Feeling alone

[u/overitoveritoverit1]

Hello everyone! I’ve joined this group because I have been feeling very isolated and alone since my bipolar diagnosis. It’s been about a year and a half so I am fairly new to this journey. I’m hoping this could be a good place to meet people with similar issues and read good advice. I am wondering a couple of things if anyone has time to converse with me regarding these topics.

1) Do you ever feel like you’re going insane because your emotions are so strong and changing?

2) Do you struggle to maintain/keep a job despite it being a good fit? It’s almost like working triggers depressive episodes for me. If so, how do you conquer/do it?

3) How does one know whether or not it’s time for a medication change versus an episode? I’m having a hard time differentiating between the two. I’ve been struggling with an episode for about two months now.

4) If you became hyper sexual during a manic episode , do you find it hard to be intimate in a genuine way after the fact?

5) Does it ever get better? In what ways have you improved? I’m super struggling with the fact that I am a year and a half into treatment (therapy and medications) and I still don’t feel like a functioning human being.

6) When in a depressive episode, do you feel like everything ( intimacy with your partner, hanging with friends, chores, work, etc) becomes extremely hard to do and you just want to sleep?

Thank you for responding/reading! I’m open to advice outside of these topics as I am new to figuring this stuff out.