Hello,

If you are having mood swings, the first thing you should do is get a checkup. Hormonal imbalances can mimic bipolar disorder... I'm not sure if you are male or female but you need your hormone levels checked out. If you are a man then that would be testosterone (both total and free) levels, if you are a woman that would be estrogen, testosterone (total and free), and progesterone during the follicular (day 1-3) and luteal (day 19-21) of your cycle...

Also thyroid disorders can mimic bipolar disorder...I know several people who were psychotic and diagnosed BP but found to have thyroid disease years later that cured everything. Thyroid testing would be TSH, Free T3, Free T4, and Thyroid anbibodies... There are also other deficiencies that can mimic bipolar disorder or cause depression so please get checked out and finally a good psychiatrist is important until you can get all of the proper testing!

I personally have spent the past 10 years of my life suffering psyhosis for 10 days every month believing that it was hormonal and not getting anyone to listen to me only to discover 3 weeks ago (after years of begging to get my hormones tested) that a small amount of estrogen CURED my psychosis...not my depression or mood swings yet...but my psychosis was a major part of my illness!

Best Wishes,

TJ