Hi, I'm 32 and two months ago, I was diagnosed with BP 2 after about 8 years of steadily decreasing life management abilities. Bipolar runs extensively on my father's side of the family and my brother has it also.

MY BRIEF STORY:

Basically, my life was going picture perfect until I turned about 24. I graduated from one of the top 5 business schools in the country. I was a highly accomplished musician growing up. And, I was performing extremely well in my early career.

I personally would have to say I had a great childhood growing up. But it wasn't idyllic. I mean, I experienced the normal range of losses growin up. But I grew up with wonderful, loving and supportive parents who are still married to this day. I had lots of close friends growing up. Most of us are still close to this day.

I've always been very friendly and outgoing, and very well liked by women as well. I wasn't the most popular guy in school, but everybody knew me and I was very well liked. I had a girlfriend that I absolutely adored.

Then I turned 24 and the problems began:

1) I couldn't save any money.
2) Although I planned to stay home for a year to save money to get my own place, I couldn't seem to move out of my parents house.
3) I was hypersexual. I was blowing too much money in strip clubs.
4) My job stability was becoming worse and worse. I simply couldn't stay at a job for more than 6 months.
5) I was gaining ridiculous amounts of weight.
6) My sleep became worse and worse, etc.

It all came to a head when my girlfriend at that time left me. I literally cracked up. It would take about 2 years to fully recover. I briefly dated another woman after that for about a year. I broke up with her. But tried to get her back. She refused. I behaved desperately and became obsessed with getting her back.

Then I met the woman that I really thought I would marry. We were good friends from college and were romantically interested in each other during school. Things were great for about a year and a half. Then she left too because I just couldn't remain stable. This triggered another major depressive episode.

I tried to do anything I could to keep this woman in my life. Again, (like the two times before) I couldn't handle the relationship ending. The sense of rejection was incredible. Begging, pleading, intense crying spells when I was alone. Just couldn't handle it.

I never did anything criminal or stalked anyone, etc. And I was a very good man to the women I dated. They never had a problem with how I treated them. They left because my life was so erratic.

I simply become the emotional equivalent of a 7 year old when a woman I'm in a relationship with leaves me.

I know that BP II can come with extreme sensitivity to rejection. Are these examples of that? I don't have any abandonment issues or anything of the like. But I will say that on my father's side of his 5 siblings, 4 suffer or suffered from BP. I learned after my first episode that my aunt and uncle breakdowns were triggered when they were in their mid 20s by the loss of romantic relationships. My aunt became psychotic. One of my uncles committed suicide as a result.

My question is: Has anyone here who is BP dealt with this same kind of response to romantic breakups and found success through meds and therapy? This is really my "monster" and I want to get this under control. I simply have no real explanation why I take breakups so hard for some reason.

Thank you in advance,

RJ

(P.S. I'm currently taking Depakote and Lamictal to get my BP under control)