Hi everyone .. this is my first time on one of the PsychCentral forums. I don't know which one is the best one to be on.

I've been diagnosed with Major Depression before but I do wonder if Bipolar is more accurate ... my doctors see me when I'm down, but they don't see me very often when I am very UP. A lot of the time, the UP looks more like extreme enthusiasm and excitement for my work (I'm a writer and artist).

When I'm excited about something, I'm very, very excited. One of the things I do is that I can't stop talking about an idea when it seizes me. I also have to do it NOW ..

I don't have the marathon 3 day writing sessions that I hear other manic artists have (wish I did). But still, I wonder if Bipolar is the more accurate diagnosis.

Not that the label matters much, except when it comes to drug prescriptions (I'm on effexor) and which support group to choose. The excitement and enthusiasm predates the effexor by a whole bunch of years, so I know my excitement (or mania, if that's what it is) isn't caused by that.

What do you think? Does this sound like bipolar or just a person who gets very excited about ideas? If it is mania, I quite like it. The depression ain't so great though ..

thanks for reading
Ruby