Dear missmorgan,

I'm very sympathetic, so let me get the blunt part out of the way first. Why, if your aunt & sister went to this Dr. Ladeedah & hated her, did you go to her?

Getting our meds right is the most important issue in the bipolar life, once we've accepted our diagnosis, IMO. Our BFF in this is our pdoc. Get a new pdoc. Seriously.

I understand that may sound flippant, but I say it knowing how crucial these early days in your diagnosis are. Drugs used to manage bipolar disorder often bring along side effects, and we cannot afford to passively allow lazy pdocs to just throw drugs randomly at us until one of them works "well enough." Drugs are cumulative in our systems. And lithium is not the first drug of choice for bipolar II. One of the mood stabilizers traditionally would have been used first, and everything begun at low levels to test your tolerance.

Pschiatrists all know, or have access to, the necessary facts. Go out & get yourself someone who will pay attention & hear you & treat you as an equal, not a low-functioning lab rat.

missmorgan. Welcome to our world! It can be pretty okay, honest .