I thought I was wrongly diagnosed for many years. I was dx'ed at age 18 and I was floored. I thought they were insane. I mean I was never what I would consider hypomanic. I was normal for some periods of time, and the. I would have depressive episodes, and some times I was totally agitated and angry, but never what you would would think was manic or even hypomanic. I scoffed. I took a whole bnch of different meds for a year until I ended up in a severe depression and agreed to ECT.

After the ECT I felt amazing. I felt happy for the first time in over a year and really for my entire adolescence. I was so hopeful and happy and energized. I did not consider it hypomania. Then I remember getting depressed again...then I definitely went back up. At the time I refused to recognize it. I went off meds and out of treatment completely for six years.

I achieved a lot in those six years, but now that I know what to look for I can see definite highs and definite lows. And definite mixed states where I was agitated, anxious, and irritable. Hypomania doesn't have to mean being happy. You might just be slightly more energized than normal. You also might be irritable, angry, and tearful.

Now that I see it, I'm mad at myself for never accepting it. I believe all the antidepressants I was on made things way worse. Had I been put on a mood stabilizer only I probably would have done much better and could have saved mysel a lot of pain.

But you also might have been misdiagnosed. I feel like bipolar II is over diagnosed but that's just my personal opinion. I'm not a doctor.

Depakote is not the only mood stabilizer out there. If you don't feel right on it, Ask for something else. If your pdoc won't listen, try to find a new one.

Good luck!