I've probably been BP all my life, but didn't suspect it until about 8-10 years ago. Even then, I didn't know much about it other than I was afraid of being put on lithium, so I ignored the growing evidence of my bipolarity until my first mixed episode last winter. That's when my primary doctor, who'd been treating me for MDD for over a dozen years basically washed his hands of me in the mental health arena and sent me for a psych eval. I was promptly diagnosed with BP-NOS and have finally stabilized after six months of trial-and-error with meds.

Happily, though, lithium hasn't even been mentioned.