I am female, have a diagnosis of bipolar 1 and live in North London. I have tried to cope with the illness both with and without psych meds, but as I recently relapsed, I currently take 1500mg of Depakote. Managing the illness frequently takes up a great deal of my time and energy, and as a part of that I attend two different Twelve-Step Programs. However I do also manage to take a regular and lively interest in offbeat foreign films, vegan cooking, growing our own veggies in the garden, being nice to the environment, reading voraciously and addictively listening to BBC Radios 4 and 7. I am also a keen peruser of and contributor to the Madosphere!