I'm sorry you are going through this

With my most recent mania I had the symptoms you mention.... Stress triggered my episode.... after 2-3 weeks of hypomania, I went into mania. I wasn't grandiose or jumping up in down or hallucinating, but the irritability, agitation, anger and forgetfulness were TERRIBLE. I'm sorry this Dx may be the end of your career, but you need to have proper tx or your life will be unmanageable. And if you ARE Bipolar, then the Dx will never go away, however with proper Tx you can become... "stable". However, with loads of stress you can still have episodes, even if you're taking your meds... "stress" is different for everyone, so your triggers may be different then mine. The worst stress I can have however is the type of stress that makes me worry.

I was working a LOT, totally stressed and then my son got into trouble (it's fine now) he was facing a possible felony and a restitution of $28,000. That was it... and my "episode" began. So, I think my son getting in trouble was the straw that broke the camels back.

My Tdoc says stress itself is horrible for Bipolar people, more so then the general population, it can make us become "out of balance", causing an episode.

As far as you question regarding can it be a misdiagnosis- well anything is possible, however when I was Dx my bro-in-law was dying, I hated my job and I was going through bankruptcy..... But I was still DX with Bipolar.