Over the past couple weeks, my wife, who happens to have bipolar, has not been sleeping well, which is always a bad sign. For two weeks, she's been trying to get something to help her sleep - to get her through the often manic days that seem to reach full bloom about the time school lets out. You can read the whole account, "Tragedy of Errors" on our Bipolar Blog.

I work at home. My wife (who has bipolar) works for the local school district. Several times during the year are difficult for us. It seems, for example, that when we "spring forward" for daylight savings time, we almost invariably spring into mania. We do okay over the summer. When she returns to work in the fall, sometimes we do okay, sometimes not. The Christmas break is also usually a bad time.

Sandra C. Asks... I have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder for 3 years. I spent one month and many drugs on a psych unit at the hospital where I was an RN on staff. After approximately one year, I got rid of oh so many drugs down to Lithium Carbonate and Ambien for sleep.

As soon as you get diagnosed with bipolar, one of the first things you're likely to hear about or read about are all the famous people past and present who are believed to have or have had bipolar. Mental Health Today has a long list categorized by field of endeavor. You're likely to recognize at least a few names on the list, including...

With this post, we continue our biweekly series on medications used to treat bipolar disorder and related symptoms. Over the past weeks, we covered several commonly used SSRI antidepressants, including Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, and Lexapro. This week, we turn our attention to another class of antidepressants known as SSNRI's, the most popular of which are Effexor, Cymbalta, and Pristiq.

Actor Joe Pantoliano, best known for his role as Ralph Cifaretto on "The Sopranos," is rallying the troops in Hollywood to battle the stigma of mental illness through his organization No Kidding, Me Too!

Stanley Asks... I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I am 27 and I have bipolar disorder, I was diagnosed four years ago, and within that period I have had three episodes. I am on medication. The last episode I was hospitalized for three months. I haven’t had an episode for a year. I am at present in college and hope to travel during the summer.

Mania isn't usually a pleasant feeling, but hypomania can be. It can make you feel like you're on top of the world - highly creative, energetic, effervescent... all that good stuff. Unfortunately, mania tends to follow with all its bad stuff - irritability, anger, conflicts, maybe even paranoia and hallucinations, and then sometimes the big crash into depression. Treatment can level out the highs and lows, when it works, but people who've experienced those highs often miss them.

With this post, we continue our biweekly series on medications used to treat bipolar disorder and related symptoms. We have already covered lithium, along with anti-seizure and atypical antipsychotics commonly used as anti-manic medications or mood stabilizers in bipolar disorder. We introduced our coverage of SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) antidepressants with a post on Prozac (fluoxetine). This week, we continue our series on SSRI antidepressants with this post on Luvox (fluvoxamine).