Hi everyone. Apologies for the long post. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder (I think its BP2) here in the UK a few years ago. I am a mum to 2 children, one of whom is 14 a daughter and a son of 12 who has autism.

Life has been pretty hard going at times caring for my son as well as coping with my illness, but I am fortunate in that I have a very supportive husband who has been with me through it all.

I have been under a psychiatrist since the diagnosis and we get on pretty well. Unfortunately I have missed my last two appointments (I have them every 3 months). I am on 750mg of Depakote and 150mg Sertraline plus at the moment have been taking Zopiclone (sleeping pills as do not sleep well - frequent waking).

I have been warned that Zopiclone can be addictive so am going to try and half my dose, which is 7.5mg at night and see how I go with that. I have gone off them before and it was pretty tough going so not looking forward to it!

Depression has hit me quite bad of late as there are a lot of things going on for my son (he may have epilepsy) and daughter (she has been self harming for over a year and getting therapy, also my husband who is completely stressed out and is obsessive at times about cleanliness in the home - although I don't mind that so much! Some days are fine, others I feel I can't even move with the weight of heaviness that I feel.

We have had to fight long and hard for services for our son and this has taken its toll on my mental health. I have also had a very turbulent relationship with my mother, albeit it has got a little better over the last few years. I have had psychotherapy long term over the issues with my mother only and this was about 6 years ago now.

I am due to see my psych on 15th July but am loathe to contact him in the meantime as I feel so low. I sooooooo want to return to work as I am stuck in my home all the time with no family support, no friends - the isolation I have felt has been terrible because of people not being able to accept my son. So I want to get out there again and taste a bit of normal life! Although I am a little scared, I feel it will be good for me.

Anyway, thats a little about me. Good to be here and hoping to get to know some of you better.