Part of me thinks I was lucky to live without meds until I was 30. I learned how to cope on my own and who knows where I would have ended up if I would have known I was "ill". There can be advantages to the kind of tough love that my parents gave me.

However, there is that other part that realizes that I've continually ruined my life time and time again. And I wonder if many of my problems could have been controlled if it would have been managed earlier.

I just don't know. I kind of flip flop on the topic of diagnosing younger children. Diagnosis is one thing I think. Medication is another. For me personally, I didn't get into any REAL trouble until I started qualifying for credit cards. But I know others who can get into life changing trouble even before that. I guess it just depends.