I would normally keep this story to myself, but this seems like something worth spreading the word about.

When I first got diagnosed bipolar, Patri said that he thought that pot contributed to my manic episodes. I went along with it, but was skeptical that it was anything more than a slight enhancer.

So for two years I didn't touch the stuff. Then Patri was out of town, and I happened upon his stash, and I really really really love the stuff and temptation got the better of me.

I had a fun weekend and it wasn't a big deal. So the next week I had just a little bit.

And then a couple of days later, I started the worst mixed state episode I've had, with a little bit of hypomania mixed in, and its been over three weeks and I'm still dealing with the aftermath.

During this time I've talked to a few friends about it. It turns out that out of the few close friends I've mentioned it to, three of them shared with me personal accounts of other friends who were bipolar and had some pot and went off the deep end. Add me and we've got four, and us bipolars aren't exactly that high a percentage of the population.

This mixed state stuff is scary shit.

Patri's addendum: It is difficult to get studies on this, because the causal link goes both ways. People may seek pot or other drugs to self-medicate, and drugs are illegal so there are no randomized studies. But there is some evidence, for example that pot smoking as a teenager increases the later risk of psychosis from schizophrenia/bipolar by 40%-100% (although small in absolute terms).