I am high functioning. Rarely manic (just enough to land me with the diagnosis); spent most of my time on the depressed end -- mixed episodes where my biggest issues from time to time.

I've worked full-time as a teacher (now my 32nd year) the entire time. I also hold a PTSD diagnosis which, quite honestly, caused me much more grief than my bipolar diagnosis. In fact, once my therapy had helped me get the PTSD issues under control, my bipolar symptoms settled WAY down to manageable.

I've been in full remission from all symptoms BP and PTSD for over 4 years now and have not been on meds during remission. I hold hope that even if I should have symptoms return in the future, I am much better equipped to be proactive and manage them without them getting nearly as severe as they used to be.