as and bipolar disorder

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Was wondering if anyone's been diagnosed with both cause I have with AS and am sure I have bipolar disorder. My mood's change rapdily and realize now just how much I wait around for the hypomania phase. I can't commit to anything with these changing moods.

I am the other way around. I am officially diagnosed with Cyclothymia (a "mild" form of bipolar) and only recently have leaned about Aspergers and realized how much of my behaviour is autistic. I have often described what I go through as having Mr. Spock and Mr. Hyde battling in my skull!

I am the other way round i relate to a lot of the mood disorder things yet don't with AS.

i do really think i have bipolar, i haven't had it diognosed but i am sure i have it.
I just don't see how getting diognosed is an advantage I don't want any antidepressants and i don't like the way that with the standard bipolar drug that once you go on the drug, you have to stay on it.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=30496
This is our most recent discussion of bipolar. As I post in there, I believe I have it and I've been "prescribed" vigourous, regular exercise. Though, I was reflecting last night on it and realize I may have to try some kind of hormone therapy. I don't know. I didn't have a hypomania episode this month, just two depressive phases. That were bad.

Is going through life with Asperger's a cause for bi-polar i think it may be there is a high co- thing with mood disorders.

The National Autistic Society in the UK once published a paper about 30% of people on the spectrum being BP.

What about mild ones like Dysthymia? if it is 30% for Bi-Polar i suppose it will be higher for a milder mood disorder yeah? and is it higher for say a normal person for bi-polar then it is for someone with Asperger's if you get what i mean.

I would assume that milder types of mood disorders are more common, yes. However I am unsure whether that statistic included such milder forms already.

I don't know about AS in particular but 30% of all people who are on the autistic spectrum, that's a LOT more than the percentage of NTs who have Bipolar.

I have flirted with BP before, and I think it has to do with the power of my mind and its ability to focus... I would wake up feeling happy, but then something would cause me to focus on something negative, and before I even realized what's happening, I would be extremely depressed. Then I would slowly start to feel better, until I'm sky high again, only to repeat the process. If I choose to focus on the bad, I become very, very depressed, but if I focus on the good or simply go about my daily business, I'm quite happy. Increased devotion to Buddhism and living in the present has helped my BP-ish issues tremendously.

i have wondered if i also had bp, but don't really know.

I go through very hyper phases where i feel very creative, get alot done and am very euphoric and confidant. Then I go through "down times" when I can't focus as much and am tired alot. Sometimes I feel hyper for a few days or weeks or sometimes it changes many times in one day.

I've had a diagnosis of bp for a few years, & am waiting to be assessed for Asperger's. Some people do have both; I've looked it up. Sometimes, too, it seems that there's just enough overlap in symptoms that people have been diagnosed with one when they had the other . . . . this diagnosis stuff is a pain!

I have dysthymia but with that it is hard to tell when you feel energetic if that is just being normal. I know I had a reaction to SSRI's before where I was really agitated while taking them. Some people think they can trigger bi-polar in people who already have it - others think that there is a special SSRI mania (which was described as not happy or energetic but agitated and irritable).

If you're not sure if you have episodes of hypomania when not depressed, and SSRIs are a problem, the first thing to do would be look up hypomania, then if you don't recognize that in yourself, suggest your psych. try you on another type of antidepressant. As always, the medication thing is as much an art (or crapshoot, if you will) as a science, and it can take time to figure out what may work best for you. Here's a link to a decent description of hypomania:
http://www.depression-guide.com/hypomania.htm

In my opinion, hypomania brought on by meds may be simply a side effect of an inappropriate med, or it may be a situation where bipolar was triggered or made more noticeable. In some cases with depression, ECT (electroconvulsive therapy I don't recommend it, been there, done that) can throw a person into a manic or hypomanic state and if the person has only had hypomanic episodes in the past, it may be the first time that bipolar rears its head. That happened with me.

This is not all the time note but this week or two i have been how do i say up and down? One moment i am full of anxiety and depressed next hyper or overjoyed waiking around saying silly stuff full of adrenaline. I even get the adrenaline bit when i wake up but it soon goes if i couid feel like that all the time i wouid be fine but my head races when that happens is this hypomania?

It could well be. The fact that your mood gets so good can be a sign; I'm sure not a diagnostician, though.