How do did you know for sure?

Thank you, for your post there all so helpful, I hope you find the security you need with coping with what's going on.

It's all so confusing, I was brought up with people saying I was just moody, a diva, and selfish, but I don't believe that.

The rapid cycling with adjusting Lamictal dosage is not that unusual, I think. I definitely had that, and it was tough but worth it in the end.

And it's not necessarily bad to be on a mood stabilizer alone. You should be able to wait until the Lamictal is stabilized before considering adding another drug. If your doc wants to move faster than that, you can request to do one medication at a time if that's more comfortable for you.

Many people add an antidepressant but others need the antipsychotics - it depends on your body and symptoms. I added Lamictal to an antidepressant I was already taking.

Hang in there...

I first self diagnosed my bipolar 4 yrs ago. Doctors misdiagnosed me with mild depression. I honestly think that my doc's never diagnosed my bipolar, because they never wanted to diagnose or agree with the nursing student/ nurse that believed she was. One doc last yr finally wanted to treat me for depression and placed me on Zoloft. Exactly one month later I ended up in the ER with a diagnosis of Bipolar with Physcosis. My inpatient treatment team thinks that I have been Bipolar since my brother died. Which guess what, was four yrs ago, right before going into nursing school. BTW the Zoloft was culprit and magnified the Bipolar.