I've always been one to feel my emotions rather strongly. We always just thought I was REALLY in touch with my emotional side. Mom was bipolar and was afraid of passing on her illness to my brother and I. She watched us like a hawk for signs and thought that if we passed the age of 25 without an episode, we were in the clear. Don't know WHY she thought this, but she did.

Fast forward to 2012 and mom passes away. A little over a year later, my brother dies in 2013. With back to back traumatic deaths, it didn't phaze me that I was sad or having a hard time coping. However, I began to isolate severely and it began taking a toll.

Huge changes came at work and my husband developed a friendship with a female that I was uncomfortable with. Anxiety built to a fever pitch that I could not take anymore. It was then I reached out for help and after describing my symptoms (mainly depressed, a little normal and a little manic plus the anxiety) and I was diagnosed Bipolar type II.

It's the cliff's notes version anyway