I know exactly what you mean. That's how I felt when they told me to get SSDI, I was 27 at the time. I didn't deal well with knowing what or how to deal with people asking me what's up. I hid in shame and hung around losers because that's how I thought of myself. I strongly recommend seeing a T and finding out how to deal with these feelings and the denial. My life would have been much different and smoother if I had learned to deal with my self esteem issues from getting labeled Bipolar.
I'm really glad you recognize the necessity of taking the meds. I kept going off of them trying to prove I wasn't bipolar. It didn't work and prolonged my getting better. If you work on this you can have I life. Go back to school or get a job.