Aspergers and Bipolar

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Does anyone have themselves or know of someone that has this diagnosis? What does rapid cycling look like?

I am bipolar II and my cycles can switch as quick as a half hour. It most commonly is like flipping a switch in their emotions, usually with no warning, external stimulus, and often no transition at all. It is possible to have mild symptoms and still be ultradian rapid cycling. They may feel like they cycle so fast that all their emotions are mixed together, and that may generate some unusual behaviors regardles of the severity of the bipolar.

PM me if you wan to talk momre about it.

Last edited by Sean on 01 Dec 2005, 2:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for responding. You said there could be no reason you get set off. Can one happen and you be hateful and cussing at one person and argumentative over your behavior and then go talk on the phone and laugh. And mind you I mean argue - as in rage like a bull.

There can be triggers when someone is stressed out in a given way or empathizes too strongly with a smething they read or hear about (empathy related triggers are less common in autism). But if the sudden changes can happen without any discernable trigger, than bipolar is definitely something to look into. Also, try to find out if they have any visual or auditory hallucinations during extremes of mood, this can occur in some cases.

My mate just told me he just found out he has minor bipolar. I know that has nothing to do with the topic but I was just a little suprised. I guess I'm still ignorant about what bipolar actually is and means. With this rapid cycling, is it like mood swings (to simplify it), and does it happen to everyone who has it? *goes off to do research* I just feel like my view of him is very different to what I know of bipolar.

My mum is Bipolar and in denial. Shes happy and then all of a suden shes biffing knifes and pots and pans and things at people. Im glad she has really bad aim so is every one else that knows her .

That's why I believe that the shrink who diagnosed me with bipolar had a bad case of rectal-cranial inversion. Yes, my mood can fluctuate quite a bit, but there's always a reason for it. Besides, I don't really experience mania.

I had a doctor who tried to explain all my AS symptoms as being depression. Then he gave me a very simplistic questionairre that concluded I'm on the borderline of being bipolar. The diagnostic process seems to be "If there's anything at all wrong with you, no matter what symptoms you exhibit, it's because you're depressed. If you don't feel the same exact way all the time, it's because you're bipolar." What a crock of BS.

I ended up researching personality disorders, brain medications that treat them and how they work, etc., on my own. I concluded that ADD meds stood a good chance of helping, so I went to another doctor on the premise of having ADD. I didn't mention any of my other AS symptoms because I figured he'd just conclude that I'm depressed and try to put me on some kind of useless SSRI like the first guy did.

It worked, I got Ritalin and it's helping me immensely. It annoys me that I had to basically do the doctor's job by doing all the research and then leading him into prescribing me the proper meds, but I'm glad it worked out.

I want Riltalin it makes me feel alive when I have it. Im not sure how I would adjust to it over long periods as I usally and just trying other peoples rilalin on a one day only thing. You found it helped you?

I think some Aspies get their forms of behavior confused with bipolar because they don't exactly express what is causing their sudden mood changes. Am I wrong?

I am Asperger's AND Bipolar,along with ADD,Social Anxiety Disorder,Paranoid Personality Disorder,and PTSD.

-SpaceCase

Maybe that's why I was misdiagnosed. Until 2003, 4 years after the sucky misdiagnosis, I didn't even realize that sensory overload was causing the major crashes I had in college. I'd keep going like I was the Energizer Bunny, then I'd get overloaded and have a meltdown. I just assumed that I was crazy and that the meltdowns were a sign of my mental disintegration.

It's also hard to express the things that stress you out when most people don't even notice those kinds of things. I've tried explaining to people that being around people is typically stressful to me. It gets brushed off as anxiety or shyness. I also get accused of overreacting, being too sensitive, and taking things too personally when I express my distaste for certain mundane stimuli.

Also, at that time I was still heavy into the pentecostal cult my dad raised me in. That's the type of church where there's a lot of "Ghod told me to do X" and similar stuff. I once mentioned that stuff in a session and I think I weirded the dude out.

I don't personally have bipolar, but I'm taking a medication that's used to treat bipolar (risperdal).

Also, at the awesome summer camp I go to, there was a kid who was in my cabin three years consecutively who had bipolar disorder. He was really nice but he was somewhat emotionally volatile. He told me he had a bad home life before he was adopted, so that could've been why.

I am emotionally unstable if I don't take my risperdal for a long time, but my dad, who is a pediatrician, does not think I have bipolar. And neither do I.

My dad and little brother might be bi-polar. I know my brother can go from being randomly hot-headed to calm and laughing at something, but that's usually only him in the morning.

I'm bipolar, and I've been on meds for it for about nine years. I tend to go through long, major cycles of months or years, in which my general demeanour has either a positive or negative tone, and then shorter, minor cycles of hours or days in which I can be depressed and angry or hyper and happy.

Both my brother and my mom are also bipolar, but theirs is different than mine.

Well according to my Psychiatrist I am boarderline AS as well as been diagnosed by two different psychiatrist my old 1 and my current one both diagnosed me with bipolar type 2