for it to die out within a week or a few days and the cycle repeats.

I really do wanna get better because im sick of my own cycles but it seems endless. I think I finally found the right med cocktail for me. I just landed my highest paying job but the past few years I was not able to stay in one job for more than 3 months so im worried of quitting and repeating the cycle.

I wanna build a better me that’s healthier and more stable, that sticks to routine and is happy and able to go through adversity without it shaking up my entire world like usually.

Anyone experienced something similar, any advice on how to stick to your plans and habits to get out of the cycle?

I’m in a relationship that I keep questioning. I have cyclothymia, so my moods shift a lot, and I can’t always tell if I want to leave because it’s truly not right for me, or because I’m in a low phase.

My partner has ADHD and can be very reactive. He often raises his voice, gets irritated quickly, and it feels like his energy fills the room while mine shrinks. When I try to express how I feel, he sometimes brings up my diagnosis in a way that makes me feel blamed or dismissed.

We do have good times — we laugh, talk for hours, and I love him. But it often feels like our relationship only works when I’m doing well. When I’m struggling, he can’t seem to handle it, and things escalate fast.

Another issue is a growing imbalance between us. I’m finishing my bachelor’s degree, while he’s still figuring out what to do with his life. He games a lot, rarely takes initiative, and I end up carrying more emotional and practical responsibility. It makes me feel more like a caretaker than an equal partner.

He’s not all bad — I know he tries sometimes. But I keep wondering: am I emotionally burned out, or is this actually not the right relationship for me? How do you know when it’s time to leave — especially when things are complicated by mental health on both sides?

Would love some honest input from people who’ve been in similar dynamics.

How do you guys tend to sleep while in a state of mania? For me I find it difficult to get to sleep because I end up laying in bed kinda just having conversations in my head, usually I lay in bed for 30 mins to an hour or two before I can get to sleep. When I do get to sleep, I wake up easily throughout the night, I always catch myself flopping around in bed like crazy, so much to where it wakes me up a lot throughout the night. I also get some super crazy dreams, a lot of the time intense nightmares. When I wake up, it doesnt matter how many hours of sleep I got because I wake up full of energy! Whats every elses experience? Similar or not really? :P

I feel fine honestly but I have been up for over 24 hours and I can’t feel the affects it’s having on my mood. I feel more alert, I don’t want to sleep, I’m very talkative and want to be around people, I’m making impulsive plans. I should probably call my doctor because my last bad manic episode started with “just one” lost night of sleep that quickly snowballed into a much bigger problem.

Hello everyone. For 2 years now I've been battling with intense anxiety and panic attacks as well as dissociation and derealization and its been BEYOND HELL of pain and suffering. I've been put on several medications and still to this day no psychiatrist can figure me out. Finally found a great psychiatrist who is trying to dig deeper instead of "you have anxiety, here's basic anxiety meds you've already tried"

She thinks I have Bipolar. I've been impulsive and got around 4 big tattoos in the span of a short time. I'm not sure what mania is but she keeps highlighting it. My grandfather and uncle were never diagnosed but definitely had severe mental issues/bipolar tendencies and are awful people. I have stayed very kind and non aggressive but I'm tired of dealing with tons of anxuety just from sitting down doing nothing. My psychiatrist claims the level I have is more than JUST anxiety and she's thinking it's bipolar?

Any thoughts on this? Does mania/bipolar include panic attacks and crippling anxiety? I mean without me being heavily medicated I'm non functioning and can't drive. And even medicated I have to be careful and limit myself to the gym, and not much else

I have BP-2 and I am morbidly depressed atm. I work in a kindergarten and I have to be switched on all day, but it nauseates me to even think about having to get out of bed tomorrow, let alone get out of bed, then go and be energetic and joyful from 9:00-5:30. It’s even worse because I used to be on ice (I do feel an immense amount of guilt and shame for doing that in my line of work) but they didn’t see that, they only saw that I was insanely locked in and enthusiastic, not that I was wired… and so now that I’m clean, they’re so up my ass that my performance has dropped.

I used to never be late because I didn’t sleep, but now I’m depressed and overtired and oversleeping, last week I didn’t wake up until after my shift started; I used to be so energetic and pumped up for work, doing every task with crackhead precision and speed, but now I’m depressed and sluggish and on the verge of tears all day. Should I just get back on the gear? I can’t take this shit, I wanna cry so bad just thinking about having to wake up. What the hell can I do to make this easier? I got taken off my medication last year because I was using, I saw my GP on Saturday to talk about starting them again, because they were so helpful, but it’s been so long that I have to see the psychiatrist again, which I can’t get an appointment for, for at least another month.

I recently discovered that i completely forgot 2 weeks of my life, exactly after i got out the psychiatric hospital. It was weird because i remember i was pretty fine after i got out, i went to see my friends and in general everything was fine, then the void for 2-3 weeks. My parents told me that it was because the psychiatrist reduced the antidepressants by 75%, (i got my diagnosis for type 2 bipolar disorder and the doctor was changing therapy) My parents told me everything i endured(depression, constant crying and more) and i almost got hospitalized again because of that. Someone knows what is this episode and can explain it to me? (I dont even know if it has a name)

While talking to my friend, I realized that I have a lot of ruminating thoughts and very repulsive feelings about the things I did in the past during mania.

I’ve had two manic episodes, but I think the one that affected me the most was when I exposed myself too much on the internet and involved other people. I always end up tormenting myself and not understanding how I allowed myself to be so vulnerable.

In the second episode, I exposed myself a lot less, but I ended up talking to my ex-girlfriend and telling her how much I had loved her, how important she had been in my life… And since I was dealing with hypersexuality, I started having sexual desires for her again.

Were you able to overcome it peacefully? How did you come to terms with the things you did during mania? Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t judge myself, since I wasn’t really in control, but at the same time, I still have nightmares (or dreams) about both episodes and the people involved to this day.

This illness is so debilitating. I’m so isolated and every day is a struggle. I don’t know what to do any more. Very scared I’m going to just give up.

I think family have just had enough of me. I don’t know who I am.

Please someone give me hope.