5. They don't plan for future episodes. When I started planning for my mom's future episodes, people in my family said I was being too pessimistic. They're wrong. I was being realistic. Bipolar disorder doesn't go away, so you need to have a plan in place that will make those future episodes easier for you and your loved ones to deal with.

6. They don't have a support team. If you have bipolar disorder, you can't do everything on your own. You need help of friends and family members and that's why it's critical that you put together a support team of people you trust most.

7. They don't take care of their physical health. When someone suffers from a mental illness, it can become that person's primary focus and he or she often loses sight of other health issues. Eating healthy and exercising will not only keep you in better shape but may also prevent some of triggers that led to bipolar episodes.

8. They don't apologize after an episode. During episodes, you may say or do hurtful things to people you care about. If you don't apologize after an episode, you may lose that person from your life forever. Don't let disorder rob you of your closest relationships.

9. They don't listen to others about episodes. In most cases, your friends and loved ones will be able to see signs of an upcoming episode while it's still in its initial stages. They may ask you about them or suggest that you contact your doctor. If they do, you should listen to them. Bipolar disorder clouds reality, so you can't always see how things really are.

10.They don't realize there's nothing to be ashamed of with disorder. You have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to bipolar disorder. It's also not all in your head. Research has shown that bipolar disorder is a real condition that is caused by an imbalance of brain chemicals. Instead of feeling bad about what you can't change, you should be working to educate rest of world so that they'll change their perception of disorder.

People who are depressed and bipolar will self-medicate to keep depression at bay, but this actually only pushes depression back temporarily. When it returns it can feel even worse, and will sometimes result in a suicide attempt or, in some instances, a successful suicide.

Obviously, self-medicating with drugs and/or alcohol doesn't work. It doesn't get rid of symptoms of bipolar disorder, and in many cases they actually make characteristics of an episode much worse, causing extremes to be more violent or explosive.

If you don't believe this, take a look at some examples of individuals who were not properly medicated who ended up in extremely bad situations. Some actual stories can be found at http://www.leverageteamllc.com/bipolarnews19/ . These include one where a woman in Palm Desert, CA ran over a man she referred to as, "road kill," during a manic episode. In other stories, two unrelated shootings (one in Portland, ME and other in Philadelphia, PA) were both tied to bipolar sufferers who weren't properly medicated.

Please don't take your situation into your own hands - you'll be gambling with your own life and life of others. Self medicating isn't answer. A licensed, professional doctor's supervision and prescription medication is only way to adequately control bipolar disorder effectively.