[ashty]

Hey all..

I just joined looking for some insight i guess.. recent behaviour leads me to believe that the psychiatrist who diagnosed me with Bipolar when I was 19 was indeed right.. I went into denial.

I've moved around a lot so although thats on my record, the psych's i've seen since then had differing opinions. A lot of the reason I saw them was because of anxiety and self injury - both things that I have been experiencing less and less in the last year, and I've also been off all medication for about 8 months now - my last experience was of being on prozac, which made me incredibly hyper. I was loving the buzz, had what I think may have been a manic episode but I'm not too sure becuse it involved me and a friend living in the cafe we work at for 4 days, painting a room and drinking lots of coffee.. so it could have just been the massive amounts of caffene...

I should warn you now, I have a tendancy to ramble.

So anyway, the reason I came here was, after watching that Stephen Fry documentary on manic depression I started thinking, maybe I am. And especially as lately I've been very stressed about my finals, and I'm not sure, but I think I might be getting manic at the moment..

lots of not sures

I did some of the quizzes on here, and they confirm my suspicions. Other than monitering myself and seeking support - trying not to indulge in dangerous behaviour, and eat properly etc etc.. I don't know what i want to do about it. The research I've done points more to cyclothymia than anything else. But then I'm not a doctor. And if it's that, then surely I don't need medicating.

I lead a very creative life, and am very aware from experience the effect that medication has on my work

aahh. yes. Enough talk from me. What I meant to say was "hello"

Ashty.

[bipolar_bear]

Welcome Ashty.

BB

[ashty]

how amazing is that?!
everything seems to be connected in some kind of web... I wrote a post in another forum I belong to called 'bi-polar bear'. And then you reply to my post here!

I like these things.

hehehe.

[Direction]

Welcome Ashty...Sounds like you are doing some research about your dx - They say to learn as much as you can - I sometimes find this helpful and other times it upsets me.

Anyway glad you found us.

[ashty]

Thanks, Direction. It's reassuring to have somewhere like this to turn when things start to overwhelm me!

I'm just counting the days until i hand in the last piece of uni work, and then I am free! (and I might go and see a doctor, haha)

Take care now
ashtyxo