Hi Chai15, Diagnosis isn't so much about mood swings as it is about how far your moods swing...and where they go when they swing. For example, having an untreated rage problem could get someone into serious trouble in life. So if your annoyance turns to anger turns to rage that you can't control, well, yeah - you need help asap. If you feel irritable and edgy most of the time, you probably need help in terms of meds and therapy. But if you just tend to get cranky when you're tired, well...you probably just need to get more sleep, and maybe be in a support group or talk to a therapist about some stuff that is bothering you.

It sounds like your p-doc is taking a cautious approach to diagnosing you. Maybe he wants to observe your behavior for a while before he decides on a specific diagnosis?

As for the "cycle" aspect of your moods, there doesn't have to be a predictable cycle to mood changes in order for someone to be diagnosed as bipolar. The reason is, there are a number of different types of bipolar disorder. Rapid-cycling, mixed-state...those are two types of bipolar that don't follow a clear and predictable cycle. And someone can have major depressive disorder and have a period of severe depression, then kind of go back to a normal place, only to slip into a major depression again.

I know how frustrating it feels not to have a diagnosis. I'll tell you something though. After many, many years of receiving psychiatric treatment I will say that diagnosis really isn't that important, after all. Diagnoses often change over time and you require a different treatment today than you might in a year or five years. I'm not that sure what most of us want is a name for our disorder, so much as something that brings relief to our bad feelings. We think, "If I have a name for 'this' I can get help and make 'it' go away."

I think it's important that you focus on why you sought help in the first place and keep pursuing help until you feel you have a strategy for living your life as best you can, and so you don't feel compelled to question every feeling, thought, or mood because that's not a pleasant way to live life. You want to live your life, not question it all the time. Questioning things all the time feels horrible.