I have recently been and finally!!! diagnosed Bipolar. I have questions. I have read the materials online, etc. But, usually going to those that suffer is better than reading the cold dry stuff. I have alot of posts on PsychCentral because I come from the Depression board, where I have not been in months.

How long between highs and lows? They seem back to back to me.
When having a high or a low, is there any normalcy in between episodes?
In either case, are the episodes really, really bad, respectively?
Do the events around you help to predict either episode; family issues, etc.?

I have been experiencing truly bad lows. Last week all I wanted to do was crawl under my psychologists desk, but I didn't, I just sat in the chair and put my elbows on the desk and hide my face...sort of. Last week was truly awful and scared the h*** out of me.

He always has two questions, 1) How are you? and 2) What's new. For the "how are you?," I told him I felt 'broken' and I did feel that way. It took me over a week to get to that degree of low, and it was the worst I have felt in a long, long time.

On Wednesday of last week I came out of it and by the end of the day I was on top of the world; I felt like I could tackle the world. That feeling has dissipated somewhat because I have been in my eldest daughter's home for a few days, but sitting here now I don't feel so awful. My eldest is very critical and yells at me a lot. I seem to never do or say anything right to her.

What do I take:
100 mg Nortriptyline
400 mg generic Lamictal

I have a feeling that when I see the psychiatrist mid-month I will have a meds change.

p.s. My father is bipolar, although he is now 89 yrs.