[Ripose]

Although I have had my official bipolar diagnosis for many years now and have been on PC since last year I always avoided the thought that I needed to go to the bipolar forum. I always stayed in general forums. I guess even after all these years I was still afraid to admit that I was bipolar, and I'm not sure why. Once I finally started reading the threads here I realized that I should have been here all along, I belong here.

Did you dive right into the bipolar forum or did it take while or did you lurk for along time before posting?

[raspberrytorte]

I didn't lurk. I shyly and nervously dived in. lol

[wiretwister]

I have also denied being bp and did not feel worthy to be here , ...did not feel I had bad enough symptoms , but I was finally able to over come my fear as I saw others being supported , ... for whatever reason I started posting and have felt nothing but support and words of kindness since ...

[BipolaRNurse]

I joined the day after I was diagnosed with BP. I knew I needed a lot of help adjusting to the dx, and what better help than that from people who lived with the illness.

[~Christina]

Nope. I loved this forum and people from the start.

There are a few forums I do not go to at all... triggering and unhealthy for me.

[Ripose]

Well no matter what I am definitely glad I am here now!

[Trippin2.0]

If I am remembering it accurately, I am pretty sure I dived in before I even met my pdoc and got a DX....

I devoured thread by thread and instantly fell in love with all the supportive members, so I didn't hesitate to dive right in.

I knew I belonged right here, regardless of what a pdoc said.

[Wildflower4]

It took about a week after my dx to actually post. I usually just lurk in forums because I didn't feel I could connect very well with other people when I've tried joining other places in the past but this was different. I also knew this was the place where everyone actually does understand what you're going through while trying to figure all of this out.

[BrandonAK]

I'm obviously new here, but I decided to come the day of my diagnosis. I really need a support group of people who understand my struggle.

As noted, I don't feel like I am going through anything as severe as some folks here, so I kind of feel unworthy still. I appreciate this post. Thank you!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[gina_re]

I jumped right in. I needed to know if there were others who felt like I did. And I'm glad I did because it helped me know that I'm not alone in this.

[yanks7]

I'm a lurker took me awhile to get here first off and then several weeks to post anything. It was also one of those thing of when I got diagnosed there was barely an internet so it didn't dawn on me for quite sometime to look online for support, but I am glad I did

[LettinG0]

This forum was exactly what I was looking for when I was searching for support. I rarely go to any of the other forums...

It's almost funny that a couple of people on here mentioned "feeling unworthy" to participate here.......because after I first joined I had those same thoughts.....have come to realize we each have our own journey but we are in this boat together....

and I love the support and interaction from everyone on this forum!

[Ripose]

I felt like I was butting in to an exclusive group at first but after I got a response to one of my posts I felt much more comfortable.

Nobody should feel unworthy about being here!

[Blue_Bird]

I joined PC when I was going through a lot a few years ago which was before I was diagnosed with Bipolar and then later Schizoaffective, so I didn't immediately come to the Bipolar section because I didn't know I had it

[SirMoos]

I lurked as a guest for quite a long time after being diagnosed, then finally joining after I found an 'omg I relate to that hard!' moment.
I too, though, experienced feelings of not being bipolar enough(or at all) to be here. Call that denial if you will.

i joined in 2012. (so years after i was first diagnosed). well at the time i didn't know about forums and things (don't blame me!).

after i posted an intro (and waited for it to be aproved) which never took long anyway, the same day (actually i was online when it was aproved), i just jumped in to the comunity and posted where i thought i needed to

I've only recently started visiting this forum, I don't even know if I've posted here yet. I have unipolar depression, but the depression forum is too triggering for me because everyone is so depressed (yeah, duh). So I come here and mostly read threads about depressive episodes.

[SillyKitty]

Originally Posted by Ripose

I felt like I was butting in to an exclusive group at first but after I got a response to one of my posts I felt much more comfortable.

Nobody should feel unworthy about being here!

I felt the same. I jumped in to say hi in the "I'm new" forum as soon as I was approved, but I lurked for a while before I posted anything. I'm now dx'ed as Sza, bipolar type, but the Sza forum pretty slow, so I mostly hang out here.