[shutterbug]

Princess,
I think visiting your doctor would be a very good idea. If you are bipolar then it will only get worse in time if not treated. I'm pretty lucky to be realizing it and taking steps at 28 years old. This is my second major episode, but each episode (I've read) affects your brain and the episodes get more frequent and stronger. My dad is bi-polar also (as is his mother and his sister was too before an accidental overdose of prescription drugs). I talked to him about it the other day (he's out of state right now) and he said he agreed that he may be bipolar...um, I KNOW he is because we are so very much alike accept I am not an alcoholic. Although if you ask him, he's not an alcoholic either. Anyway, I went over to his house Friday to take a bath (since my gas has been off since May) and I saw a huge box of Lexapro in his bathroom. Now the first time a doc told me I was bipolar and tried to medicate me, well that is what he put me on - so I know this to be a mood stabalizer. So either my father knows he's bipolar or he's just so addicted to meds that he is taking the Lexapro and doesn't even realize what it is for? I don't know. My family is pretty screwed up. But now that I'm realizing this long past of mental illness and substance abuse...NO WONDER!!!

(Did I mention that I have read that 85 percent of bipolars have problems with substance abuse...they think it has to do with trying to self-medicate)