Is it Bipolar (of some type), or is it ADHD, or is it GAD, all 3, or something else?

Can a person be Bipolar of some sort, and also have General Anxiety Disorder, and also be ADHD all at the same time? Or do my issues described below part of just one particular disorder, or is it all something else? I am greatly confused. In your opinion, do you see a common thread of a particular disorder? Or separate disorders?

I was diagnosed by a Pdoc, in 2002, as having Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I've been dealing with it since I was 13. I am currently on Lexapro and have been on a slew of different antidepressant meds over the past 11 years -- many of them poop-out over time and I switch to a new one. I am also on Xanax as needed. There were many times, before taking AD's, when some particular situations in my life -- exacerbated by fear and irrational worry -- were so bad it resulted in fairly bad periods of depression in conjunction with the fear and worry. Of of these "situations," aggravated my fear and worry, lasted a very long time. When starting AD's 2002 they greatly relived the worry, made me less angry and irritated toward my wife and kids (they gave me a better/happier quality of life) but also made me feel very manic at times -- but not euphoric. AD's are very activating for me and really wreck a good night's sleep, which I never really got before AD's because of racing thoughts and worry. Because of how I reacted to AD's I have to take Trazodone for sleep.

In 2008, after being on AD's for 6 years, I felt I may also be either Bipolar 2 or at least Cyclothymia and took some online tests and tested fairly high. I spoke with my general practitioner doc about it and he put me on Lamictal that I am still on. As best as I can tell, Lamictal has evened-out those times when I would normally be over-talkative/hyper around others and get, what I call, "silly-stupid" with people: blurting-out silly dumb things to people sometimes as part of conversation and sometimes not -- I did this a lot. Doing this made me look like an idiot. Lamictal has helped with this and helped me to stop being this way.

About A year ago I was unofficially diagnosed with ADHD by my general practitioner: I showed all the symptoms, met with my GP and talked about it with him and he prescribed Adderall which has helped to only a moderate degree, but better than nothing. Mostly, Adderall has give me more motivation to do things at work, ability to stay more focused and get things accomplished. It has given me more energy but at times Adderall makes me feel too euphoric, very talkative but not the silly-stupid kind, and has made me feel very hyper which has translated into being motivated at work -- it gives me a lot of energy instead of being a slug. It has also brought on huge feelings of anxiety -- not the kind associated with worry like before taking AD's. Xanax has helped with that.

A few weeks ago I finally decided to go to a Pdoc to get his help in managing all the meds I take: Lexapro(20mg) and Xanax(1mg) for GAD, Trazodone(100mg) for sleep (AD's are very activating for me) Lamictal(300MG), Prilosec(20mg) for GERD, and a Probiotic for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). During our meeting he started wondering if I did not have a form of Bipolar instead of ADHD. I mentioned how Adderall, and a few other ADHD meds I've taken, made my anxiety and libido go sky-high. Ever since I was a kid I have had a very strong libido. He prescribed Risperdal(1mg) two weeks ago to address the anxiety and very high libido caused by the Adderall. Risperdal has greatly reduced the need for Xanax and has tapered-down my high libido. My Pdoc has not given me a particular diagnosis and has left me hanging as to what's going on. He says my situation is "complex" and wants to meet again in a month or so.

What do you think is going one with me? Again, is this all a part of some degree of being Bipolar as my Pdoc is wondering it may be. Or is this all GAD and ADHD? I know Bipolar and ADHD are hard to distinguish from each other.

Your thoughts, please?

Multiple diagnosis is not uncommon with mental illness. It's called "co-morbidity."

I have bipolar disorder, GAD, and schizoid personality disorder all at the same time. Having a mix of things going on is completely possible.

One I would ask to scrap everything and start over. Adhd has non stimulants ssri's that can help with depression and anxiety both are fairly comman with bipolar or adhd. Adhd symptoms can be part of hypomania OR adhd along with other dx. The good news a lot of medications can cover the same thing if you investigate. Your dx will change over time with changes of dr's and things like that. It's actually really good that your pdoc is taken time.

Hi, I can't answer your question. I have a question for you. Did you always have a high libido before adderall? Just wondering because due to all my meds, I have no libido whatsoever. I take Ritalin (along with several others), and i like it alot, but curious if I switched to Adderall, would it help my libido? just wondering what you thought.

Yes, Adderall caused my libido to skyrocket. But so did Concerta and Vyvanse. I suspect Ritalin would do the same for me because Ritalin is the immediate release version of Concerta while Concerta is extend release. I do have to say, though, I had less libido problems with Concerta than I did with Adderall but Concerta did not do as good of a job handling my ADHD as Adderall does. Most ADHD meds are stimulants and since my libido has always been on the strong side it only made sense this would happened. On the other hand, antidepressants totally killed my libido for many years until I started on ADHD meds a year ago. That all changed when I started taking ADHD meds.

Absolutely. I've read studies that say that 40% of BP patients also have an anxiety disorder (OCD, generalized, PTSD, etc.). BP overlaps with lots of other (mental and personality) disorders and it's in the Spectrum with schizophrenia. And there is also something called "bipolar spectrum". (Early last century psychiatrists were not sure if manic-depression and schizophrenia were one of the same or not.)

Bipolar Spectrum: Categories of Bipolar Disorder

Hi,
I don't know abt waiting ard for ur current pdoc to figure things out. My experience was different. I was initially misdiagnosed as depressed and prescribed Celexa. I became manic so I changed my pdoc and therapist. Both worked together to find my diagnoses. They gathered my behavior history, hormone level results, therapy notes from 3-4 sessions and family history.
This all took a month or so.
I have two kids w/ ADD/HD I was given a parent questionnaire and I was given
a grandparent and questionnaires for teachers. Each person filled out there form and placed them in a envelope (sealed it). All forms were turn in to his GP. After she dx'd him, she referred him to a therapist.