Can bipolar disorder be adult-onset?

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I know that in the old days doctors claimed that bipolar disorder was adult-onset. I also know that bipolar disorder is now recognized as child-onset.

My daughter was tested for it when she was 14 and the doctor said that she didn't have it. The doctor changed the diagnosis from PDD-NOS to autism, confirmed the ADHD but said she had depressive disorder NOS, not bipolar disorder.

Her moods are just crazy. Her paranoia is crazy too. I one time said in exasperation "You've got more paranoia than me and I'm on medicine for it!" Saying that got me thinking though.

Family history, her mother, her maternal grandmother and her maternal grandmother's mother all have/had bipolar disorder. Hence the testing.

But I have heard some people swear up and down that the onset was during their adulthood. Which doesn't make sense now that it's viewed as child-onset. Does it ever occur in adulthood?

I feel like you're saying she got diagnosed with autism and depression but you feel it should be bipolar as most of your family has it?
(forgive me if I misunderstanding)

I am diagnosed with bipolar (and others) because my dad has it and you know, genetics.
The problem is I am not very convinced now I do have this and feel like it might've been quick to label becayse the genetic connection.
I was diagnosed in my early 20s (im 27 now) (and mom said I had adhd as kid) but have had "issues" since I was a small child. Whether or not they've been bipolar issues is to question now I've learned of autism and tests are telling me this could be a better fit? Not sure. Bipolar tests tell me I have no bipolar but that's a diagnosis of mine while asd tests tell me I likely have it and it's not diagnosis

I had not had extended periods of mania, but a depression at length would occur once in a decent length
The issue was more erratic mood changes or outbursts that worked as a diagnosis, rather than the steady series of ups and downs. But mines a long story, you could message me if you're interested

is paranoia a bit of bipolar? I don't naturally think those as related, but I do not know

She very definitely has autism. But the mood swings don't fit autism. I'm wondering if she could have developed bipolar disorder after she was tested for it at the age of 14, or if pretty much bipolar disorder is there or never going to be there by age 14.

Delusions are very common in bipolar disorder, one of the common variants is paranoid delusional.

Oh, I'm only just learning now from this forum that you can apparently have very many diagnosises at once as well as autism at the same time!

I had got diagnosed bipolar mixed with psychotic features is it, is that mean paranoid delusional?

I still do not feel like it is as much a fit for me
I feel what was taken as manic and depression were a lot me unable to understand and cope with things
like going to school or dropping a utensil on the floor, but mainly I didn't understand a lot about how I work

As I said, I got diagnosed bipolar around age 20 (which is later than fourteen) and I honestly don't know how I would've been diagnosed at 14 since there was a pretty big shift in my life from 14-20 indeffinately (a whole nother story)
But my thoughts is I would've gotten bipolar purely because the genetic factor, which is odd as she did not...
You can always seek another second opinion because it wouldn't nessisarily do any harm, right?

adult onset is more common. but kids can get it.

But to be honest, how many of those so-called adult onset were parents who thought that mental illness was simply a lack of willpower, accused the child of controllable temper tantrums when the symptoms were so obvious as to interfere with life, ignored all symptoms and never sought treatment until the child turned 18, and then whined to everyone around them "He never ever showed the slightest symptom until he was over 18!"

I'm betting all of them.

My mom is one of those who doesn't beleive much in diagnosis labels, though as a kid she call me adhd or we all label me bipolar because my dad is, but we didn't seek anything for me, just title me the problem child about.
I forced her to help me get help when I was (well) over 18 because still acting the same way when you're up to that age make you feel a lot less apparently normal

I beleive it's very likily my brother had been autistic because both me and him struggled a lot with social stuff, though he would practically never talk to people, and sparsely with me, but we melded a lot and we're best friends
sadly, he commit suecide at 25 before getting any help

I only really know of autism within this past year, but I ask my mom about me and him as a child and it's not typical
I know he had a bad speach problem as a kid, and we're both taken from preschool because we couldn't play with others and would "bite". she said the classroom was overwhelming

eh, better to find things out sooner than later I think

i never had a symptom of bipolar until i was 30.

Well, where I am from they won't even diagnose you as bipolar until you have a manic episode and lose touch with reality like I did. It usually is adult onset in the sense that the bipolar dragon doesn't rear its head and overwhelm you until early to mid 20s.

A friend of mine developed bipolar disorder in their mid- to late- thirties. Her dad does also have it, but she showed no signs of MI until this time, when they thought it was depression at first and then the manic episode happened. She's good now though.

Paranoia can be a sign of bipolar disorder, but if you feel like the screening from the 1st person you took your daughter to wasn't accurate, you could ask for a second opinion. I'm not a professional at all to tell you about your daughter. You could also ask the doctor why she has depressive disorder NOS and ask why it isn't specified. Like does she not qualify for the criteria? What criteria part? Does she show symptoms of another condition but not enough? These are some example questions you could ask. There isn't just bipolar disorder though. It could be cyclothymic disorder, which is considered more mild than bipolar disorder. Or when she's older, it could be borderline personality disorder. Please speak to your child's doctor about your concerns.

I was diagnosed at 28 during a huge mania.

Where I live, they very very rarely give a child a bipolar diagnosis. The child has to have a first and second degree relative who has bipolar I to even be considered.

I had a decent enough childhood. My parents weren't overtly neglectful. I did well in school. Had lots of friends. No IEPs or 504 plans. So looking at that, my parents didn't blow off behaviors that should have been addressed. I have no history of substance abuse.

What happened was I became depressed, put on Zoloft (great for manias!) and prednisone dose pack for asthma. I lost my mind. That is what my psychiatrist believes kindled my bipolar. Later I found out there is a serious run of depressions, alcoholism, suicide and bipolar disorder in my family. My father is mostly like bipolar II. The other stuff occurred with second degree relatives, so I never saw that as a child.

It is interesting. I have met people who say I can't be bipolar because you never had this horrific, sh***y childhood. My psychiatrist believes this because of the over diagnosis of kids during 2000-2010. Every emotional disturbed kid got a bipolar diagnosis tack on to the laundry of other crap they were diagnosed with. So now, people hear bipolar disorder, and think person was a chair throwing, belligerent mess as a child.

Also, when my psychiatrist does get a person who says they were diagnosed as bipolar disorder as a child, he considers that suspect. So many doctors threw that diagnosis on so insurance would cover therapies. You could have some severe personality disorders going on, but the parent's insurance would only pay for severe mood disorder treatments. No one would give a schizophrenia diagnosis to a child, but somehow bipolar seemed okay to do.

I wasn't clinically diagnosable as a teenager, at least I don't think so, but I did show signs. I was a very moody teenager, but that's a pretty average thing for a teenager with my childhood history. Teenagers are moody. I was clinically diagnosed with bipolar 1 at age 24. It started the summer I was 24 with a very abrupt manic episode that was way different from anything I experienced as a teenager, and then I crashed into the deepest depression I had ever had until that point, and was hospitalized for 3 months. They initially thought I had atypical depression. When they started me on antidepressants, I ended up having a psychotic mania, which generally is what happens with bipolar and antidepressants. As a teenager my mood shifted pretty rapidly, and as an adult it moved into a longer cycle where the mood episodes lasted weeks or months, which is more classically bipolar.

It also runs in my family, and my family wasn't surprised when I was diagnosed, which I guess says something, but I don't consider myself as being bipolar as a child.

I think for my brother it was adult onset because the doctor that diagnosed him said that in some cases of having ADHD as a child that it becomes bipolar when that child becomes an adult. There was a way they explained it but it was a long time ago so I don't really remember. But he got diagnosed a year after I was diagnosed and he's a year ahead of me so it could make sense (:

Doctors generally don't like to diagnose bipolar before adulthood if they can avoid it (in part because the meds are really heavy duty). I was diagnosed bipolar 2 in my 30's and didn't have bipolar symptoms as a child or teen. My son (10) does have strong ups and downs, but not to a diagnosable level and I wouldn't want him on the meds so young anyway. However a friend of mine has a teen daughter who was diagnosed bipolar 1 and is on meds and it has literally changed her life (for the better). If the mood issues are starting to seriously affecting someone's life then that's the point to really push for a diagnosis.

I think bipolar usually first manifests around puberty but I don't know if that's in the official definition. (It must not be if children can be bipolar, as they say now.) Since you are talking about someone other than yourself being bipolar, that makes it harder. It's possible your daughter had symptoms previously that she was not expressing outwardly that would indicate bipolar. Hypomania can manifest as irritability or compulsive behavior (among other things). It's possible she was trying to avoid letting you see these.