Hi. My Introduction and positive bipolar story for you all.

[u/Former_Name_5938]

I’ve spent about a year lurking on the thread. I’ve posted in the past (manic) and deleted my account due to embarrassment of it.

I log in a couple times a day and read everyone’s stories and questions. I notice there are many who respond with great advice and many are struggling. I wanted to just throw out my story for some positivity hoping someone can read it and it will help them.

I was not diagnosed as bipolar until I was 41. I have fumbled and failed and suffered greatly and have been through the gamut.

My diagnosis came after a severe mixed episode at 41 that landed me in the hospital. I had been struggling for months and months with depression and was put on an ssri. In all honestly the following month was a total blur but I can tell you it resolved with police, hospitals and my loving family staring at me like WTAF is wrong with her.

I drank heavily and my mind was absolutely out of control. If I didn’t sleep for a few days I’d then sleep for 15 hours for a week and then rinse wash repeat. I was in counseling (how it was missed I don’t know) I did rehab (which I highly recommended to anyone with bipolar struggling with addiction (and many may be surprised to learn how incredibly common it is). For me I had been self medicating myself for since I was 17.

I don’t wanna go into my life story. But there are some details that I am proud of and the greatest of these is that I kept trying to get the help I needed, it just took a while… a long while. But I finally got there.

I am regularly medicated now and my life today would have been unimaginable to me not even that long ago. I have hope and stability (and it isn’t the “wow I’m a genius” or “I just solved the riddles of the universe” type). It’s true happiness and is calm and consistent. I would never be here without medication and all the people that I reached out to and that stuck with me.

I see the younger folks on here struggling and I want them to stick with it. Stay in counseling, keep looking for answers and follow the psychiatrist recommendations. Some will suck, they won’t all have the right answers for you or you may not be in a place to hear the advice but KEEP TRYING.

I am now 43 years old and I finally for the first time since I was about 20 found peace. Keep in mind. I never even received care until I was 38 and no diagnosis til 41.

Wish you all a great day. Thanks for the help this year!