Llama

cjk07, I'll try to give you more insight by discussing what bp does to me.

Yes, everyone has good and bad days. Feels good or bad from time to time. But that is all normal and those feelings are gotten over within a few days usually. Bp symptoms are different. The bad times (depressions) are severe. It means (I'm speaking for myself here) not getting out of bed for days, feeling suicidal, self-harm, crying over any little thing, feeling very slowed down, not being able to think clearly, hating yourself, isolating yourself from the people in your life, losing a job/failing school, feeling down and hating everything, not enjoying anything at all anymore, having zero motivation, etc.

So you can see the difference between a normal bad day for someone and an actual episode of depression. The damaging effects that it has on someone's life are much more severe. And it lasts for a lot longer too. (even up to a year with varying degrees!) And bp depression is not something that a person can just get over on their own (as is a normal bad mood). It requires medication and therapy to get over. It's very serious.

Ok, and sure other times people have normal "up" days where they feel great! Maybe something really good just happened to them and they are joyous! But mania is different. It lasts for at least a week (usually longer in my case anyways) and also has very bad consequences. Usually I start out feeling so great and everything is great and I love everything! I don't sleep, lose weight (all that extra energy is great for the gym!), have all these great ideas, start a million projects, spend money like there's no tomorrow, am way more confident, etc. But then it can easily get out of hand. Your mind is racing and going too fast (it's not fun anymore!), people start telling you to slow down, you aliente people with your behavior, you party too much and sleep around, you do risky and impulsive things (like driving drunk and other impulsive bad decisions), you get very irritable and ruin relationships (you yell at people and start fights just because you feel that rage and it wont go away no matter what. And it makes no sense it just comes out of nowhere).

You can also lose your job or fail school. Everything distracts you and you can't concentrate on anything. People tell you that you should be on ritalin (this has happened to me more than once. now I kind of think that that was funny, but it is a serious problem and people do notice your strange behavior. I'm not trying to make light of it).

Mania gets you in trouble as much as depression can. I'm not sure which is worse to be honest. Both have severe consequences. Sure the normal "high" mania feels great, but that usually turns into irritability/rage after a while and that is just as bad as any severe depression that I've experienced. Plus the extreme restlessness with the mania can be unbearable. You just feel like you are about to explode.

Sorry this got to be so long but I really wanted to give you a picture of what bp can look and feel like. I hope that helps some.