Naynay99, one "thing" that marks healthy thinking persons are that they ask questions! So in that way you are very healthy.

To your questions: Many bipolar persons that are misdiagnosed as uni-polar and given antidepressants become manic. The antidepressant triggered their first episode. When you first have become bipolar, that is a diagnose for life. But none says it has to be full blooming all the time. You might also have normal times in between. It is not a question about remission or not. To have the bipolar diagnose means that there for many are four possible states: depressed, manic, mixed and the "state" we call "normal". Medication can work for some time and then stop working. Some people can manage to be off medication for some time, but the disorder is chronic in nature. It might come back. One never knows when a person has had it's last episode.


Your chances for living well with your bipolar disorder is affected by:

1) your cooperation with your doctor. Remember it is you who have MI, not your doctor (he may be a well functioning doctor on medication for the same diagnose, thou, because such a diagnose affects people in every age and in every type of work, but if so that is his problem and not yours). There may be many trials before they find the right combo of meds for you. (If you don't feel well with your doc, please find another one). It is right that doctors may earn well by giving medication, but for many medications are necessary to be able to function at all. If one wants to try without medication that should be in cooperation with one's pdock. Bipolar is a chronic disease.

2) I would have asked for a therapist to talk to if I were you (in addition to the medication)!

3) What you yourself can do to make your life as a person with bipolar disorder more easy:
a) monitor your states
b) learn your triggers so that you can avoid them or at least make them milder.
c) live a regular life with set hours for meals, physical exercises, go to bed time and so on.

Self-help book:
"The Bipolar Workbook, Second Edition: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings 2nd Edition" by Monica Ramirez Basco (Author)

Hope you find your personal way to cope and live well with your bipolar disorder!