When you live with Bipolar on a daily basis you know how hard it can be. According to the Bipolar statistics there are around 5 million American adult men and women that are affected by this illness.

It is important for you and your friends and family to educate yourself on Bipolar disorder and the Bipolar definition. You need to know what the symptoms are for each type of Bipolar disorder. Do you have Bipolar type 1 or Bipolar type ii? This is important to know because your treatment will depend on what type you have.

You will need to work with your doctor, usually a psychiatrist to work out the best Bipolar treatment that will work for you. You will more than likely have to try more than one medicine or a combination of medications in order to find what will help you the best. This can be very frustrating and you may feel like giving up but you don’t want to do this because a treatment can be found to help you live a more normal life. However, it may take some time to find the right treatment for you. It is a good idea to know your family history so you can share it with your doctor. They will need to know if you suffered from childhood Bipolar also. This will also be important for your treatment.

When you have Bipolar you know that one episode of this illness is depression. So you need to know what the depression symptoms are so you can tell your doctor if you notice any. Here are the symptoms of depression that you need to know.

The extreme mood swings that you will experience with Bipolar disorder will not follow any set pattern. Depression doesn’t always follow mania. You can have the same mood start several different times over a period of weeks, months and sometimes years before you will suddenly find that you are having the total opposite mood state. The severity of moods will be different for each individual person.

When you have anxiety or periods of sadness you will find that they affect all aspects of your daily life such as your thoughts, feelings, sleeping habits, eating habits, physical health, relationships with other people and your ability to function at your job. When your depression goes untreated it will get worse. You may feel like there is no way out and no help for your overwhelming mood when you have depression. When you have five or more of the following symptoms for most of the day almost every single day and it lasts longer than two weeks, this is known as a depressive episode.

•  Sad, anxious, irritability
• Losing energy
• Feeling hopelessness, guilt or worthlessness
• Lose interest in things you once enjoyed doing
• Concentrating becomes difficult
• Crying uncontrollably for no reason
• Can’t make decisions easily anymore
• Will feel more tired and want to sleep all the time
• Insomnia
• Weight gain or loss due to a change in your appetite
• Thoughts of suicide or death
• Attempting suicide

Don’t let depressive episodes go untreated or they will get worse and start coming closer together and they will be harder to treat. They can also switch to the mania episodes. However, the right treatment can prevent this from occurring. When you have medication and you go to therapy or a support group you will be able to live as normal of a life as it is possible for you to live. However, this will only last if you stick with your treatment because if you don’t then your symptoms will come back.