'My local support group was my saving grace'

In 1999, I had been working as a student in London and came back home to Cardiff. I should have been overjoyed with the knowledge that all I had to do was study for a year and my degree course would be over.

It didn’t turn out like that. When I returned home, I had a very powerful full-blown episode of mania that led to a seven-week hospitalisation.

When I was given a formal diagnosis of bipolar, it was a relief to know that I had a condition that could be treated with medication.

Initially I was prescribed lithium. However, over a few years this led to complications, and I started taking a different combination of medication.

My group is an important element of my support network

My saving grace was being signposted by a mental health advocate to the local Bipolar UK Support Group. We met once a month and I found this support immensely useful. We would discuss various issues and I learnt a lot about the condition and made a lot of friends.

We would arrange to have speakers on all sorts of beneficial topics. Some of the most enjoyable events that took place were having day trips out for our members. These were always a success and everyone looked forward to them.

The group is still an important element of my support network of friends and family. There’s an old saying that ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’.

We can discuss our concerns in an open and confidential manner. We can ask questions to other members, and we may find that someone else someone else at the meeting has had the same issues and can offer advice and support.

There are different ways to get support for bipolar

Nowadays the Bipolar UK support services provide extremely useful resources for information about the condition. I personally know members who have used the Peer Support Line and the Online Community.

The Mood Tracker app is excellent for keeping a record of your mood, hours of sleep, feelings and medication.

I manage my mood with the right things

The bipolar condition is often a period of mania followed a period of depression. I am fortunate that my highs are not particularly followed by extreme lows.

I manage my mood by trying to do all the right things. I eat healthy food and don’t drink alcohol anymore. Exercise is important to me if only going for a short walk around the park. I also need restful sleep on a regular basis.

I find that listening to music can be uplifting for my mood as well as a distraction from other thoughts. There are so many radio stations now. Personally, I quite like listening to Radio 4 early in the morning then I will switch to another less serious channel later in the day.

The advent of streaming music services offers such a wide selection of choices that there is always something good to suit whatever I need that day.