I'm glad it has worked out for you so well. Also sorry for your experience though it's clear that you do understand why I am resistant.

For me, I have never had any signs of being up. Ever. Even the brief manic episode was more irritable, which was hard to separate out from the fact that I was assault so had lots of reasons to be behaving differently since I do have a severe case of PTSD.

Bipolar is 80% genetic and relatively rare with only a 1% prevalence rate. I think it is over diagnosed. It makes sense that someone who is overmedicated would have a reaction, and it would also make sense that the person need not be predisposed toward bipolar, that it could happen to anyone who is overmedicated.

Since it alters both what medications are in the picture and possible involuntary hospitalizations with that on your record, it is a significant life changing problem. Once after this diagnosis was recorded, I was hospitalized for having an infestation of fleas. I was at a hotel, noticed itching and redness at my ankles, thought it was chiggers and asked the clerk where the nearest clinic was. Somehow there was a misunderstanding that I was talking about spiders being in my room (I had to explain what chiggers were) so the cops came and as I waited heard them joking about "tri-polar" and "spiderwpman." It was humiliating and expensive because of course the psych unit did not admit me but I had to pay for a long cab ride back to the hotel, where I was basically asked to leave.