[tishtosh]

iv not been to docs, and iv been through some traumatic events past yr, and my mood can swing from really happy to thinkin silly things and something triggers it off can be anything i didnt like the sound of, i took the test on here and i scored 51... i know about it not being a diaognoses. but im not sure how to approach my doc. and what happens if i am?

[bridgie]

There are criteria a doctor will look for when assessing you for bipolar. If you think you are having issues go see someone and discuss what you've been going through. Good luck

[lotusflames]

if you've had some traumatic events it could be ptsd

no one here can diagnose though and you should speak to your dr

[thinker22]

Hi tishtosh. There is no conclusive test for bipolar, so basically the doc will ask you a series of questions (if you ask him or her to) and based on your answers you will either have no mood disorder, cyclothymia, bipolar II or bipolar I. There is also a general bipolar with neither depression nor mania currently present. And there are variations on the above terms, like rapid cycling or major depressive phase.

To be Bipolar I you have to have a period of at least one solid week of mania (meaning, little need for sleep, massive energy, feeling either irritable or elevated, tons of ideas, racing thoughts, one or more dangerous behaviors like gambling/spending sprees, sexual promiscuity, reckless driving, etc. present during the manic episode that are not present ordinarily). Also, these symptoms cannot be better explained by drug abuse or schizophrenia, although bipolar people can hallucinate due to lack of sleep or the emotions associated at either end of the spectrum. You don't even have to show signs of a depressive episode for bipolar I, but it's kind of inevitable that they will eventually crash after being up for so long.

For Bipolar II you need only a 2 week straight depressive episode (and the diagnostic criteria is super long, but suffice it to say, you're listless, either sleeping all the time or unable to sleep with worry, losing or gaining weight without changing your diet, you lose interest in most everything that used to be important, you're thinking about death way more than usual, so on) and you have to have periods of hypomania...which are often fun. You feel pressured to talk, you are socially extroverted, you have creative ideas and projects going on, you have lessened need for sleep, but you are not doing anything dangerous. Also, the hypomania can last for an hour or two or days. Again, these behaviors must not be able to be explained by drug use or another condition.

Cyclothymia is the label they often give to people with less severe symptoms of bipolar. Their moods can shift a lot, but it doesn't cause them as much trouble in regular life. Sometimes children are diagnosed this before the more severe symptoms settle in during one's 20s.

One of the things a dr. will probably do after asking you all kinds of questions when you bring up the bipolar possibility is do a full metabolic panel...blood and urine analysis to make sure you don't have an imbalance of thyroid or other things that cause mood shifts. I've had this done twice and everything comes up normal.

So, I can't say if you are or aren't, but definitely read more about it on the home page...click Bipolar. There's a lot of good info there. I also come up in the 50s or low 60s on the bipolar test.

Hope this helps. And if you are, there are treatment options. You will be the same person after the diagnosis as before, you'll just have a better idea of how to deal with your moods if they're causing you problems.