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Old Aug 10, 2018, 04:35 PM
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BipolaRNurse BipolaRNurse is offline
Neurodivergent
 
Member Since: Mar 2012
Location: Western US
Posts: 4,831
My first diagnosis was BP-NOS. It stayed that way for a couple of years until the psychiatrist I saw in the hospital diagnosed me with bipolar 1. I have received the same label three more times by three different mental healthcare professionals. It just took awhile to "flesh out" the picture of BP I presented with, as my mood patterns became more established with time. (I have a habit of becoming manic in the early spring and very early fall, and depressed in the late fall and winter.)

Try not to get too hung up on a number. It often takes years to figure out. I hated the NOS diagnosis because I felt it didn't take my symptoms seriously enough, even though I was on multiple psych meds and my pdoc definitely took them seriously. As he said the other day, bipolar is a complex disorder that requires complex treatment. Personally, I think NOS is the hardest to treat...we went through a number of meds in a number of combinations before landing on the right one, and even so, meds often have to be adjusted because symptoms return or change.
__________________
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

Please come visit me @ http://bpnurse.com