Laura, 35 F. Puerto Rico, Fluent in Spanish and English

I was diagnosed as borderline when i was 10-12, and rediagnosed as bipolar on 2000, most medicines have given me serious side effects, pyramidal effects for example, antidepressants send me to a mean rage stage...and I cant take lithium due to a kidney condition...so I have learned to deal with this without meds, these last two years had been a wild ride but finally I've come to a stage where I can say I feel stable. when I was rediagnosed life was a chaos since things were not right, unemployed, alone..you name it. I had to give custody of my children to their dads on a temporary basis, I wasn't able (and I am still not) to work or I should say to hold a job...i try to keep my sanity on building pages and writing...at times mood swings are horrible and i just try to make them lesser. I've managed my way to understand a lot of bipolar by reading and searching for ways to cope with it and have a normal life...I've found what triggers and what soothes...so I've managed to make my swings not as harsh.

I've learned...and the most important thing is: this is not my fault, I didn't get this by being irresponsible...this is just another person that takes over me when I am weak...so I must be strong at all times to avoid that person to rule my life.

My email is: googie@prtc.net