So I've just been diagnosed with Bi Polar....

[Nikinakin00]

It is and it isn't a shock.
I'm taking Valproate as quetiapine absolutely zonks me and I can't function!

I'm hoping this will let me work and look after my DD (13 and was diagnosed with ADHD on Friday) whilst also stabilising me but I'm worried that I'll just sleep all the time as I'm so sensitive to anything that has a sedative effect.
I'm scared of the weight gain as I've already put on a stone.

How do I cope with the meds and not be a fat, lethargic, personality less zombie?
I'm so used to being mad and hypo!
Mind blown is an understatement...

[livingzuid]

Oh I thought my behaviour was 100% normal. I thought everyone thought about death all the time and that it was normal to just bugger off at a moment's notice and spend like it was going out of fashion. I had a scratch card addiction for a while and for most of my 20s and early 30s I drank to excess every day (hated drugs though). It took my now DH to point out I was not at all normal. I remember looking at him saying 'you mean you don't think about that?' (I have multiple suicide attempts) and he was very gentle with me. I got a referral letter to the community mental health team 3 weeks later after being hospitalised.

I don't like to say the thoughts and behaviour aren't normal but they aren't really if that makes sense!

[Nikinakin00]

I hate shopping so I never buy stuff.
I am more manic than depressive but assumed I was a fun free spirit.
Think I might still be in a manic episode because I can't see where I've gone wrong and have that ache Inside me.... The one that needs mad stuff, attention and adrenalin!
First night on 600mg of depakote...

[livingzuid]

Well that's the thing with bipolar and what makes it quite tricky. It's so unique to each person although there are very general categories of behaviour. Over impulsive is one area which covers such a vast range - in my case spending to excess and unable to stay in one place for longer than a few months, or hyper sexuality or gambling. There is all the delusions of being God or hallucinations neither of which I have had fortunately although that said, I have had hallucinations at extreme periods but fleeting moments before I was stopped by DH. I have intense paranoia at all times depressed or manic and problems sleeping.

It's so different for us all but one of the key things is as you say that we can't see a problem with it. To this day I struggle to see the problem in changing jobs and countries so often but the issue is with me. But it is very damaging, to people around us as well as for us ourselves.

Good luck with your medication I hope you feel a difference soon