Hi everyone, I'm new here and I have a couple of questions.

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about a year and a half ago, and ever since I started taking medications and was diagnosed, I've become more aware of who I am and have started to pay attention to how my mind functions.

I started noticing that after being on medication, I had difficulty concentrating. And it's become a problem. I also started losing track of conversations, and I didn't feel like I was always "there." So the natural thing to do was talk to my boyfriend (who I've been with for 3 1/2 years...since before I was diagnosed with anything). He told me that I've always been sorta out of it in conversations and stuff, but before I was taking medicine, it seemed as if I didn't care what he had to say or that I would change topics abruptly and cut him off and not even notice that I was being rude or inconsiderate. According to him, after I started the medicine, he could tell that I was actually *trying* to pay attention, but that I couldn't exactly keep a grasp on what was going on. And then I started thinking about my past...

When I was a kid, like between 5 and 9, I was really smart but I got into a *lot* of trouble (for a girl, at least). I would get into fights with people or do reckless things, and in that time period I got in-school suspensions about 5 times. I always got decent grades, but I'm lucky because I've never been the type that needs to study a lot or work very hard to get good grades. But even at that age, I had problems with procrastination. The only reason I would ever do work is because my parents watched me like a hawk.

I recently graduated from college, and I found out about my bipolar when I was in college. I had difficulty completing any assignments during this one semester because I was severely depressed. Even since I've been on my bipolar medication, I procrastinate CONSTANTLY and I can't ever seem to get any work done unless I'm under a serious time constraint. I still get really easily distracted by the TV or friends or the internet. In fact, I used to write my papers pencil-and-paper style despite being a technologically oriented person because that way I couldn't get distracted. I also get tired really easily...sometimes it gets so bad that it becomes difficult for me to function during the day when I have a lot of stuff to do.

I just moved and I don't have a doctor yet in this area, and this is a relatively new perspective on my condition that I haven't had before. Does anyone have any thoughts? Also, if anyone has both bipolar and ADD, how did the doctor distinguish between the two and how was he/she able to determine that you have both?