BIG hugs to you, Anika!! So sorry for all you're going through

My own mother was a lot like yours---totally self-absorbed and hypercritical. She died when I was 30, and I hate to say this but I would never have been able to grow up and do the things I've gotten to do if she were still here.

And I know what you mean about stress......I'm in the same boat, only for different reasons, and I'm not doing well either. What is it about stress that makes us bipolar people so crazy?? I'm smack in the middle of a mixed episode right now and I'll be damned if I know which way is up OR down. Believe me, you have my sympathies!