Labels are confusing sometimes. And I don't always feel like I fit. But when I first got the label Bipolar I, I was so relieved in a way. Now instead of being crazy a-hole, I was someone struggling with an illness. Something I could work with.

As far as labels like crazy, nuts, lunatic, etc, I don't find them offensive. Sometimes I think they are more descriptive of what I'm feeling. HOWEVER, some people have been beat up with those words in ways that I hope I never experience, so I'm learning to be cautious with them. They carry power for some people, but they don't carry any power for me because I'm lucky to have never suffered much of the sting of stigma....at least not that much.