@LastQuestion/ I read about the dark therapy trial at the NIMH and indeed, it was amazing to learn, but outside of a controlled environment, how do you do it at home? If you live alone, you can create your own schedule and dark room but my wife, whom, after 23 years, still doesn't understand much about bipolar, despite my educating her, would have a hard time if I went to bed at 6p.m. and didn't emerge until 8a.m. I do much better with my sleep when I travel to Florida or she's out of town for a 10 days, visiting family.

Know, too, that new meds are in the pipeline but it's difficult for me to get hopeful about them. Unless they're radically different, they seem to be variations on the same theme, with the same potential side effects. But as we all say, YMMV. My med sensitivity borders on a pathology in and of itself. Even if I could have meds compounded, it would eat up the remainder of my small SSDI check. However, nothing is off the table.

@Christina/I have considered pot, but Maryland is slowly implementing medical mj. Also, the most beneficial forms of mj that I've read about are low in THC and higher in canabadiols(CBD). Actually had a pdoc suggest mj but he couldn't prescribe it. My current pdoc is also a specialist in addiction and I haven't broached the subject of mj. ECT for me is too risky because of my sensitivity to anesthetics. Round and round it goes. Where it stops, nobody knows.