u/ImaginaryRich8881

i want to join the navy, but i have been diagnosed bipolar when i was 14. i haven’t been on my medication for 6 months now and have been stable without treatment. i’ve been psychiatrically hospitalized twice, once at 16, and once at 20. both were voluntary not court ordered. i am 23 almost 24 now, and have come a long way with my mental health. i’ve been through a lot in life, no father around and my mom passed when i was 15 so i wasn’t set up to have great mental health in my teenage and young adult years, but i have actively worked on my mindset and stabilizing with and without medication. i am aware that there is no chance they’ll let me in with bipolar on my record, but i have made a psychiatrist appointment to try to have it as a misdiagnosis. im just wondering if there’s any chance i can be accepted if i can get a letter saying i was misdiagnosed. i feel i have a good chance of at least obtaining the letter considering i was diagnosed at a young age and have been stable off my medication for a while, and with having an unstable support system as a teenager and young adult that can contribute to the not so great mental health. i am doing a lot better mentally nowadays and feel i could handle the military, but i know its up to MEPS. i just wanna know if anyone has a similar experience and if they got in.

so basically, i grew up without my father in my life, and my mother passed away when i was 15. only child and not much family. i am 23 now, and i was living with my grandparents up until about 6 months ago. the state i grew up in is known to be very expensive and not easy to live on your own as a young adult. i was saving up and planning to move out of state and get my own place. i had a few thousand saved but then i lost my job, and at that point my aunt was moving to the same state i was planning on moving to within 5 days. so instead of trying to get a new job and continuing to save to get my own place, i figured id move with her and my cousin and get a job in the new state and figure my life out. i gave her all my savings so i could move with her, and i thought i still at least had my last paycheck from my job to help support me through the transitional period, but once i got in the new state and tried to get gas it wasn’t working, so i checked my account and it was in the negatives because my job took my last paycheck out of my account. i started looking for jobs asap and was working but not making as much as id like. i stayed with my aunt for about 2 months and then my cousin started being weird, caressing my shoulders, liking me on dating apps, messaging me very inappropriately, and i was very uncomfortable. he is known to be mentally unwell and i was afraid if i stayed i would end up being s/a’d or worse. so i ended up staying in a hotel to figure stuff out, and at that point i called my grandparents asking to come back home and they told me no. thankfully i had some friends in the same state that are letting me stay with them for now, and i am working, but i still am just barely surviving off the money i am making. i am a barber, but a barber in a military town so weekends are really the only time it’s ever busy so im not making much at all during the week and then weekends are booth rent days so i still end up leaving with very little especially since im new to the area so i do not have much of a clientele yet. the lease is up in 2 months and i somehow need to save $2000 by then to not be homeless, and i don’t know how that is even possible. ive been trying to get a second job but it is difficult since im only looking for part time at night because i do already have a full time day job. and even then any job that will hire me for part time night shifts isn’t going to pay me what i need to save that money. i’m just stressed and i don’t know what to do at this point. i can’t doordash or anything because i have a pending court date for reckless driving because i was speeding, and i can’t donate plasma because my veins are too small. i’m just not in a great situation and i don’t know how to get myself out of it.