There are times, I believe, when our moods are situation. I think it's perfectly normal to have depression and anxiety when making such a drastic change. Add to that a toxic friend, and I'm sure you were feeling very confused.

I also had a lot going on in my life when I was diagnosed. My daughter was diagnosed as bipolar at about 6 years of age, and put on massive amounts of drugs. I'm regretting that now, because seriously, how can anyone know at that age? I worry about what the drugs did to her growing brain. She was finally dx'd with Aspergers and is not on any medication.

I wasn't dx'd until I was 39. Looking back over my life I had all the symptoms, the hypersexuality, inability to commit to anything, compulsive shopping, periods of depression as well as periods of great activity. I blindly took those mind-numbing drugs for 9 years. After gaining 50 pounds I went off my antipsychotic cold turkey and switched to Topomax to lose weight. It was a disaster that landed me in the hospital.

Two years later, I decided to try again. With the help of my new pdoc, we slowly weaned me off of my antipsychotic and 5 weeks later I'm doing great!

Looking back, a lot of my behaviour can be attributed to the way I was raised and trauma. Am I really bipolar? I have my doubts. I've had many years of therapy and am now in control of my actions.

You may indeed be bipolar, but I think therapy should be your first line of action, rather than medication. It has come to my attention that bipolar is becoming a very common diagnosis. It kills me that we are medicating our children. I do suffer from major depression and take an antidepressant. As far as mania goes, for me it was just a happy feeling where I had a lot of energy. I always slept at night and never had hallucinations of any kind.

Good luck to you. Tell me more about how you are feeling.