One of my friends who has bipolar found ways of managing it. I remember briefly him describing how he would lose his appetite before an episode. He made sure he ate anyway as it seemed to stop the episode setting in. I wanted to get some more tips off him but currently he is in the bush doing an art exhibition. I hope to get some tips out of him when he is back in circulation. He had Jungian therapy as well which he found helped him with coping mechanisms. This was done regularly to keep himself in check. It seems to have worked wonders because he very few bad patches now. He knew the warning signs and instead of going along with the process he got in early trying to not let it take hold.

Forcing himself to eat something though makes sense as otherwise the conditions for the episode are minimised through at least keeping normal activities going. Otherwise he lost more energy and the bipolar could take hold faster.

With my own condition I know when I get into a certain mood I am heading into certain territory. Luckily I just crack bad jokes but I get on social media and kind of let loose. Most of my friends know my routine but mostly I have put a stop to these behaviours by just keeping the jokes to myself. It is quite amusing though and some people like it while others may not. What I have noticed is I am rarely in a bad mood whereas I used to be constantly getting irritable. I can still suffer from impairment but it isn’t as bad as it used to be. It is still arbitrary but it doesn’t last as long as it used to. My main thing I find is just doing calming activities. That seems to keep me balanced. When things do get a bit crazy I make sure I meditate. Before my medication worked I found it hard to meditate. For years on my initial meds I couldn’t meditate. That was why I was happy when I had meds where I could meditate. I knew that was a healthy sign the meds were helping.