Bipolar 1 vs 2

Ok so I actually sat down with a PDOC for over 4 hrs!!! No really, it happened. Pinky Swear!!! It was when I was hospitalized last week. He said my Bipolar DX was correct, but I was 1 not 2. What is the difference, I have looked around on the web and on here and all I see is the same thing... Moods are slower and stuff & I can't speak Doctor lingo so all the medical journals I found with differnt opinions did me no good. I dunno, in your words what is the difference, help me out because i am actually comfused. I am also confused about this Borderline PD thing he dXed me on but that is for another subforum. Anyhelp appreciated.

One means you have mania possibly with psychosis. (You only need one episode) BPII means you experience more depression and only reach hypomania. If you have mixed episodes they typically diagnosis as BP1 but that may change with the new dsm.

thank you! It makes sense now.

The Borderline Personality Disorder is more about your emotions switching several times a day from day to day, feeling extreme emotions, self harm, suicidal urges, fearing people abandoning us etc. I've also been diagnosed with this and am amazed at how many people on this site have been diagnosed with BPD as well as Bipolar!!!!!!

I think but I could be wrong, that they take into account level of functioning while manic or hypo. I know I have read that many times. Bipolar 1 would be lower functioning than bipolar II, I have nothing to compare this too except what I see on the forums. I think it's safe to say that most of us are low functioning during depression. Like you might be really productive during hypomania, but when it reaches full blown mania, you may be the least productive person around.

Hypomania doesn't generally last as long as mania. Ahh from what I read, I hate saying anything as fact, because I know that there are exceptions to everything.

I think it's a myth. Depression can be as debilitating as mania/hypomania.

It seems like everyone with the disorder experiences periods of low functionality.

That's what I meant. We Pretty much all experience being very low functioning while depressed. What I mean is that during hypmania, you are getting lots done, but while you are manic, you might be getting almost nothing done. Like with work, I read lots that people do better at jobs while hypo because they are so productive. But I think for a lot of people when they hit the peak of mania, productivity is halted. That's my experience too. I always enter mania by becoming hypo first, and then is climbs to mania. Gaaa I hope that makes sense. I'm really jibbery jabbery today.

Not a question in my mind that we all experience low functioning, just in relation to hypmania or mania and functioning.

pinky swears & the use of the term jibbery jabbery.. all in one thread!!!

i love that

i'm bipolar & have been most of my life, although i wasn't diagnosed until i was 16.. and not really effectively treated until much more recently than that... i have no idea which class i fall in... i don't think it matters as much to us as the patients because regardless of how we're classified, we experience the disorder in our own unique manner to some extent... not everyone fits perfectly in one column or the other...

but on the note of functionality... i shut myself off in hypomania... i experience such extreme irritability and such an uncomfortable qaand unshakable physical sensation that i tend to shut down & wall myself off from everything that breathes (other than my pets) until it passes... which is usually never fast enough... even though i'm a rapid cycler... bahhh!! if i never had another mixed episode, it would still be too soon

I have been told I am bp2 but my mood chart is showing (mixed ?) results. In all fairness, I have only been doing it for a week and a half and neither my psychologist or my psychiatrist has had a chance to look at it yet. Ugh! I hate mood charts... I must stand over it for a few minutes, making sure I record how I actually felt that day. My wife even compares what I record to what she has seen. I guess I am still in the process of an accurate diagnosis. I have had both depression and elevation reach the point of 'not able to work'... is that what your saying about mania and being unproductive? that doesn't really mean bp1 does it?! I see my psychiatrist again in nine days... I sure hope he doesn't say that. How does someone know if they experience mania or hypomania anyways?? Now I'm confused too...lol!

Completely agree, mixed is like nothing else. That is when I will be in the hospital.

Yup no one fits in a neat little box. I am rarely euphoric during mania, when i am hypo yes, but supposedly I should be euphoric beyond belief. Actually I'm more terrified than anything. Maybe I was euphoric before I was aware of how it would all go down. But now that I know from experience, I'm not feeling euphoric while manic.

Hey! I do that too! Shutting down. It's like a fear response! Is that typical of mixed emotions?

No that doesn't mean bipolar 1. That's just something I have read many times. You'll find with bipolar you'll read many things and say wha???

The gist of what I was saying tho, yes you read that right. But if you are experiencing mixed moods. Those are pretty unproductive. How can you do anything if you are depressed, and have tons of energy, are agitated and your thoughts are low in mood but high speed in pace.

Ha! you described me. I call it "active depression"!

I joke and say if you draw a line down the center of the lines of my mood chart.. you would have a funny looking antenna. a bipolar antenna hahaha. ok, i'll shut up..lol

Opposite moods simultaneously, how could that ever be comfortable. They are two extremes being experienced at the exact same time. It is it's own kind of hell. I wonder if anyone outside the bipolar dx ever experiences that?

ok, confession.. not a big believer in mood charts myself... that mainly being b/c i'm a rapid cycler & i usually experience several shifts within any given 24 hour period when i'm actively cycling...

what i use, when i use it.. .which is not often now.. though when i was struggling it was IMMENSELY helpful... is a dayplanner that has appointment times for each day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.... so i can make notes of how i felt when i felt it.. or if i noticed what triggered a change, etc... i found it greatly helpful... and very useful for taking with me to the pdoc to accurately communicate an honest response when asked "so, how have you been?"

i still have it.. and after this post, i will probably start using it again

for me, it's a mechanism of self preservation & preservation of external relationships... shutting down in response to fear of what is going on internally is a form of self preservation in my opinion... you shut down, go through it, experience it... without having any external focus... to survive it... as unscathed as possible

i don't know if they do or not, but it is definitely near next to impossible to accurately describe to people who haven't experienced it for themselves...

question to you guys.. do you experience it physically as well?? i didn't know if everyone with bipolar experiences their symptoms & cycling physically or if i'm just "blessed" to have that little bonus

Wow. I really do understand what you are saying about this. Thank you! I know what you mean about the day planner too. That was one of my complaints to my psychiatrist when he gave me the chart. I said what you did, what part of the day do you want me to record..lol. Thank you again... I really feel understood right now!

you should give the day planner method a shot...especially if you really have to study the chart for more than a minute or two to be sure you accurately mark your mood for the day... if you have outlook, you can actually print out your own daily sheets in the scheduling section... can't remember exactly how (step-by-step), but i know you can do it... or, if you can find any 2012 planners still in stores or online, they should be greatly discounted... seeing as it's april already if you're faithful with the method, it will also give a much more accurate portrayal of your mental state to your doc next time you see him/her ... which is always a good thing

side note: my sincere apologies to anyone who might be of the opinion that i type or talk too much...i can't help it... my license plate says HYPRGRL for a reason

I tend to lean one way or the other when I am feeling that way. kind of like an 'emphasis' that leans on the depressed or elevated side. I get panicky when it tips on the elevated side. Feel it in my chest.. a LOT! umm.. cold soreness in some muscles too, usually upper body. numbness. but on the depressed side... still feel it in my chest, but no icy soreness... more like... lol... waves of emotion that pass through me? does that make sense?

I talk way too much too. Sry.

Physically yes!!! When I am hypo it feels like surge of electricity pumping through my veins out my head, hands and feet. When I am manic or mixed I get pretty bad psychomotor agitation, pacing for hours and hours, I wake up with legs that are so sore I can almost not walk, marathon pacing. And headaches, severe headaches when mixed. When I am depressed I feel generally physically ill from top to bottom.

And then the fun of anxiety causing asthma attacks. I've had three attacks this week due to anxiety.

EDIT:
Sometimes I talk too much, sometimes too little. There is no rule on PC about word count. Thank god!

i do too, so we'll get along great... LOL

don't sweat it.. anyone who's annoyed can just go to another thread.. the point of a discussion board... is to DISCUSS

and ironically, i was gonna post that yeah what you posted made sense.. i can't imagine the numbness & coldness thing... i think we all experience it differently... but it's good to know i'm not the only one who deals with the physicality of the disorder... sometimes i'm just like... "look, if it was all in my head, i could deal... but seriously?!?!?!?" ... i was holding off to post so that i didn't keep blowin up the board... LOL

so much for that!!

I need to get to some housework lol. This is fun. I'll have to blow up another board with you soon! I'm looking forward to it!