This comment from Lynn has one of the best descriptions of rapid cycling that I have heard in a very long time! It’s a reply to the comment on the blog below.
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I am also rapid cycling bipolar. One week I am at my therapist so depressed I can barely explain what I feel, and the next I am so excited about life and plans. Spins the head around. I am trying to think of my life as a giant super-ball, the kind that when you throw it and it hits the wall, it bounces over and over again seemingly forever, a ball I didn’t throw but have to live on. It is my reality. I live on planet bipolar, and accept that meds and hard work only get me functional on planet bipolar. I cannot get off it. That is my reality. No matter what chronic illness I have, diabetes, arthritis, or bipolar, I have to accept it and learn to live within it’s limitations. I would say then that acceptance of my illness as a chronic illness separate from my true self helps me cope, knowing that the meds keep me out of the Alps of bipolar planet, and only in the hills and valleys. There are no flat plains of the farm belt here! An acceptance make life here much much easier, I live in the moments between extremes and hold on for the rides between!
