Have you ever had to deal with bipolar?

I continue to think that i might be bipolar considering my rapid mood swings. I haven't been to a psychiatrist for almost 2 years now since i refused to see my doctor and decided not to push through with the medications prescribed for my major depression. I'm gonna go in for a psych evaluation one of these days if my mood swings permit me to. Here in the Philippines, mental health isn't that much of a priority since it's up against malnutrition and hundreds of life threatening diseases. So even if I do get myself diagnosed, i doubt it if i get the right treatment.

Unfortunately, yes, I have. For a while I thought I actually was bipolar, but thankfully it turns out I'm not. But my stepmother is. She takes lithium for it, and if I'm not mistaken that is the strongest antidepressant there is. The woman is unlike anyone else I've ever met. She constantly spends money, whether it's on shopping sprees or going to the doctor all the time because she's a major hypocondriac. Other times she's biting people's heads off for no reason. A long time ago when she was having one of her tantrums she grounded my step sister for two weeks for not flushing the toilet. I think that she may have even more personality disorders than just bipolarity, though. All I know is that I can't stand to be around her.

My father was diagnosed bipolar more than thirty years ago so I grew up with it hanging over our family like a shadow. It's a heartbreaking disorder. I am very active in his care at this point and it's frustrating and sad for me to watch his moods cycle. He is either so manic that he stops sleeping and flips out and has to be hospitalized so his meds can be regulated, or he's so down that he doesn't take care of himself and just sits around his apartment all day. I was so frustrated with him the other day (he's starting to amp up into a manic phase this week) that I hung up the phone and said out loud, "Why can't he just find some middle ground?????" But of course, that's the point. There is no middle ground, or precious little, when you are bipolar.

this is an article I wrote about my son, who is 14, and is in a Residential Treatment facility...I am sure your symptoms are not as bad as this: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/386723/my_son_is_a_societydefined_psychopath.html