@terrydalecasino hi terry, i was just dx AA3 and i am struggling to cope big time. Did you do any treatment? Lifestyle changes etc? I am torn between my choices.

@terrydalecasino same dx and struggling big time. Did u do any treatment? Any lifestyle changes? I feel hopeless but i also have 2 boys to live for.

@terrydalecasino I had brain surgery as well, back in 1992. It turned out to be 2 operations in one. The main part was to remove a temporal lobe tumor... While the second, during the same surgery was to remove the focus of my epilepsy... Namely a growth on the center gland of my brain was removed using a probe that knew where the focus was located. Interestingly due to where the tumor was located & removed, that created a chemical imbalance in my brain. That area was originally distributing the positive chemicals to my system. I succumbed to a severe depression which triggered 3 suicide attempts within 2 months. I was soon placed in the psychiatric ward to help me overcome the depression for a month. The doctors tried many different antidepressants to no avail until the 3rd week of my stay. Then they tried me on Lithium, which worked wonders for me. It truly did kick my depression out the window. Because of that quick reaction, I was diagnosed with bipolar illness (all caused by a chemical imbalance due to where the surgery took place... Namely the removal of the right temporal lobe.) I was kept on Lithium for another week with great success. The doctors said that if I still felt good after 1 week on Lithium I could be released on condition that I see a psychiatrist on a weekly basis. I saw the psychiatrist for many years after all that had happened. I changed my outlook on life in the long run. I learned to like myself and have a positive outlook on life in general. I joined a support group for people with Bipolar disorder and it helped me understand mental illness a heck of a lot better! So many new people to the group didn't trust their medication changes or their psychiatrist. They didn't want a change for the better.
Interestingly, my psychiatrist wanted to see me get my emotions back seeing how Lithium made my life kind of blah. She & the neurologist who did part of my surgery came up with an an alternative that worked better for me. It was a drug called Valproic Acid which was two drugs in one... It was an anti-seizure drug on the one hand as well as a mood stabilizer on the other. They helped brighten my spirits... So much so, I ended up calling them 'Happy Pills.' I still take them to this day. They keep me out of depression. I'm happy all day long!!