No you're very helpful Sarah. Thank you.

It's true, I was abusing alcohol and other drugs for a very long time, so it was a lot of self-medication that may have been going on, and may have masked my condition somewhat.

I also have a strong history of mental illness on my mom's side (mom died of depression, aunt bipolar and schizophrenic, great grandmother as well), so when I was diagnosed it wasn't terribly surprising. And the medication I'm on DOES seem to work well for me (no depression of late, nor any manic symptoms that I'm aware of), whereas traditional anti-depressants did nothing.

So it's pretty confusing. I'd love to get to the bottom of it, just for my own mind's sake, but I suppose it's a lot of conjecture.

I'd appreciate any thoughts you guys might have! Thanks.

Nola, thank you for your input as well.