What happened today at my Dr's appt. Paranoia or Stigma?

[Aeroette]

5. My two cents

I also have bipolar and, like you, view it as a private and personal issue. However, the meds can cause lots of odd things to happen that one might end up seeing a doctor for. Since the meds can be the cause of the symptoms sometimes, I find it best to be honest. There can also be Interactions between the psych drugs and drugs for other things, which IMO is another important reason that they know what meds you are on. In my experience, I haven't felt like it bothered most doctors I have seen. The one that did seem to have an issue with it is no longer my doctor because of that. I decided if he was going to treat me like he was afraid of me, then I needed to find someone else. Going to another doctor is always an option if you feel you are being treated differently.
I was diagnosed 3 years ago and still feel similar to what you describe, but I'm in therapy and I do feel like my self esteem is starting to improve and I'm working really hard on Learning to live with it. It seems to be slow going, but I do believe it gets better.