@CherryBomb yeah cool, can do. Might be a bit long so I'll break it up. The more important stuff will be at the top.
What was really really really fundamental and the lynchpin to my recovery was that I stumbled upon a smart therapist that didn't tolerate my bullshit and she made that very clear to me - she was someone I really needed.
Finding this person was random and has kind of lead me to believe that there must be some sort of higher power. When she moved back to Adelaide I got lucky again and I credit them both for a lot of my success (even though they are quick to point out the work I put in). If either N or A is reading this I'm talking about you.
I've been to a few therapists where it hasn't worked and it's been, frankly, a waste of money. If a therapist isn't working for you I suggest moving on. It isn't rude, they understand.
I cannot stress enough the importance of a good therapist.
Support
I really just started to have problems when I moved to Canberra for a grad job from Newcastle. So not a lot of family/social support. I made some great friends and they really helped. Initially it was tough finding someone to trust. Family suffer from the ostrich syndrome and my mum was battling cancer at the time so it was pretty messed up. I hope @stairhead that you are in a better position.
I did find a friend and later found out that she too had bipolar. That helped having someone like me, same age. It made it a lot easier to share. Because we were friends already so it made it a lot easier to talk about our experiences with bipolar when we found out about each other. I suggest that you find some sort of way to meet fellow sufferers in the real world.
What was really important was that I found a good psych. Because I was working professionally I could afford to go private. Which is a luxury not everyone has and that sucks. It has struck me a number of times if it would have worked out otherwise. Canberra was good because there is a lot of options. Find one that explains how the medication works, what it's meant to do and what sort of time frame.
Medication
I'm not going to go into detail about what pills I'm on. Everyone's response to medications is different and I don't want to prejudice that.
I want to emphasize that medications take time. You should notice the effects in a couple of months but I didn't really fully get the benefits of one medication until 18months after I first started it. Persistence. Remember if you're in an episode now it might take longer to get to stable and therefore at the point that future episodes are prevented.
Self-discipline
Finally this. Force yourself to have a routine and stick to it like it will be the end of the world if you don't; you know apocalypse type shit. Fix things like when you go to sleep, when you get up, what you eat, when you take your medication (I use an app called medisafe to remind me), when and how much you exercise (I can give you tips if you need but make it frequent and something that gets your heart rate up to a high level - >75% of max heart rate). Drinking affects my moods so I don't drink and that's hard for me, a guy in his 20's. Cut out things you like but make you ill. I've had to massively cut down on clubbing because the lack of sleep kills me.
Do things like meditation if they help.
When you do fall out of the saddle and you will don't beat yourself up, just pick yourself up and start again.
I hope this helps.
