Hi Nicole

Glad to have you here on PC. Having finally received a diagnosis after so long can be confronting. After years of wondering, suddenly the suspicions are "real" and as such means you have to face them and deal with them. That can be daunting.

But the reality is nothing has changed for the worse. In fact quite the opposite. Now that you have a diagnosis you can start to better understand yourself, and the way you react to the world around you. It means you can start accurate research, start learning specific coping strategies, and reach out to others with a similar diagnosis. And it means you are not going crazy, there really is something that you are suffering from, and now you can start to really control it.

As daunting as it is, you can successfully live with bipolar. You more than likely have already been for years without knowing it. Today you know what to call it, that's all.

I wish you all the best, and please keep posting to let us know if there is any way we can help.