I was misdiagnosed for 30 years! The doc (was going to my GP--not a pdoc) kept increasing my dosage of anti-depressants or changing me to a different one because I would feel REALLY good for 6-8 weeks & I thought the anti-depressants were working (didn't realize I was flipping into a mania--neither did doc). I have to be fair, though, I never went to the doc when I was manic, I just thought wow--I love these pills then I would crash & head back to the doc. FINALLY, I went to a new IM doc & she thought I was in a mixed state--agitated & depressed--& sent me to a pdoc. Plus, bipolar is highly genetically determined. My mother had bipolar. If someone in your family has it, you are more apt to have it. The pdoc first tried Depakote which helped with the agitation but did nothing for the depression. Then tried lithium which worked GREAT except that I had abnormal kidney function on that & had to quit. After much trial & error, I'm on a bunch of meds that seem to be doing the trick (except some of you may have read about the episode I had a couple weeks ago--first one in 4 years). I'm hoping that was a fluke & that the meds will continue to work. Talk to your doc about all of your moods, not just the depression. Have you gone through periods where you were really excited, elated, talking faster than normal, spending recklessly, calling long-lost friends in the middle of the night, sleeping little & still feeling energetic, joining clubs & orgainizations & volunteering to be on every committee---these were all symptoms of my mania that I didn't report cuz I just though great, the depression is gone.