Today, I got up the guts to call my mother and tell her about my doctors' suspicion that I have Bipolar II (I had an appointment with one of my doctors yesterday and she is certain it's what I have...An appointment with my second doctor is in a couple of weeks and he'll look at medication options.)

During the phone conversation, my mom referred to a "crazy" aunt that I DIDN'T know about (and I have asked for family history to help me out in the past and have been denied it). Thanks - wish I knew about the "crazy" aunt before, would have helped me and my doctors. Anyway, from what my mother described, it sounds like my aunt had Bipolar I and her "episodes" that everyone knew her for were likely manic ones.

The worst part of all of this is that my mother kept saying "crazy" and basically calling me crazy. She also went on and on about how medication is bad and how it "changes" you. When I tried to explain that my aunt going off medication doesn't mean the medication made her "crazy" (as my mother vehemently believes) but rather, the problems were a result of going cold turkey on her medication. But she said that I'd be stuck forever and changed if I took medication. It was such an exhausting conversation.

You know what she did after all of this discussion? She started talking about frivolous things like Facebook. In essence, she heard me say "I have Bipolar II" (or in her mind "I am crazy"), then went on an anger episode about how bad medication is and that I'm foolish for thinking medication could help me...and finally, dismissed it. It felt so bad...to be fussed at, then dismissed. Wouldn't a supportive/loving person want to know and understand more, and focus on that for at least one conversation. Did she even understand how hard it was for me to tell her?