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HEALTH: Mariah Carey has opened up about living with bipolar

MEGASTAR MARIAH Carey has revealed that she struggles with bipolar II disorder.

The singer-songwriter has made the announcement almost two decades after her diagnosis with the condition.

Speaking to People about her condition for the first time, she said: “For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder.”

“But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down.

“It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterized by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad — even guilty that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.”

Bipolar disorder is a condition that affects a person’s moods. Those living with bipolar go through periods of depression, when they feel down and lethargic and mania, when they feel extremely upbeat and overactive.

Carey says she was originally diagnosed in 2001 – during the time she was admitted to hospital for a physical and mental breakdown – but didn’t want to believe it.

“Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me,” she said. “It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love — writing songs and making music.”

Carey says she is now taking medication for bipolar and is also in therapy.

She said: “I’m actually taking medication that seems to be pretty good. It’s not making me feel too tired or sluggish or anything like that. Finding the proper balance is what is most important.”

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