Bipolar

So, in the last several weeks, it has become apparent that my younger sister (18 years old) is bipolar. My already stressed family is now stretched to the max.

Some family history: my father is a drunk alcholic that my mom, sister and I kicked out of the house five years ago. He ran and never looked back (other than to rear his ugly head and make poor decisions that continue to hurt us). My mom and I are both in nursing school-- together! We have one more year left!! I am so proud of my mom and the hurdles that she has overcome, and continues to jump to accomplish her dream. Needless to say, one of those hurdles was last winter when my sister repeatedly was insubordinant, attempted suicide several times (to prove her "control" over my mom), nearly failed high school, and was caught sneaking vodka in water bottles to school. At that point, my sister was having bouts of "severe depression" lasting several weeks followed by several weeks of "baseline"... repeating. One of the hospitals that she was at suggested that maybe she was developing bipolar, and started her on a low dose of a mood stabilizer, and adjusted her antidepressant. That worked great, and she graduated from high school!!

Fast forward to the past month... her "cycle" has evolved into 2-3 days of no sleep, 2-3 days of nothing but sleep, 4-5 days of normalcy, repeat... NOBODY can get in the way of what she wants to do. It doesn't matter if we ask her to help around the house, stay and eat dinner with us, take her medications, or refrain from smoking cigarettes-- it is her way or the high way! My mom and I are getting so frustrated and run down. We don't have any family (my father made sure of that). The pure fact that she is acting like this is enough to drive us nuts. Then pile on the fact that we cannot get her in with the psychiatrist for a month, and the emotional issue of coming to terms with the diagnosis that we all know is coming... our family is reaching its breaking point.

School starts in a month, and this craziness needs to simmer down. Is there any good reading material that covers how to deal with bipolar in this age group? Anyone who's been-there-done-that and can share some insight?

I am scared to death-- I used to work in corrections, and now in the ER and EMS-- people with bipolar don't seem to have a very bright future!