It's all about the medication, in my view. My psychiatrist and I have been chasing the right combination of meds for almost ten years. We are close, and I am doing quite well overall. Not perfect, of course, but well enough to be able hold down a job and stay married. I do feel older beyond my age, which is 58, but I don't really believe that having BP and taking a handful of meds every night will reduce my life expectancy. The one thing I will concede is that you probably need a lot of joy and laughter to live a long life. That is one thing I really can't seem to recover because of my illness, and it causes me a lot of concern.