[JustWannaDisappear]

What does stable mean to you? Am I asking too much by wanting stable to mean, no crying no ups and downs during the day? I know I'm stressed out and it's causing me to be very emotional. I just don't know if I'm actually BP2 with the amount of ups and downs I'm having a day. It's not being depressed it's random tears followed by anger and anxiety.

[tnlibrarian]

For me stable means the mood swings aren't totally insane and frequent. For example, before I stablilized this time I would be fine one minute, then absolutely furious or really irritable and then either crazy happy, totally depressed or fine the next. When the rapid cycling is much less frequent and I'm not spending days totally depressed and then days manic--I consider myself stable. I still get the mood swings at times but they aren't as frequent or drastic.

I actually am not entirely sure what the criteria is for a diagnosis of BP2 vs. BP1 but I would think you could ask to be reevaluated.

Originally Posted by JustWannaDisappear

...I just don't know if I'm actually BP2 with the amount of ups and downs I'm having a day. It's not being depressed it's random tears followed by anger and anxiety.

Were you thinking it might be BPD?? (If that was what you were pondering, it's worth noting that one can have one or the other or both.) Have you talked with you Pdoc or T about it?

As far as what stable means to me... that I'm pretty consistently hovering around (or best yet, right on!) the neutral line on my mood chart. A random day of depression doesn't bother me in assessing it. I'm not a rapid cycler (well, I might fit the "official" definition of more than 4 in a year some years, but nothing like what others here describe), so it's not too hard to assess. At the end of the day, I just give it a rating.

(Every so often something situational will come along that throws me enough to note, which, if I bother, I'll put it on the chart as an open circle (secondary to the day's rating). Those are more for my reference than anything. Not even sure why I mention that, lol. What? To let you know I'm a hopeless customizer for whom there is never enough information? )

So, primarily I base whether I'm stable on what the mood chart shows. But, the other thing that indicates it to me is that I feel like I'm dealing with everyday life. Am I cooking? Eating? Getting a bit done? Not feeling completely overwhelmed? Able to get out the door without much trouble? Are these things pretty consistent? Then, yup, stable. (Of course, we could go with the bouncing off the wall, talking a mile a minute end of things too, but they're less often for me, so the others are more often what I'm assessing stable from.)

[JustWannaDisappear]

Originally Posted by Innerzone

Were you thinking it might be BPD?? (If that was what you were pondering, it's worth noting that one can have one or the other or both.) Have you talked with you Pdoc or T about it?

My T thinks I am BP2. At my first Pdoc appt I told him what my T suggested and he said no he doesn't think I am. Well he had just met me for the first time.
I honestly don't know if I am. I have two brothers with BP1, a cousin with BP1 with psychosis (now in a group home because he can't take care of himself) and another cousin with BP but I don't know if she's 1 or 2. That's all I can think of right now. I do know BP runs on my moms side.

I did rack up $20k in debt by the time I was 20 then quit both my jobs and stopped paying my bills not long after because of a depressive episode.

I guess I should just consider my recent ups and downs situational. I talk to my case working for the final time tomorrow, my Pdoc next week and my T this week. Hopefully I can actually remember to bring these issues up, as I seem to forget lately then remember afterwards.

[Rosie23]

Wracking up the debt and quitting jobs is pretty big thing not to mention.
One thing is certain. If you hold back important information, you will never get a good diagnosis.

Be honest with your T. It can help in the long run.

Good Luck!

[AniManiac]

Stable is as stable does.

I go with mood chart too, but that also means no random crying - a clear tip-off that all's not well in AniManiac-land. One of the reasons I prefer the Moodscope mood chart is that I can't just fool myself into thinking I'm stable quite as easily.

[narcissismcured]

to be stable is to just get satisfied with whats going on or is to make everything according to our self both this conditions give satisfaction now choose one of your caliber for your problem n achieve stability of your mind best of luck.

[venusss]

For me stable means... opposite to "I want to die. No, I am gonna move to Pristina and live on street named after Bill Clinton and bring peace to the little country. Oh, no, I wanna die. world sucks... no, actually I want to live! Shoes! I need them! Life is wonderful....".

Stability of thoughts and worldview. Being able to live in the now, not dreaming of ICBM hitting the town or about buying ticket to "any place but here". Not sure where it is. I am able to live that everyday life and I don't give in to my thoughts, but is it stable? I don't think so....