u/lm8ub1

Before I was diagnosed with either bipolar or mood disorder unspecified, I was prescribed a certain medication regimen which caused me to be very frivolous and in that frivolity, I took upon a very weird kind of hobby, swing dancing.
I met this person through swing dancing who is actually a former colleague of my mom and who has no knowledge of my mental health history.
Maybe I really like dancing or maybe I think it is sleazy, or maybe I’m sleazy because I think dancing is sleazy. I’d rather just dance by myself.
In any case, I’m meeting that person tonight because of a family dinner that I’m obliged to attend with both of my parents and that person and his wife. And I’m terrified of the prospect of being cornered into explaining why I don’t swing dance anymore.
For context, I’m 37M.
P.S. I also have anxiety issues.

I am asking as an out-of-state candidate. I currently reside in Virginia, am a U.S. Citizen, and am considering to move to Austin for reasons both professional and personal. I hope to take on substitute teaching as a part-time gig until I am able to situate myself in a full-time role.
I have substantial substitute teaching experience, which has been my part-time income for the last two-and-a-half years.

Is the Austin Independent School District the only one that accepts applications? Also, which other districts in the area are thriving in terms of substitute teaching employment?

Namely, that horror is not merely about jump scares but also about ongoing lasting inexplicable atrocities. I think reading a horror novel has done this more than any horror movie.

I spent way too much of time on my education, seemingly. I have two Master’s degrees. The first Master’s degree helped me secure employment for four years in my 30s, what was once “my dream job”
I am single and live in the U.S. I also have mental health issues (clinically depressed, and possible bipolar, but most certainly, a mood disorder of some sort).

Is this a concern to raise to the doctor? Or that I’ve started to notice that I’m hyperventilating? By “hyperventilating”, I mean frequent long exhalations of air often accompanied by sighs.

I was put on a mood stabilizer by my psychiatrist who is unsure that I have bipolar disorder (my psychiatrist before my current one had pretty confidently made that diagnosis). I also have anxiety issues (GAD) and I’m on a low dose of SSRI. The mood stabilizer has been titrated in recent weeks but is still before the advised range of efficacy.

From ScienceDirect:
“The diathesis stress model is defined as a psychological framework that explains how individual vulnerability to stress, influenced by genetic, biological, cognitive, and early-life factors, interacts with stressors to trigger psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. It suggests that the severity of stress required to provoke these disorders varies based on the strength of an individual's diathesis.”

I have been on Depakote (250 mg) for a month+ for mood stabilization and while it’s been working well, I’ve also felt some sort of stomach (abdominal) pain and I wonder if it is the same liver pain that the medication is known to cause. If so, I definitely want to stop this drug and switch to one with a much lighter side effect profile, such as Lamictal.