Quick question about friends...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Quick question about friends...
11
Mon, 11-29-2004 - 6:44pm

Hi again, I was reading the replies to a post here and noticed several mentions of how hard it can be for people with bipolar to keep friends. My story in a nutshell...I haven't been definitively diagnosed as bipolar, but it's been strongly suggested several times (type II), and one doctor put me on lithium for a while.

The posts I read made me think of something a fellow med student said to me a while ago. We had talked a good bit when we first met, but later on I became depressed and less talkative, and since then she's seemed to avoid me totally. At one point during my depression, though, we were chatting, and she told me that she thought I'd decided I didn't like her because I was so upbeat and talkative at first and later seemed to ignore her.

I felt so bad when she said that...I tried to explain it (badly) by saying that I'm generally kind of quiet, but I had tried to be more talkative at the start of school in order to meet people...that it had nothing to do with her in particular, and that I still wanted to hang out with her. But to no avail...she still barely responds when I say hi to her or try to make conversation.

So that's made me wonder how many people I've alienated by my changing moods. At the start of school I was really upbeat and energized and talked to everyone...I guess now everyone thinks I hate them because I find it hard to make conversation now. It just saddens me more...I'm not sure what to do, and I guess there is no good solution. I just wondered how common this kind of experience is among people with mood problems.

OK, sorry, this post wasn't so short (mine never are!), thanks for listening,

Rose

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-04-2004
Sat, 12-04-2004 - 8:22am

You go girl!


And if he is a real friend and would keep things confidential, it would be SO helpful to you to have someone to confide in about your disease. I know how isolated you feel at school.


How did the meeting with your psychiatrist go???


peace and love,

just_a_big_kid

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