Bipolar Disorder Support Group

I think it's them who should be explaining to US! :-)

ditto

Mania clouds your judgement not your memory...it would be the same thing as a normal person who just learned that their mother died. They'd be so overcome with emotion that they wouldn't be able to control themselves. They'd be able to recollect the things they did but understanding why they did those things is a different story.

Anyways BP can be a complex thing and it would be impossible to understand every why and how without leaving some questions unanswered. Even to this day doctors are unsure about a lot of things avbout it. What's more important is knowing how to deal with it.

This is interesting. I am actually wondering how many that are able to meticulously remember their accounts are using the diagnosis as an excuse. I myself have been reminded of hundreds of actions by my mother while I was manic, that I really do not remember at all. Don't get me wrong. I do know of actions I made while manic, but at the same time I also knew the choices and the consequences. What I am talking about is when my mouth went faster than my brain and I spoke without thinking of the damage that I was doing. Those are the manic episodes that are unrememberable and have been the most damaging. Does that make sense to anyone?

Oh God, it's good to be "back home",!! (DS) I've been AWOL since about October...reading the posts tonight is like walking into a Hallmark Special - it's Christmas Eve and all of my BP siblings are all gathered around the piano singing carols in front of a roaring fire just waiting to embrace me from the cold winters night!!!

I wasn't wasn't diagn until I was 28- and then it took a good 10 years for me to truly accept that I HAD TO STAY on my drugs. So from my late teens until my late 30's I had many many episodes when my manic behavior, mood swings, temper, impulsiveness, promiscuity, drama, alcohol, you-name-it...when I wasn't taking drugs routinely, my life was out of control...I still crunge when I think of some of the things I did and said in those times...And the CRASH into the depression came hard and went down as fast as the high had been up. After the second time in the hospital (and the breakup of my 3rd engagement to a LTC in the Army) I decided that maybe, just maybe there was something to this drug therapy. I am now 48 and have not strayed from meds in 9 years; I still struggle and have to fine tune about every year and a half. I still get shat I call "manic urges" but I am able to better control them. So YES wise owl= -- what you say absolutley makes sense to me and thank you all for your insights and sharing.

Calus, that is an excellent description.

The brain is trying to record everything as it is intrinsically part of memory and it's impossible for me to remember the full details of a manic episode.Each one kills a part of the brain because the brain cannot cope..it truly fries for a while.It's overloaded.

It could be like trying to record a full philharmonic orchestra with every nuance onto Thomas Edison's Cylinder.
The memory is there...some precise...most dulled and confused.
People that are Bipolar and have had Manic Episodes approaching or within the Grey Area where much logical thought dissolves are the SAME PEOPLE that are trying to cope with life everyday amongst the majority, that haven't been there.

The simple thing is to take yr meds.

People that love don't even need explanations.They'll hurt you one day and inspire you the next.

Giving a clear picture of one's actions when manic is easy, giving the reason why you were doing those actions is an entirely different matter !