Dad here, two brilliant twenty-ish daughters, senior executive, BP2 + PTSD + Alcoholism + what would have been called borderline if I were a young woman but at my age and gender just makes me Machiavellian.

My Ma is BP1, and I can't freaking stand her. To get a dx anywhere near hers was enough to make me want to blow my head off. But I decided to try to take the dx in stride. MI is shot through my family tree. If they could make it, I could. I'd survived misery before. I can survive anything.

It is a matter of riding the med-go-round until the pills can give you a little air cover, and you have to be patient with that. Took me several years to get the major structure in place, and we're still making minor tweaks here and there. I have consigned myself to a future where we always shall be, but I would rather be actively managing my meds than not.

Just out of curiosity, how come pdoc started you on topiramate? First-line mood stabilizer for BP2 is usually Lamotrigine, with Topiramate as a later adjunct if needed. I take them both and boy, do I need 'em, but Lamotrigine is my main man.