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QuiversWhiskers
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26 Dec 2014, 2:29 pm

Any personal opinions or experiences?



beneficii
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26 Dec 2014, 3:57 pm

Bipolar disorder, like the other major mood disorders, involves a tendency to lapse into an extreme mood with changes in energy levels and goal-directed activities and interests; this extreme mood has a tendency to remain constant for long periods of time (weeks or months) and to form and continue to exist without any specific trigger.

Emotional dysregulation is a bit different from bipolar disorder, involving dysfunctional emotional reactions to events.


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Kiriae
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26 Dec 2014, 6:28 pm

From what I understand AS mood swings always have a trigger and rarely last long while bipolar episodes don't seem to be related to specific events and last much longer - at least a few weeks.

But I can't say much since I probably don't have bipolar. The bipolar description seems totally alien to me. I can't even imagine how it might feel. Of course, I have periods of better or worse mood but the extreme ones never last longer than a few hours and I rarely stay the same mood longer than 2-3 weeks. Usually my mood changes every a few days and depends of events in my life such as how early I am forced to wake up, how stressed I am, how sunny is outside, how warm is my house and whatever I can keep my routine going or not.
The only thing that sounds fammiliar is the SAD (Seasonal affective disorder) but my mood changes only when I actually THINK about winter (when I look out of window and see snow or realize there is still a few months till spring I instantly get angry/sad). The bad mood is not there as soon as I focus on anything or simply don't think about the winter.
Also summer makes me energetic but only because I look forward to thunderstorms (special interest) and it is warm.
My mood depends of temperature a lot - when I am cold I am unhappy and... when something makes me unhappy my body gets cold. 8O



Pandanus
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31 Dec 2014, 6:40 pm

AS Emotional Dysregulation is just that, not being able to regulate emotional expression. Bipolar has distinct highs (mania/hypomania) and lows (depression), rather than shorter term ASD meltdowns. As stated above, the highs and lows last for much longer (except for in rapid cycling bipolar, which often comes after the slower cycling kind). Also many bipolar depressions come after a mania, rather than out of nowhere.

A key thing is when the difficulties started. For most people serious mental illness starts around 13-21, whereas ASD symptoms would have been evident from early childhood. Of course it is possible to have both ASD and bipolar. Someone with just bipolar should respond to lifestyle changes and/or medication e.g. very regular sleep patterns, good diet, avoiding stress etc.

I used to be diagnosed as bipolar but got it changed to mild ASD and recurrent depression. In my case I like certain kinds of stress e.g. work deadlines and sleep deprivation, whereas I don't like ASD stresses like being with people and people springing stuff on me in work meetings.