[thisman1234]

Hi everyone and thanks if you take the time to answer my question

i know this forum is not a replacement and i am getting help but i would like some opinions on bipolar

i was diagnosed a few years back with major depression and my dad and. My a few relatives on my moms side has bipolar. But for the past year iv had trouble sleeping i cant get to bed until 4 am some night and wake up at 6 am then there are times i normally go to bed around 11pm but i will sleep in until 7 or 8 pm.

There are times my moods bounce around i can be happy one minute and the next I'm throwing stuff and saying things i don't mean. then i get depressed all in a matter of minutes.

i try to control but i spend way past my means this year alone iv gotten close to 3,000 in credit card debit.i make payments but then go back out and blow the money.

i have engaged in a few risky sexual behaviors and then get depressed once iv done it.

Sometimes i can feel My moods starting to shift and i try to change it but its like im not in control of who i am.

Iv been told i get defensive a lot over the weirdest things. Im 22 and a guy

just looking for opinons my doc said it could be bipolar or borderline personality disorder

[BipolaRNurse]

You really need to see a mental health professional for this one.

Unfortunately, we are of limited assistance to you because we can't diagnose you here, or really even take an educated guess at what's going on with you. Bipolar is such an odd duck, and it's hard to diagnose when symptoms are as vague as what you've described here.

The good news is, not everything that looks bipolar really IS bipolar, and trust me, you don't want this diagnosis if you have something that can be better explained by a different label, or no label at all.

Wishing the best of luck to you in finding out what's going on.

[thisman1234]

Thanks and i know forums cant play doctor was just hopeing maybe someone else has had these problems and can give me advice on how to handle until i have my psychologist appointment in a few weeks i guess I'm just curious as to what mental illness could cause something like lately my moods change so fast. i literal change moods in a few minutes ill be happy then angry then sad then tired and it starts back up again and its gotten more frequent the last few months

[A Red Panda]

Like said above, I can't diagnose. But I do have a question!

You said a few years ago that you were diagnosed with major depression - are you currently on anti-depressants? If you are on anti-depressants, that COULD explain the major changes you've noticed since starting them. For a lot of people who have bipolar (and for some people who do not) SSRI's can send you into a (hypo)manic episode. If you've been taking meds for the entire duration, it could explain why you've been not sleeping much at all for a year.

Bipolar is also something which can have an onset at pretty much any age - and usually it's started out with depressive episodes for a while first. At least that's what I've read.

Either way, I hope that you have an appointment with a psychiatrist as well as the psychologist? As it's the psychiatrist who will be able to help you out with meds and who needs to come up with a diagnosis before they'll help with that. It sounds like if nothing else, you need some help getting sleep!

[thisman1234]

yep I'm going to see both in a few weeks and yea iv been on antidepressants since diagnosed but my doctor has to keep switching them every so often because i guess i become resistant to them after a while. right now I'm on celexa and buspar and doxe-pin if that matters at all.

So i know your not doctors but if it were you what would you do would it be a good idea to slowly come off them until my appoinment or should i just stick with them until then?

[A Red Panda]

I'd stay with what you're on until you see your docs. If they're already starting to suspect bipolar, then maybe bring up with them the anti-depressants and that you want off them.

Two different soft-signs seem to be either having anti-depressants sending you into an UP phase, and/or being pretty resistant to anti-d's. Some pdocs believe in those things, others don't. It's not a solid yes/no thing really.

If nothing else, I'd probably be asking your pdoc to help you get off the meds and maybe find some alternatives. This is JUST me though. My GP put me on anti-depressants (as I didn't really disclose all my stuff) and it sent me right into a hypomanic episode... that had me, I think 6 weeks later, back in her office (she'd wanted a check up right from the start) and I pretty much walked in and said "I am not going to keep taking this!", told her why, and she just went "ok. We'll reduce you down to 50mg again and then take them every other day."

[Victoria'smom]

I just want to say hi and welcome!

[faerie_moon_x]

I agree you need to see a psychiatrist or psychologist on this. But, your thing about how you're in a good mood then suddenly throwing things then depressed, I have a question. Does this always happen by a relationship trigger? This one was a red flag for me.

I'm an ultradian cycler and I can cycle very fast in 1 day and it's normally trigger based when it happens. However, triggers can be anythign from bad traffic to being asked directions. Yes, relationship is one. But, if it's always relationship that makes me wonder about BPD. You could have a mix bipolar and BPD but that one jsut made me wonder.

Again, just caught my eye, I'm not a doc, but something good for you to consider when talking to a doc. Anyway. Welcome to the forum!

[oncewasara]

Originally Posted by thisman1234

Hi everyone and thanks if you take the time to answer my question

i know this forum is not a replacement and i am getting help but i would like some opinions on bipolar

i was diagnosed a few years back with major depression and my dad and. My a few relatives on my moms side has bipolar. But for the past year iv had trouble sleeping i cant get to bed until 4 am some night and wake up at 6 am then there are times i normally go to bed around 11pm but i will sleep in until 7 or 8 pm.

There are times my moods bounce around i can be happy one minute and the next I'm throwing stuff and saying things i don't mean. then i get depressed all in a matter of minutes.

i try to control but i spend way past my means this year alone iv gotten close to 3,000 in credit card debit.i make payments but then go back out and blow the money.

i have engaged in a few risky sexual behaviors and then get depressed once iv done it.

Sometimes i can feel My moods starting to shift and i try to change it but its like im not in control of who i am.

Iv been told i get defensive a lot over the weirdest things. Im 22 and a guy

just looking for opinons my doc said it could be bipolar or borderline personality disorder

Sounds like bipolar! I'm a 36 yr old woman who 10 years ago was diagnosed with BOTH! BPD you can learn to cope with and work through with the right therapist. Dialectical something Its literally a workbook to change certain behaviors with BPD . But your symptoms explained sound just like mine. I have rapid cycling bipolar. it takes a while to find the right meds that will work for you, and maybe many different Dr.s. I wish you the best. It is hell. I'm not a DR by any means!

[thisman1234]

Originally Posted by faerie_moon_x

I agree you need to see a psychiatrist or psychologist on this. But, your thing about how you're in a good mood then suddenly throwing things then depressed, I have a question. Does this always happen by a relationship trigger? This one was a red flag for me.

I'm an ultradian cycler and I can cycle very fast in 1 day and it's normally trigger based when it happens. However, triggers can be anythign from bad traffic to being asked directions. Yes, relationship is one. But, if it's always relationship that makes me wonder about BPD. You could have a mix bipolar and BPD but that one jsut made me wonder.

Again, just caught my eye, I'm not a doc, but something good for you to consider when talking to a doc. Anyway. Welcome to the forum!

yea it seems to happen when someone is argueing with me more then anything but allso when i get frustrated

like one time someone asked me to jump start there car ok no big deal well there car refused to start up i ended up kicking my car and busted the headlight then got all depressed over breaking the headlight then went back to working on it in a really short time frame id say less then 15 min.when i get like this iv been told im extremely scary its like I'm someone else
and

i will be staying on the meds until i have my appointment i would love to find something else besides all these pills

thanks to all who have answered

[thisman1234]

Originally Posted by oncewasara

Sounds like bipolar! I'm a 36 yr old woman who 10 years ago was diagnosed with BOTH! BPD you can learn to cope with and work through with the right therapist. Dialectical something Its literally a workbook to change certain behaviors with BPD . But your symptoms explained sound just like mine. I have rapid cycling bipolar. it takes a while to find the right meds that will work for you, and maybe many different Dr.s. I wish you the best. It is hell. I'm not a DR by any means!

interesting if you don't mind me asking what is rapid cycling like? The way i understand it they just cycle faster than other forms of bipolar im really curious as thats what my dad is but he moved out years ago and its a very touchy subject with him

[ultramar]

i can be happy one minute and the next I'm throwing stuff and saying things i don't mean. then i get depressed all in a matter of minutes.

This would be highly unusual in the case of bipolar. It sounds like your pdoc isn't ready to make a definitive diagnosis. I would stick with him/her, give it some time, and see what you two come up with as far as diagnosis and treatment. I'm of the mind that, regardless of what it is, therapy can be a huge help with any flavor of mood dysregulation. Good luck!

[ultramar]

For the record, from WebMD (though I've read this exact paragraph in many descriptions of rapid cycling):

Rapid cycling is a pattern of symptoms in bipolar disorder. In rapid cycling, a person with bipolar disorder experiences four or more episodes of mania or depression in one year.

Big difference between 4 or more episodes a year and every few minutes. If you read up on bipolar, you see that moods changing within minutes, constantly by the hour, etc. is precisely a marker for *ruling out* bipolar disorder.

That said, I suppose one could go through times like this and also have bipolar episodes in addition, but it would be a separate issue --medication snafu, additional disorder, etc., etc.

[faerie_moon_x]

I'm an ultradian cycler (think rapid cycling on speed.) So, I cycle very fast but I have a pattern no doubt. My cycles last about 3-5 days on average. However, with triggers I can have mulitple cycles in one day. "Every few minutes" is more than I would experience though.

Also, I used to think I was flipping multiple times in a day but that's before I learned I have mixed states. So, it's very hard to tell my mood very often. One tends to be more pronounced but both are present. I have very few days in between. Mixed and ultradian bipolar are a bit different than "classic case" scenarios.

This is a very good article writen by a psychiatrist. The charts are especially interesting to me. The first chart shows mixes states at points D and C (I experience both those, both aggitated depression and manic stupor, which learning a word for it was awesome.) The second graph showing the cycling speed is interesting as well.

Rapid cycling and mixed states as "Waves"

Seeing a psychiatrist to figure this all out is very important, so I wish you luck on that.