Hey everyone!  I'm a somewhat avg 47 yo dude in East TN, US, south of Knoxville (great town) for last 6 years after 30 years in high-stress, life sucking DC area.  Recovering alcoholic since May 2018 - not a single drop since!  BD 1, PTSD from a messed up childhood, and some ADD and weight issues {and a BMF to boot ;)}.  Wasn't properly diagnosed with BD until 2017 at age 43 and previous 10+ years of SSRI's combined with increasing alcohol use with some drugs mixed in created a very bad situation for me.  At first I didn't see the BD in me, but when I finally understood it, my whole life made sense.  Looking back it was so clear and now there is no doubt whatsoever.  

Been on Oxcarbazepine last few years and it's been very, very good to me.  Very well tolerated and knocks down the mania very well.  Just makes me foggy and lots of word loss/loss of train of thought, but I've always been a bit scatter-brained anyway.  Also Bupropion 300mg/day and Lamictal 200mg/day for BD depression.  Also have bad RLS and just switched to Ropinirole (Requip) from Pramipexole (Mirapex) a few weeks ago which was a revelation after being on it for 10+ years.  Appears the Prami was really messing with me in many ways BIG TIME.  As little as 1/2mg would send me manic throught the roof.  3/4mg+ and I really should have been hospitalized more than a few times.  Also lost 10 lbs the first week of Prami (yay!).  I'll prob start a thread on that later though.  Prami will def get lots more attention as it gets studied more in the coming years.

Have to force myself to keep these as short as possible or I'll write a "War and Peace" post every time.  I can't find live BD support groups in my area and really want to help others in my area with everything I've learned so far, and continue to learn from others like us.  I naturally have a high level of self-awareness (still evolving) and really want to help teach others to improve theirs so they can empower themselves more to improve their knowledge, their communication with their docs and counselors, their treatment and, thus, their lives. 

(Here's when I have to force myself to stop rambling and cut this one off)  ;)

Please feel free to ask me questions at any time.  I won't pretend to know all the answers, and I'm not a doctor, but I have much knowledge to share about BD and alcoholism/addiction, and a bit about Borderline Personality Disorder which my mother has.  So this seems like a good place for me. 

Thanks for having me!