Help: Neurochemistry question

Motivation: I'm trying to figure out how my brain works. I definitely have bipolar tendencies (and genetic reasons to suspect so) and schizoid personality disorder, along with scoring rather highly on autism/Asperger's quizzes. I have a tendency to take more ideas more seriously than most, which I suspect for completely unrelated reasons has to do with increased neuronal excitability. I also seem to have rather high neural plasticity (I learn quickly in varied domains, update ontologies quickly, update beliefs quickly, et cetera) though it's possible that such plasticity is not abnormal among those of roughly my age and fluid intelligence. These factors led me to find the dysfunctional sodium pump hypothesis to be reasonably likely, at least in my case, but it saddens me that I don't seem to be able to easily construct a model out of the hints that Wikipedia is giving me.

Ultimately I think my intellectual productivity (and quality of life, happiness level, interestingness, et cetera) is better when I'm manic and I'd like to take advantage of that, but I feel obligated to see how Algernon's principle applies and if trying to be always-manic-schizo would significantly increase my risk of actual schizophrenia or something else bad like increased neurotoxins due to purposefully messed up sodium pump activity patterns or something unanticipated.

I know a neuroscientist who explains bipolar disorder using a "sticky switch" theory of hemispheric oscillation. It's related to Ramachandran's theory of hemispheric function. Pettigrew adds to this the idea that there is a natural alternation of hemispheric dominance, on a timescale of seconds, and that in bipolar disorder, the switch rate is much slower, so that a person will spend hours or days with one hemisphere dominant. These long periods are mania and depression. He had some intriguing circumstantial evidence to do with binocular rivalry - the alternation between images was slower in people with bipolar disorder, as if this was driven by the same process.

I'm a clinical social worker/therapist and know a bit about bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia. My clients are all children and few have been given either diagnosis yet, although more will probably when they are older. I don't think that we really know yet whether avoiding medication increases ones chances of actual schizophrenia. One article I recently read actually suggested that taking anti-psychotics long term might prevent one from making a full recovery after a psychotic episode.

I do know that you should avoid certain psychoactive substances, most of which are illegal (LSD, uppers, etc.) and heavy alcohol use. It is also best to try to avoid super stressful situations as much as you can.

It is my understanding that many people with bi-polar disorder (and schizophrenia) don't like their medications because it makes them feel flat.

If you can get objective feedback from family or friends about your behavior in manic states it would be helpful for you to assess whether you should get treatment. You could ask them whether you are doing risky things? Are you so irritable/manic that you are antagonizing others?

My 2nd cousin once removed, Lizzie Simon has bi-polar disorder. She wrote a book, "Detour : My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D " in which she writes about her own experiences and interviews with other individuals with bi-polar disorder. She was looking for individuals who were functioning well. Lizzie goes around the country lecturing about bi-polar disorder. You might want to check out the book or/and her website.