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ultramar · Mar 19, 2013, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newtus

@ultramar

i agree with that. i believe severity is part of it. as well as what is normal. def agree on both.

do you have bipolar disorder?

Yes, Bipolar I. The taboo thing is kind of a leftover, an aftertaste and is still in the back of my mind.

I had been diagnosed by my Pdoc in a different city, but when I moved here a couple of years ago and started seeing current Pdoc and therapist, neither wanted to talk about it and I quickly dropped it (got that 'taboo' vibe).

Then when I had a manic episode about 6 months ago (first in a couple of years, since before moving here), my psychiatrist diagnosed me and my therapist, who witnessed it up close, agreed. I think, and it's understandable, that despite any previous dx they wanted to see it for themselves, so to speak, before making a dx themselves --which makes sense actually.

Now, my therapist talks about catching episodes earlier and my Pdoc about the importance of good and consistent sleep patterns, etc. So it's more open now that the dx has been made and agreed with by my therapist as well, but I'm mostly referring to before this when I got from my psychiatrist, "why do you want to know? We'll treat the symptoms." And the way he said it, I just didn't feel comfortable bringing it up again.

But despite the fact that there's dx and agreement and what not now, I still have this feeling of taboo about the whole thing, I think I just got gun-shy from before and it's more my problem.

I do actually understand the desire not to make a dx until you've seen it for yourself, so to speak, but I don't think that has to mean that you don't even discuss it meanwhile. Even if it's just to say, 'I haven't witnessed an episode so I don't feel comfortable making that dx at the moment, for now I would just say x' or whatever. Maybe Pdocs have felt pressured to make this diagnosis and just don't want to deal with it.