[kamet83]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this site and I found it after doing some research on bipolar disorder. I went to a pdoc after years of dealing with a few issues and she thought that I have bipolar disorder.

The thing is, I don't really know if some of the things ive done in the past were bipolar symptoms or just bad choices ive made. Ive been reading about how others experience mania, but I dont know if I fall in the same category. For instance, here are a few things that I have done time and time again:

I got married back in 2004 after 4 months of dating the man. We didnt tell anyone. Just eloped. The thing was I knew it was prolly a bad idea, but I did it anyway. That marriage lasted 4 yrs.

I have issues communicating. I go on tangents. Not all of the time, but a lot. For instance, if something is bothering me, I cant just let it go. I have to tell the person doing it, and then I cannot stop talking. Ill explain why something is bothering me, and how it affects everything and then ill go in circlles and explain it in a different way. And so on. Is this just a personality trait, or a bipolar trait?

I get hyper focused, almost obsessive about things. It might be about a book, or some topic. I lose track of time and I forget to eat. My mind keeps me up at night because I am constantly thinking about whatever it is. It usually lasts for a coue of days until I find something new. I get extremely irritable if I cant do the activity.

One of the biggest issues I have is being a hermit. I have social anxiety as it is, but when I am feeling blue, I dont like contact from the outside world.

Does anyone feel like these issues I have are related to bipolar? Or is it just some wacky personality trait that I have? I tried explaining some of these things to my pdoc, but we didnt get that in depth because of the appt time limit.

I would appreciate anyones insight!

[kamet83]

Hi! I am new to the forum, and I came here after doing some research because my pdoc said she thought I was bipolar.

After doing research, I am still trying to understand if some past actions were part of being bipolar or something else. I know bipolar manifests itself in people in different ways, but I would appreciate some outside insight. I dont really have anyone to talk to about this kinda stuff.

So in the past, I've gotten married sorta impulsively. It was after a 4 month courtship.that lasted 4 yrs.
I have issues communicating. I tend to go on these tangents if I feel like I need to get my point across. My bf feels the brunt of that. He says when I am passionate about something, I tend to talk n talk n talk and I get 'fired up'. He says that I talk really fast, but I dont see it, I guess.

I get really obsessive about different things at different times. For instance, I will find interest in some topic in history or music and I will research it, or read about it and find documentaries etc. If someone interrupts me, I get extremely irritable and sometimes I explode w frustration. The hyper focus gets so bad that I lose track of time and I forget to eat. This happens days at a time.

One huge issue I have is social phobia. I tend to be a hermit at times where I dont really want contact w the outside world.

Does anyone else who has this disorder deal with similar issues?
Ive tried to tell my pdoc this stuff in detail, but its hard to fit a whole lifes worth of events into an hour session.
I would appreciate anyones insight!

[Anneinside]

I got married back in 2004 after 4 months of dating the man. We didnt tell anyone. Just eloped. The thing was I knew it was prolly a bad idea, but I did it anyway. That marriage lasted 4 yrs. Probably just normal impulsiveness.

I have issues communicating. I go on tangents. Not all of the time, but a lot. For instance, if something is bothering me, I cant just let it go. I have to tell the person doing it, and then I cannot stop talking. Ill explain why something is bothering me, and how it affects everything and then ill go in circlles and explain it in a different way. And so on. Is this just a personality trait, or a bipolar trait? Personality trait

I get hyper focused, almost obsessive about things. It might be about a book, or some topic. I lose track of time and I forget to eat. My mind keeps me up at night because I am constantly thinking about whatever it is. It usually lasts for a coue of days until I find something new. I get extremely irritable if I cant do the activity. Sounds like me when manic.

One of the biggest issues I have is being a hermit. I have social anxiety as it is, but when I am feeling blue, I dont like contact from the outside world. Social anxiety/depressive episode

Just my opinion...you have to decide.

[kamet83]

Sorry about the douple post. Thought the first one got.deleted...

[ultramar]

It might help to keep a mood journal and/or bring in a list of questions and concerns to your next appointment with your psychiatrist as the appointments can be so short.

The below are the criteria (from the Mayo Clinic).

The DSM has very specific criteria for manic, hypomanic, major depressive and mixed episodes.

Criteria for a manic episode

A manic episode is a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood that lasts at least one week (or less than a week if hospitalization is necessary). During the period of disturbed mood, three or more of the following symptoms must be present (four if the mood is only irritable):

• Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
• Decreased need for sleep (for example, you feel rested after only three hours of sleep)
• Unusual talkativeness
• Racing thoughts
• Distractibility
• Increased goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually)
• Doing things that have a high potential for painful consequences — for example, unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions or foolish business investments

To be considered a manic episode:

• The mood disturbance must be severe enough to cause noticeable difficulty at work, at school or in usual social activities or relationships; to require hospitalization to prevent harm to yourself or others; or to trigger a break from reality (psychosis).
• Symptoms do not meet the criteria for a mixed episode (see criteria for mixed episode below).
• Symptoms are not due to the direct effects of something else such as alcohol or drug use, taking a medication, or a having a medical condition such as hyperthyroidism.

Criteria for a hypomanic episode

A hypomanic episode is a distinct period of elevated, expansive or irritable mood that lasts at least four days, and is different from the usual nondepressed mood. During the period of disturbed mood, three or more of the following symptoms must be present (four if the mood is only irritable):

• Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
• Decreased need for sleep (for example, you feel rested after only three hours of sleep)
• Unusual talkativeness
• Racing thoughts
• Distractibility
• Increased goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually)
• Doing things that have a high potential for painful consequences — for example, unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions or foolish business investments

To be considered a hypomanic episode:

• The mood disturbance must be severe enough to cause a noticeable and uncharacteristic change in functioning.
• The episode isn't severe enough to cause significant difficulty at work, at school or in usual social activities or relationships; to require hospitalization; or to trigger a break from reality (psychosis).
• Symptoms do not meet the criteria for a mixed episode (see criteria for mixed episode below).
• Symptoms are not due to the direct effects of something else such as alcohol or drug use, taking a medication, or a having a medical condition such as hyperthyroidism.

Criteria for a major depressive episode

To be diagnosed with a major depressive episode, you must have five (or more) of the following symptoms over a two-week period. At least one of the symptoms is either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure. Symptoms can be based on your own feelings or on the observations of someone else. They include:

• Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, such as feeling sad, empty or tearful (in children and adolescents, depressed mood can appear as constant irritability)
• Diminished interest or feeling no pleasure in all — or almost all — activities most of the day, nearly every day
• Significant weight loss when not dieting, weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day (in children, failure to gain weight as expected can be a sign of depression)
• Insomnia or increased desire to sleep nearly every day
• Either restlessness or slowed behavior that can be observed by others
• Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day
• Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day
• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or a suicide attempt

To be considered a major depressive episode:

• Symptoms don't meet the criteria for a mixed episode (see criteria for mixed episode below).
• Symptoms must be severe enough to cause noticeable difficulty in day-to-day activities, such as work, school, social activities or relationships with others.
• Symptoms are not due to the direct effects of something else, such as drug abuse, taking a medication or a having a medical condition such as hyperthyroidism.
• Symptoms are not caused by grieving, such as after the loss of a loved one.

[kamet83]

Thanks for your help! I saw some of the stuff you posted online while doing research. It is just hard to understand (for me, at least) unless I see some real-life examples. I have been keeping a mood chart for the past few weeks and my moods are all over the place.
As far as the marriage thing, thats one example of the many impulsive things I do. I tend to also throw things away like household items and then a few weeks down the road I am looking for the item and realize I threw it away impulsively. Then I go to the store and buy a new item. Drives my bf crazy!

Hi there. I too, am new to the forum. After years of struggling with most of what you described briefly above (pluse anger control issues, inability to regulate mood swings, emotions, appropriately at times, and more I won't bore you with) I went in for some testing in Feb of this year at the encouragement of my therapist and partner (sadly now an "ex" who in the end couldn't take BP, me or hold out for my medication stabilization). Results indicated ADHD and BP2 (more manic episodes). I actually wasn't that surprised and frankly somewhat relieved I think. In retrospect I realize that MANY of my impulsive spontaneous decisions, life changing choices were on some level influenced, or controlled by an often "greater force" if you will. Don't get me wrong..... in the end its all me....regardless. I'm grateful to an extent to at least know what im up against (ok I really am a newbie at BP, all the terms, treatment, often alot of what I see posted in way of acronyms, etc...) and am hopeful that in therapy I can learn ways to deal with this and all that goes along with managing it daily.
I guess you need to ask yourself if being formally tested is important to you (if you have to put a name to the face so to speak). If these symptoms and feelings, etc you describe above interfere in your life and cause you concern, its up to you to decide if its significant enough to check into it further. I can only speak for myself....I am very glad I did. Good luck!

[kamet83]

hi! Sorry for the double post above. Didnt think the first one went thru. Anyway, i did read some of what the symptoms of bipolar were. I guess for me, its easier to understand with real life examples.
I have been doing a mood chart for the past few weeks, and my moods are all over the place. And you are right, I should write my concerns down the next time I see my pdoc. As far as being formally tested, I am not sure what you are specifically referring to. I didnt think that you could test for bipolar. Am I wrong on that?
I guess my biggest issue is the irritability that affects me esp when I am engrossed in something.
Something that also pops into my head from my pdoc is she said that she *thinks* I may be bipolar, but she isnt too sure because from what Ive described, I dont have too many extreme depressive episodes. I do get depressed to where I have zero motivation to do anything let alone get out of bed, but I am not suicidal or have those thoughts in a regular basis.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. I guess I have a lot.of questions to ask her.

Good morning. You are right theres no true dignostic test that specifically diagnosis BP per se....however some formal testing (especially for ADHD I did a computerized version, mmpi, etc) could narrow things down and potentially rule some things out. I personally dont have major depressive episodes and have never had suicidal ideations. Problem as i see it in particular is that so many symptoms cross over into other diorders.....im not sure I "buy" the idea of a completely accurate diagnosis, at least for me. I look at it (testing) as a way for my PD and Tx to work with me to create my "plan" for managing all this "stuff" that interferes negatively in mine and my families life. I havent done a mood journal yet but see a lot of posts suggesting it...indeed lots of questions to ask. It sounds like you are very much on the right track in being a strong advocate for yourself . How long have u been seeing your pdoc?

[ultramar]

Originally Posted by kamet83

hi! Sorry for the double post above. Didnt think the first one went thru. Anyway, i did read some of what the symptoms of bipolar were. I guess for me, its easier to understand with real life examples.
I have been doing a mood chart for the past few weeks, and my moods are all over the place. And you are right, I should write my concerns down the next time I see my pdoc. As far as being formally tested, I am not sure what you are specifically referring to. I didnt think that you could test for bipolar. Am I wrong on that?
I guess my biggest issue is the irritability that affects me esp when I am engrossed in something.
Something that also pops into my head from my pdoc is she said that she *thinks* I may be bipolar, but she isnt too sure because from what Ive described, I dont have too many extreme depressive episodes. I do get depressed to where I have zero motivation to do anything let alone get out of bed, but I am not suicidal or have those thoughts in a regular basis.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. I guess I have a lot.of questions to ask her.

Not a formal test, just a regular evaluation by a psychiatrist where they would ask you a lot of questions about your experiences with moods, etc.

I think because mood swings could point to so many different things, one of the keys pdocs look for is how long each mood episode lasts. There are people who ultra-rapid cycle, but for the most part they would be lasting about a week, I think. Also, if moods changes are frequent and triggered by environmental goings on around you, or if they appear more randomly and then stay with you for days on end.

It sounds like you have issues with irritability, which can be a sign of hypomania (I say hypo because from what you describe I'm not seeing full-blown mania), but I think it needs to co-occur with other symptoms at the same time.

But it's super-complicated and everyone's experience is different, so your pdoc will hopefully help you determine this. I think the mood charts and bringing in questions and experiences could really help. Sometimes it takes them a long time to make a diagnosis; some pdocs don't just go on verbal history, but want to see you in an episode themselves. Or maybe talk to your therapist, if you have one.

There was a recent thread, I can't remember what it was called, about people's experiences with episodes, you might want to look for that, it has some pretty detailed descriptions.