Bipolar Disorder: A Mistaken Diagnosis (MSN)

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Sometimes bipolar disorder is easy to miss.
By PsychologyToday.com

One of biggest difficulties concerning bipolar disorder is the thorny issue of mistaken identity. It's a wonder that it even gets treated. A lot of people only notice the low mood swings, never mind those unbelievable highs that seem to send them to the moon. Bipolar disorder affects some 2 to 5 percent of Americans, but how can they combat an illness when they don't know what they have?

A recent study showed that 40 percent of patients initially diagnosed with depression were actually suffering from bipolar disorder. Differentiating the two can be tricky because symptoms look pretty much identical: The thing to remember is that bipolar disorder instigates bouts of depression and mania. In fact, patients may assume the mania is part of their personality rather than signs of illness. Besides, who can remember "up" episodes when the depressive ones are so low?

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bipolar disorder is scary s**t

I'd kill myself if I found out I had it.

Why? Many very creative people have had it. Spike Milligan, for one.

It seems to me that it is often overdiagnosed. With a lot of children (very young children) with psychiatric problems - particularly relating to meed - doctors just tend to slap bipolar on it without much analasis.
Off-the-rails celebrities with criminal tendencies or who can't keep it in their pants tend to get lablelled bipolar (Britney).
It has become quite glamourised as well. It is thought of as being the artists mental problem, common only in wealthy academics.
I have heard young people say "Sometimes I'm really happy and sometimes I'm really sad. I must have manic-depression!", which kind of annoys me. If you go by those definitions, Who doesn't have it? Mood fluctuations are normal. It's when it goes on for a long time and disrupts your daily functioning, then you need a diagnosis.
I am only mentioning this because I used to wonder if I had it, and I now realise that I was probably being rather silly.

I was actually diagnosed with bi polar two days ago.

I knew somthing was wrong with me after my frequent mood swings on miniute i was perfectly happy jumping around dancing chatting etc then i will jut space out and be soooo miserable i will contemplate things that should not be thought about and many times even carry out such actions. I cant sleep i cant eat and i blame myself for everything....

Its really hard at times and i had to even research it myself and suggest to the do that i thik this might be the problem. Otherwise i think they would have just said oh yeah well we think you just got depression...

I can work through it but i dont want to be on pills for the rest of my life.

Maria

Does anyone know what the manic episodes are like? I understand what bipolar is, and have read a bunch about it, but I am not understanding what it is like to be manic?

I've had depression since my teens, I think a lot of it is due to how I was treated as a child. I was always put down, at school and home.

These days I take medication which does help quite a bit. I can't say for sure whether or not I have Bipolar, my GP hasn't gone that far with me yet so I will just say depression for now.

I have had a few manic episodes myself....
You change into a different person. you talk differently you dont wanna sleep you just full of energy behaviour can become agressive, and sometimes i feel like no one can stop me like i am invinsable.

Me personally i have major anxiety problems and suffer from severe rage there was one point i actually drove miles from where i lived coz i wanted to kill someone. it is uncontrolable.

There episodes can last hours and sometimes days but can alwso last only a few minutes.

I also suffer from major depressive episodes where i feel guilty for everything and feel anxious and isolated or hopless even. I dont eat i dont sleep for days and become very suicidal.

However other times i am happy high as a kite however my mood changes as quick as lightning one minute i happy the next miserable!

Does this answer your question??

Yes, thanks
I had major depression before and am feeling depressed lately. I have always had some big anger issues and mode swings, then episodes where I do some pretty crazy things I would not do while thinking straight. So I wonder for awhile if I fit the bipolar but am have a hard time realizing it. But this probably wouldn't apply to me as I have something like PTSD, have flashbacks and such. I am just so afraid of medication, the SSRI and mood stabilizers scare me because of the side effects. Heck, this is not even including my fear of seizure meds. I only had one experience with a antipsych. med that I took one time when I was sick, only took it twice because the side effects were so bad. Trying to get over this fear so I can maybe get something that will help me.

mmmm i know what you mean my psychiatrist put me on meds the strongest ones they got and i have a fear of tablets and their side affects.

I have to be on these for life coz if i stop taking them i will regress.

i dont think they woring though lol

its worth a try i will give anything a go to feel alive and to feel happier

I actually kept a Bipolar journal just to see if I had it. Every few days my moods would switch to happy to low, and I do get these bursts of hyperactivity. Although around pms I switch from high irritability to depression, and it's not the usual angry/mad pms moods, it's severe enough to want to get treatment. So, I'm not sure if I'm Bipolar or I just have pmdd. I do have those moments when I can get really goal orientated then next moment I'm doubting myself, and I spend money on things that I don't need.

I think I have it , although I have never been diagnosed with it.

I sometimes get these impulses. It starts out with something that upset me and if I don't talk to someone about it I get urges to kill myself.

I don't want to die its just this sudden urge to do something destructive to myself. Most of the time I am able to stop myself.

I don't know if this is a sign of bipolar or not.

I also do like doing anything in a structured way. I can sleep at a certain time , i cant eat at a certain time . If I do ANYTHING on a schedule it causes me a great amount of stress and can sometimes even trigger a meltdown.

I know my impulsive nature is one reason that I think I have it.


I also think I have it because I swing from very happy to very sad. This doesn't last for days though. I can cycle between the 2 in a matter of minutes and both be very extreme.

I also have times where it is very drawn out.
I get very sad and I will be sad for months then I'll be happy for months.

lately i think Ive been quite level though so who knows?


I do think there is something wrong with me that has not been diagnosed because my disorders don't cover all my symptoms.

Just-Me, I wonder if the symptoms still apply to people like us with PTSD, as that could cause the same symptoms. From what I have read, according to what symptoms you have they would treat BP with the same meds as they treat PTSD. Maybe I am way off in my understanding

That may be so.

I'm interested to know what I have because medication does not help me and I am gonna get therapy instead. Therapy is the only thing that has truly helped me.

I've been on almost every med out there , none have helped. They did do damage though, a lot of damage.

So being evaluated may be a good thing for me to do in the future. I'm hopeful!

I've always had that doubt I have some sort of bipolar disorder. There are some times when I become incredibly happy and hyper, to the point where I kinda make a full of myself, it's like if I had snorted some cocaine. Other times I'm more quiet, I'm mostly quiet. Maybe this is normal though.

First possibility considered after treating the depression wasn't effective was BPD-II (hypomanic) except that the symptoms didn't fit and the medications only exacerbated the problems. I can see how it could be both missed and used as a catch-all.


M.