Let’s talk Bipolar mood swings.

People think that bipolar mood swings are like the British weather; that they change in an instant, at a flip of a switch, and can be completely different from one moment to the next.

This isn’t how bipolar works.

Instead with bipolar, you could be depressed for months and months - and it could be weeks or months with hypomania or mania. And these changes when they do happen are dramatic, they’re huge shifts in your mood.

Even with what’s called rapid cycling, when moods come in quick succession, the changes in mood aren’t as often as you might think.

It’s different for everyone with bipolar, of course! For me, recently, I’ve been very low, feeling desperate and hopeless for about a month.

I’m peering through the other side of it now, but I know that climbing out of a depressive episode isn’t straightforward and linear. It could smack me around the face again and I could drop back. I’m being aware of my mood and trying to take care of myself x

Bipolar is bloody complicated and a little bugger to live with!

I should mention mixed episodes too, which can feel like moods happen in quick succession, when you can feel depressed and manic in the same period. They’re really tough to deal with!