Hey bipolar folks here!!! I'd love to share experiences and recovery stories

I would like to know what your symptoms were? I'm still trying to figure out if I am truly bi-polar, or if it's just depression. But I do tend to snap at people allot, but I don't feel depressed or anything. I'm taking Effexor right now to handle the depression symptoms, but I don't think it's handling the mood swings.

Well I haven't been as fortunate as you. Five years ago I was diagnosed but I know I had the condition for longer. I was admitted to hospital after a rather serious sucide attempt 5 years ago. I spent a month in hospital trying to get the bipolar under control. I was off work almost 2 years. I returned to work but I did it to soon. About 10 months later I was back off work and in the hospital again. Actually, this was my 4th hospitalization. We are having a hard time stablizing my moods. Manic espiodes are brutal. I am not having alot of depressions but when I do they are bad too. Stress is a big part in my life and I am under alot of stress. Hopefully things will settle down. The doctor doesn't know if I will ever get back to work. So I am not sure how long I have benifits for so I have to call my insurance company soon.

I was diagnosed bi-polar about 4 1/2 years ago. It was not good. They tried all the meds to no avail. I have 3 kids who need me, and I couldn't "be there" for them. It was awful. When I couldn't write any more, but still suffered the symptoms, I talked to my husband about going med free. He was VERY supportive, so I did it. It was the best decision for myself and my family! I weened off the hard core meds first, but had real trouble with sleep. As we all know, a good sleeping pattern is key to getting through life when you are bi-p. Then we moved to FL. DRs here are not like the drs back home. Back home, they are concerned for you, here, they are concerned about themselves. Sure they'll help you, but only if it is in no way inconvieniant. I finally found a good dr in my area. She suggested that I take a multi vit, a calcium suppliment, and a fish oil every day. This combination helps with depression! When I went to her about sleep, she suggested melitonin. I didn't like it at first. I was terrified that I would not get my sleep and have another break. After a few months though, I decided to give it a serious try. I was taking zanex to sleep, and had been since diagnosed three years before. Well, long story short, I now sleep well, on my own, with no "help" from a pill! The "trick" to melitonin is to take it and go lay down. It doesn't "make" you sleepy like sleeping pills do. Once I learned that, it was smooth sailing! Me