I agree with some of the other posters that it takes a while to get the right medication cocktail. I would medidate on who you do and do not want to tell. If you work on developing a mania contract with your pdoc or therapist you will need to tell some people so they can help you stay healthy. People react differently to the illness so I can't tell you what people may or may not do. I lost friends and family due to the illness and had other friends and family stay by my side.

On the work front, everyone is different so I agree there is not a right or wrong answer. There was another post about this issue not too long ago. One person said they wouldn't tell unless they needed some sort of accomodations at work such as time off to go to doctor's appointments, etc. to help keep you healthy. I don't feel comfortable telling work at this point, but I may change my mind in the future depending on how my illness may progress and if I need accomodations to keep me healthy.

Another avenue I suggest as you mentioned that you don't have much money is some free support groups such as DSBA or NAMI. I didn't have great luck with DSBA as the two different groups I went to were pretty low functioning and I didn't feel as though I fit in. I just recently found a great Bipolar Support group through NAMI. I'm really enjoying the group. There are people of all different ages there that have the illness, family members of someone who has the illness and a everyone has a varied range of severity. I feel so good to be with people that have my illness. I don't feel so alone anymore. These type of groups are also good to get feedback and advice from too. There may be another person there you age that has gone through the exact same thing so they might be able to give you some good insight and support.