With any condition that goes in a cycle, half the battle of managing it is monitoring where you are in the cycle at any time.To cope, it's sometimes useful to think about bipolar disorder in the same way that you might think about asthma or diabetes. You need to take certain daily measures - of your breathing capacity or blood sugar - and then take these into account in what you do for that day.
Similarly, with bipolar disorder, you can monitor your mood and your thoughts. This helps you to spot changes in mood that might come before a relapse. It's still possible that a relapse may happen, but you can plan for this.
It's important to have a trusted friend or carer. You can make an agreement that whenever they spot the warning signs of a relapse they will warn you, and you can both take certain pre-agreed steps.
These could be taking a couple of days' rest, reviewing whether you've taken on too much lately and shedding some of it, or seeing a peer supporter, key worker or other health professional.
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