Would you want to be totally cured?

I have bipolar 2.
I have heard some others with bipolar say they would not want to have their bipolar go away, 'it defines them' or makes them who they are... Do you guys feel that way?
If I had a sure fire 100% cure with no side effects and no bad outcomes I would take it!
I don't think of my bipolar as a defining personality trait, I think of it as an annoyance. I'm not saying I look down on myself because of bipolar I just don't let bipolar define who I am.
What are your thoughts?

I'm on the same page... I'd get rid of it if I could. I don't see it as who I am. Or defining me. I don't think it causes my creativity. In fact I think the lack of concentration / focus during episodes gets in the way of my painting, big time. I'd rather not have these struggles.

YES

i have bp1.
i would worry how much of it has an effect on my thinking and my life becuase ive had it since around 10 years of age,so im so used to it,i would love to get rid of the excessive mania [ie not hypomania],the severe depression,the acute impulsiveness and the accompanying paranoid pyschosis,but im not sure id want a total cure as i wouldnt be me without my brain.

Son wrote:I'm on the same page... I'd get rid of it if I could. I don't see it as who I am. Or defining me. I don't think it causes my creativity. In fact I think the lack of concentration / focus during episodes gets in the way of my painting, big time. I'd rather not have these struggles.

I also feel like my bipolar gets in tha way of my concentration making it hard to complete tasks. I used to paint and draw and wood carve, my mania would make me start 20 projects at once and never finish any of them, my depressive episodes would make me not want to even think about any projects.
Now on meds I do feel less desire to do artwork, but I prefer not going way up and then crashing way down, so I stay on the meds.
I don't think of the meds as a 'cure' because they have the side effect of reducing my normal ambition to do things. I don't feel the drive to do art as much now, but I still feel inventive inside.
When I think of a hypothetical true cure it would be something that would get rid of the unwanted mania and depression and other symptoms, but not inhibit my normal personality and creativity.

ProudAutie wrote:i would love to get rid of the excessive mania [ie not hypomania],the severe depression,the acute impulsiveness and the accompanying paranoid pyschosis,but im not sure id want a total cure as i wouldnt be me without my brain.

I definitely understand that feeling, I would not want to lose whatever makes me me! Thats why I think that if there were a "true" cure it would have to be something that only got rid of the unwanted stuff that messes with our lives, but would not damage our personality or experiences in life.

Yes, I'd like to be totally cured. For some time past, I had come to accept that this is who I am and I was stable, but it's very hard having bipolar. We who have it don't have a choice in the matter and we are misunderstood and labeled. I hate that. I want to be cured, if it were possible. I want to feel good all the time instead of having a low mood or mania, or hypomania. Stability is really great, but at least for me I have side effects from the meds I take and they are tolerable but given the choice I'd say no meds for me, thanks.

I guess I'm 50/50 about it. I think that if I didn't have bipolar, I would be an entirely different person. Which may or may not be a good thing. But I would also like to not have to take meds every night and I'd like to be able to work (and keep) a full-time job. My depression and anxiety strongly prevent that, and my mania to a lesser extent. The only thing I hate more than living with mental illness is agreeing to take all of these meds that ###$ my body up, which has finally (and very slowly) started to rectify itself.

I've been thinking about this all day. I want to say definitively, yes, and truth is I probably would take it but like JB I also think I would be a completely different person if I didn't have episodes or depression. Some of the things I like most about me I credit in one way or another to having mental illness and having spent my life caring for / being cared for by people who are also on some kind of spectrum of something. Not sure what my capacity for having bipolar friends would be if I were cured. If the normies drifting in and out of my life are any indication, probably not much.

gehalt wrote:If the normies drifting in and out of my life are any indication, probably not much.

When I was in a support group for bipolar people talked a lot about normal friends drifting in and out of their life and only other "psych cases" as they put it staying in their life, but i actually experience the opposit i guess. My friends who have drifted out of my life are the ones who have mood disorders or who have personality disorders, not the normies. I always wondered why that is, do you have bp 1 or 2? Maybe that makes the difference as most in my support group had 1 but I have bp 2.
Unfortunately the hospital sponsoring the support group I was in decided to just drop it!

-- Tue Dec 12, 2017 6:28 am --

gehalt wrote:If the normies drifting in and out of my life are any indication, probably not much.

When I was in a support group for bipolar people talked a lot about normal friends drifting in and out of their life and only other "psych cases" as they put it staying in their life, but i actually experience the opposit i guess. My friends who have drifted out of my life are the ones who have mood disorders or who have personality disorders, not the normies. I always wondered why that is, do you have bp 1 or 2? (Edit: never mind on that question I just noticed your signature says bipolar I, lol I'm not very observant sometimes.)
Maybe that makes the difference as most in my support group had 1 but I have bp 2.
Unfortunately the hospital sponsoring the support group I was in decided to just drop it!

Yes.

I've lived with this for eighteen years now. It is a foe.