Hi my name is Karen, just diagnosed with Bipolar 1. This was triggered by things that happened all at the same time. My sister was visiting me, and fell, cracked open her head, and broke her hip. 3 days later my husband had a heart attack (his second, which required open bypass surgery), and after his surgery, I found out he was cheating on me. At the same time I work at a pretty stressful job. It all finally caught up to me a few months later and i went seeking help. Now I am under the care of a physiologist and psychiatrist . We still don't have the right combinations of med's, and it's been 3 months. I'm leaning toward the depressive side. They prescribed abilify to go along with my pristiq, which put me in a manic state, so they had to change to Suraquil, and that seems to work better, however I'm still not stable. I've gained weight, been off work for 3 months, and am likely to lose my job because Federal law states 12 weeks of FMLA and thats it. I'm pretty sure the company I work for will not extend the holding of my position any longer. I have no ambition to do anything, I have shopped online more than I should, and just found out that is one symptom of bipolar. I am in close contact with my therapist and psychiatrist, who are trying to get me stable. But the good news is that I finally have a name for how I've been all of my adult life. I self medicated for this reason, not because I was a drunk/drug addict, but because there is a chemical imbalance in my brain. Sounds weird I know, but at least it has a name. I am looking forward to chatting with people who understand what I'm going through.