First time admitting I'm Bipolar.

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I was diagnosed as Bipolar about a year ago. It's been between me and the diagnosing professional until writing this. It's hard for me to admit to others. It's nice to write this somewhere that I think people understand.
Thanks for reading.

So was I, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a bullsh*t diagnosis! like most of everything else in the DSM. The primary purpose of the DSM is to make money for Big PHARMA. the only things that make sense are anxiety disorders, as well as ASD and OCD. ADHD I haven't made up my mind on at this point, although there are psychiatrists like David Healey and Peter Breggin that feel that ADHD exists only as a social construct.

For that matter, there are some psychologists like John Grohol, who runs PsychCentral.com, who say that bipolar used to be extremely rare, until the advent of antipsychotics. Others, like Bill White, who runs Chipur.com, feels that there is a biological component to bipolar, especially if you are eating nothing but junk food. Still others, like Steve Bressart, feels that there are a combination of factors including environmental and mental abuse triggers to bipolar disorders.

Kudos to you for getting professional help and coming here. The more people come out and talk about it, the less stigmatized it will be. Best wishes to you.

Plenty of people think that AS is BS. You obviously don't, because you have lived with it all your life. You can't say something that someone else is dealing with isn't real until you have experienced it yourself and still think it's crap. Also, CHEMICAL differences have been found in the brains of Bipolar people. It is a legitimate diagnosis, and (from what I understand) very difficult to live with.

Also, to OP, it's mighty brave of you to tell WP. Most people you tell will be accepting of you, so tell whomever you feel comfortable telling in real life, too. Props to you, OP!

Hi there,
I have bipolar type one, and I am very open about it. Congratulations on writing it down; feel free to tell us anything you like about yourself and the bipolar. You can safely ignore people with extreme views - or alternatively you can take them on! In fact dealing with all the different kinds of responses on the forum, will help you to deal with the different kinds of responses in real life.

Hi there,
I have bipolar type one, and I am very open about it. Congratulations on writing it down; feel free to tell us anything you like about yourself and the bipolar. You can safely ignore people with extreme views - or alternatively you can take them on! In fact dealing with all the different kinds of responses on the forum, will help you to deal with the different kinds of responses in real life.

I honestly do wish that I could believe that my DX was a BS diagnosis, but I can't. As someone said, a lot of people believe that AS is BS, as well as OCD. If you belive it's BS, then obviously, you haven't lived with full blown bipolar episodes, and for that, lucky you. And I'd love to believe that it's all for Big pharma, but somehow, I can't see my health service prescribing me drugs and admitting me to hospital when it costs them, and not me, money.

Yeah, unfortunately bipolar is a real disorder and it can destroy your life. It completely crippled me for a year (I was an invalid living at home, had to drop out of uni, quit my job, the swings were so extreme I was going from uncontrollable movement to basically complete paralysis several times a day - ultradian cycling (ultra ultra rapid)) until I was put on a combination of drugs, and it's still taken about two and a half years since full blown onset to relative stability again.

Bipolar episodes don't just affect you emotionally, they affect you in every sense of mind and body; highs = euphoria combined with extreme physical energy, lows = anhedonia/despair combined with complete loss of energy and an inability to move, or sometimes even feed myself (in my case).