I was 17 when a doctor suggested it at inpatient. Had stayed there for a month after being cut down from a suicide attempt of hanging. Thats quite a bit of time to gather info on someone. The diagnosis couldnt stay as I wasn't an adult. They then send me home where a mental health agency takes on my case for crisis intervention. The doctors diagnosed me as bipolar. Things did not go well with that. I tried fighting it after giving the meds a chance but they were all anti psychotics and making things incredibly worse. Went back and forth with meds. Had injections that made me a shell of a person. Quit them. Self medicated during the inbetweens. Tried saying I could be BPD, even a doctor said so when I was 17. No psychiatrist was okay with that. I was even yelled at by a psychiatrist who told me I would need to take lithium for the rest of my life. No exaggeration, she was pissed. Okay so when I was freshly 26, I was in a bad way after tons of self sabotage so I made an impulse decision in a car presumably in an attempt to end my life. Crashed my car, didnt hurt anyone thankfully. Decided to voluntarily get help and it was a great place. Was there for 2 weeks with a good group of people who were also very interested in recovery. The employees helped me to come up with a way to advocate for myself at the agency. I did it. Received a grrat case manager who realized right away that I needed DBT. Talked to the psychiatrist on my case. I said to him, "You werent the one to give me the bipolar diagnosis. Someone else did. What makes YOU think Im bipolar." He looked to think really hard and said, "Well you talk A LOT." I said, "That makes me bipolar?" He laughed and said, "So borderline personality? Yeah I can put that in. Good luck with DBT."

PM me anytime if you have questions or run into any obstacles.