Hi Em-I'm happy to answer your questions.

Are you accepting of your diagnosis? Oh yes, everything made sense for the first time in my life.

How old were you when diagnosed? 43 (last January) Before that my diagnosis was social anxiety disorder, general anxiety disorder, panic disorder and MDD.

Current treatment choice/why? Medication because without it I do about everything I can (including steal) to get painkillers.

Did your lifestyle change since being diagnosed? Yes, my husband blames everything about me on my diagnosis and medication. Ugh.

Your opinion of meds vs alternate treatment? It is a personal choice. When I didn't know what was wrong with me and wasn't taking meds I drank like a fish and took painkillers like every bone in my body hurt to kill every feeling. I'm lucky to be alive.

Level of education? did Bipolar affect your abilities? My substance abuse began at age 13. I managed to finish high school and tried to go to community college but I was doing drugs pretty heavily so I dropped out 3 times and was only able to finish about 12 credits. Bipolar definitely had a hand in this. I was numbing the pain of the ups and downs.

Do you work, if so where? I've had about 7 jobs since age 18. I only last about 2 years at every job. I've only been fired once. I've quit all the others. They've all been customer service except for one-the one I was fired from was human resources. No big surprise there. I can't work now. I can barely leave the house anymore. I'm seeing a lawyer next week about disability.

Family life? Who do you live with, how do you all cope with this disorder?
Do you feel your quality of life has been increased or decreased since experiencing Bipolar Disorder? I live with my husband and 6 year old son. My husband has been really unsupportive and thinks I'm overeating and blaming everything I do on my diagnosis even though I had a suicide scare in January. It's really hard to live with him right now. I actually have been avoiding him as much I can lately. My parents have been my rock. They help me so so much. Of course they've seen my problems my whole life and feel like they've finally got some answers. My 6 year old is my joy. I also have a 20 year old that I text daily and who comes up to see me once a month and is my pride. My quality of life has increased since being diagnosed. I am on the right track with medications. It's not perfect but I feel better. I wasn't on a mood stabilizer before and was on the constant med change rollercoaster. Now I can do some things normally. Like having my son's friends over. It used to bug me like crazy but now I just go "whatevs, do what you will".

Sorry if there are typos. I've got 3 kids running around right now!

Again an answer to all these questions will help so much, thankyou thankyou!!! -Em