Hello,

I don't usually reach out through online forums to get advice, but find it so necessary to reach out to you because I'm at a very low point in my life and I'm alone.

I want to be brief so hopefully someone can understand my situation and offer some advice. I'm a young woman in my 20s and was recently diagnosed with bipolar 2. I started medical school but had to leave after a few months because I couldn't study with hypomania. I couldn't sleep or concentrate so I didn't do well on my exams. I was failing so my professors said it would be best for me to take a leave, take time to recover and start again next year.

Of course all of that sounds a lot better than what it is. I had many embarrassing experiences for falling behind in school, my boyfriend broke up with me the day after I told him I have bipolar, and I had to isolate myself from school and classmates after taking my leave. It has not been easy to recover- even with medication and psychotherapy. My meds have worked to help me sleep more but I have felt depressed, low in energy, and just very very sad and hopeless. I used to be very energetic and loved to study, exercise and eat healthy. Right now it's difficult for me to just get out of the house and I'm eating poorly and unhealthy. I feel guilty and ashamed. I was a good student my whole life, and now I feel like a failure.

I'm wondering if there is anybody out there who had a similar obstacle in his/her life and was able to overcome it. I have been able to overcome a lot of adversity in my life, but had never felt so much fear and doubted myself so much to be able to get through this one. I hope someone can read this and give me a little bit of hope.