I went to the hospital almost ten years ago when I was 23 because I had a nightmare breakup and couldn't stop crying. They checked me into the behavioral psych ward where they put me on mood stabilizers and implied i was bipolar.

When I got out I did a ton of research and decided that although I didn't really fit the classic mania that must be right. I took my medication faithfully for eight years. P-docs treated me for bipolar because I told them I had it.

And then a friend of mine who is a doctor said she was really skeptical of that diagnosis. And then I couldn't get mood stabilizers before a vacation and decided to see what would happen if I went a week. Nothing. So I went a month. And that was a year ago. I haven't had any episodes. I've been great.

I don't want this to fuel the denial of people who have a real issue that is hard to live with. I guess my point is that I really believed I was bipolar for almost a decade and while I still have anxiety and insomnia it turns out I was being treated for something I didn't have.