Quote:
Originally Posted by A Red Panda
Mental Disorders & Conditions - DSM
Sometimes people who get diagnosed with bipolar go through the joys of ignoring bipolar and seeking treatment for depression. When you're depressed it's reallllly easy to deny/ignore any of the up times, and if it never gets talked about then no one could ever be diagnosed - and chances are people don't go to the psychiatrist for the first time while they're in a (hypo)manic episode.
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That's how I got through the first 53 years of my life without being diagnosed. I never knew that the high-energy periods I loved so much were pathological until about my third visit to my psychiatrist.....I'd been very depressed, anxious, and agitated when I first went, and he wasn't at all sure I had bipolar until this particular appointment. I bounced into the office in blue eyeshadow, a bright turquoise top and gypsy skirt, and enormous hoop earrings.
He took one look at me and asked "Are we manic today?" Naturally I denied it, and naturally he pretended to believe me, but that firmly established my diagnosis in his mind.
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DX: Bipolar 1
Anxiety
Tardive dyskinesia
Mild cognitive impairment
RX: Celexa 20 mg
Gabapentin 1200 mg
Geodon 40 mg AM, 60 mg PM
Klonopin 0.5 mg PRN
Lamictal 500 mg
Levothyroxine 125 mcg (rx'd for depression)
Trazodone 150 mg
Zyprexa 7.5 mg
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