Anyone AS and Bipolar?

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The reason I ask is that I think I may be bipolar as well as Aspie. My father was diagnosed as Bipolar when my family had to undergo psychological evaluation in regards to custody issues 12 years ago when my folks divorced. He denied it, but it makes perfect sense. He had been diagnosed as Narcisstic personlaity disorder before that. He also has MANY Aspie traits. My 25 y/o brother was just diagnosed as mild bipolar as well.

I had a history of depression- usually mild, and what could be described as hypomania. I also have severe anxiety issues. I have had episodes of very bad depression and also very manic phases in the past.

So, I was wondering if anyone else on here has a bipolar diagnoses as well.

I have an appointment to see a psychiatrist next month. I'm afraid that I'll go back into a depressive phase again when things get stressful with kids starting school and then later this fall, adopting another baby.

I've been diagnosed as bipolar and have been told once I'm autistic spectrum by a doctor and another time that I'm NLD by a social worker, but I've also been told as part of another doctor's diagnosis that I'm definitely not bipolar and I never really get depressed.

Something you may find interesting...do a search on Dr DeLong Duke Childrens Autism study. Dr Delong is researching the link between autistic children and history of bi-polar in the family. He thinks a sub set of children diagnosed as autistic may in fact have early on set bipolar. He reasons that the lack of seratonin in the left side of the brain such as is typical of bipolar would delay and hinder speech development because seratonin is needed for the nerve pathways to develop and operate properly and the left brain controlls speech. Also right brain left brain theory dictates overcompensation in the right side of the brain leading to special talents and "genius" in certain areas of interest or ability. There is a lot more great info in his research. It is very interesting. I'll see if I can find a link for it.

Here it is...it is quite concievable how this interfearance in language the mood swings (melt downs) and specialized interest would make early on set bipolar children appear autistic. The good news from a neurology standpoint if his findings are correct is that bipolar is something they have had treatments for for a long time.
http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/c ... l/16/2/199

Thank you for that link. Fascinating.

I've got a feeling that I might be bipolar more than AS

Very interesting, indeed! Thank you for the info!

Dr Delong started treating the autistic children he felt met the qualifications to most likely be bipolar as opposed to typical autism with Prozac and something like 7 out of 10 nonverbal autistic children who met the criteria started talking after receiving the Prozac. They are trying to isolate a gene or something that they can use to physically distinguish these children from the pack so it can be identified. Fascinating stuff.

I was diagnosed as bi-polar..my mom was bi-polar, and it does seem to run on that side of the family...but the meds i have tried have not worked...my last prescription was neurontin I started at 100mg 3 times a day and within 1 year I was up to 800mg 3 times a day...still no help. Working here at the neurorehab. I found out about AS and checked into that. that fit much better, but i've been told I could be both....

SoS,

I've had the same experience with medication. Was on many different combinations from about 8 years old to this past March when I stopped them all. Since then I've changed my diet and spent more time meditating. That's made more of a difference than any of the medication ever did.

Right now I'm coming down from a hypomanic phase I think. It's not much fun. My mind is still working overtime and I have all these plans and things I want to get done, but my body can't keep up. I'm exhausted to the core. Right now I'm really missing how good I felt the past 2 weeks and how much I got done. I just want to crawl into a cave and hibernate for a week or so now. This sucks, and it doesn't help that my smoke detector was on the fritz the last 2 nights and kept going off intermittently, setting off all the others in the house and waking up the kids. It's clogged with dust- the idiot builders put it the airflow path of an A/C vent- and it's too high to regularly clean. Hubby climbed up and took it down and disabled it. There's one right outside our bedroom door, so it's all good.

I have some bipolar siblings and cousins but I am not bipolar myself

i often feel subject to the whims of my emotions... and they seem haywire and always changing...

but i wouldnt describe myself as ever manic... so not really BPD... but i do have dperessions that seem to come and go after varying lengths and nothin seems to last


i was gonna just post: some days i do.... some days i dont (as a joke... but figured it'd be insensitive)

What's the opposite of Bipolar? I'm that one.

YOu're just human,.........................