Better late than never but just wanted to say hi as an intro to this particular forum.

I'm a 33 year old guy from South Africa who was diagnosed as a mild bipolar almost 2 years ago, following the onset of depression when I was hit from behind in a car accident. I'm quite bad at remembering medical terminology, but in counselling I was regarded as being effectively depressed most of my life, which sadly makes a lot of sense looking back. I was a bookworm who avoided people and lived a pretty emotionally barren existence.

I'm now on Wellbutrin and Pur-Bloka (a Beta-Blocker generic) and rapid cycling can still occur. Yet my quality of life, personal interactions and people skills have clearly improved and I decided to stay on meds for the rest of my life. I also still have my personal struggles and deal with intense emotions I always suppressed when younger. It helps tremendously to have a forum with people in similar circumstances, and where there's a more personal element for a diagnosis that has a stigma attached to it in the broader public mind.