Did you get a formal diagnosis?

The therapist I used to see diagnosed me with Bipolar II last August. I never had a formal test done though, is that important? Did you ever doubt your diagnosis? Maybe it's just denial, but I remember thinking that it didn't seem very... concrete that she was able to diagnose me just by talking, after asking me some questions. Like what if my idea of "racing thoughts" is different than what they mean in the medical books? In the forums I read about people having hypomanic episodes but I've never felt euphoric. Sometimes I get a rush that makes me feel goofy and silly and I can't help but crack up at things that aren't really funny, but they never last long, maybe 10 min. Generally I'm either irritated or melancholy. The antidepressants have helped I haven't felt down in a long time but I've been irritated for months now and it's getting old. I feel frustrated when family members start a long conversation with me when I'm clearly trying to focus on home work because it is so hard for me to focus as it is. Then I feel like a jerk because getting mad when someone is talking to me is ridiculous. I take Lamictal but it doesn't feel like it's working as well as it should be. Anyway I'm probably way off topic by now thanks for listening.

If you doubt your diagnosis, get a second opinion, however, there is no "test" for bipolar disorder. It is all done by what symptoms you have. From what you are saying it sounds like me when I'm in a mixed episode. I have not patience and am very irritable. Of course, only a professional can diagnose you properly.

I fully believe my therapist sees 'me' better than my psychiatrist and i totally have trouble believing I have bipolar, even after getting dx'd at least four times. Talk to your therapist about why the bipolar disorder and not something else like _______? Who is prescribing the lamictal and antidepressant?

Have you ever been tested for ADHD? It's supposed to be common with bipolar and you said you have trouble concentrating. I was psychotic in my last pdoc's office and she diagnosed me as bipolar NOS. I hate that diagnosis because if I was having paranoid delusions etc why wouldn't it be bipolar I??

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

Thick and tired- you don't need paranoid delusions or any psychotic issues to be dx'd with bipolar.

From my understanding the difference between bipolar 1 and 11 is psychotic features.

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

I did get a formal dx bpII - it was about 5 yrs with same pdoc. "Med-resistant recurring depression" yadda yadda... Then those periods where I thought I controlled the weather (so what big deal), and went from miss prudence to inappropriate sexually, over spending... I still totally question it all the time cuz I don't think those things are that weird really. I just always saw it as hey girls gotta cut loose sometimes! Then my bad depression crash happens & that's when I really need help, and the family history of suicide... So I take the lamictal until I feel better. This anti-depressant you're on - sounds horrible. I've taken some things that made me really irritable, it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe she thinks you're in a mixed state depression with big agitation. That med is not helping you. I hope you'll tell them to give you something else or try something else.

Actually the difference between Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2 besides the psychotic features (and you can have bipolar 1 without psychotic features as well) is the fact that bipolar 1 is full blown mania and which bipolar 2 is hypomania without it reaching full mania. The depressions happen in both. Yes even though I didn't have formal testing to diagnose me, after awhile several doctors I have been to have all agreed on schizoaffective bipolar type. They diagnosed me based on observations of my symptoms over a period of time. But in the hospital when I went in earlier this year they diagnosed me with bipolar 1 with psychotic features. The thing is though I was in for just a day under 2 weeks which is not enough for a true diagnosis. He saw me for 5-10 minutes a day.

My therapist would suggest meds and I would get the Rx from my doctor. I stopped seeing the therapist because I couldn't afford it anymore; after that my doctor would adjust or replace the meds as needed.

Thickntired-
I haven't been tested for ADHD, but that is a good idea. I've never heard of bipolar NOS, what is that?

I was originally diagnosed with Bipolar I and bounced around pdocs awhile until I found one who seems to know her head from a hole in the ground. She changed my dx from Bipolar I to Schizoaffective Bipolar Type.

He may have seen you for short periods of time, but the staff is who mainly observe and note your behavior and actions. Maybe they saw something?

Definition: An abbreviation for the medical term "not otherwise specified". NOS is used as a broad-based diagnostic category, for instance "depression NOS. " The choice of the NOS diagnosis means that the diagnosing doctor believes that the patient's problems fall into a particular family of disorders (e.g., depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, etc.) but that there is not enough information at the time of diagnosis to better specify the type of disorder.

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

I was in outpatient group therapy for 7 weeks in May & June 2011. At that time I discussed with my ex pdoc whether I might have bp2 or not. (It was my idea - not his). The therapy group was made up of people with major depressive disorder (my dx at the time) and people with bp. I related to what some of the people with bp were saying. He put me on lithium and nothing changed, from my perspective, so after 8 months, I quit taking it. I decided I probably didn't have bp, because the lithium did nothing for me.
Shortly after I quit taking lithium in early 2012 my pdoc moved home to India and for 15 months I had no pdoc. (No pdocs in town were able to take new patients - we have a doctor shortage).
I found a new pdoc this year, and I asked that my files from my old pdoc would be transferred to him.
So I saw the new pdoc, and after 3 visits, he told me that I have bp2. I wondered why he said that. On my last visit 2 weeks ago, I asked him how he arrived at that dx. Did he just read my old chart and see that lithium was prescribed? He replied that it was from what I told him myself, and from his personal observation. He said that he never received my old chart.
So at first I dx myself. Then 2 -1/2 years later it was confirmed by an official dx from a pdoc.

Well I was manic while I was there. I was singing and dancing, getting up at 2 AM each day, talking extremely quickly jumping from subject to subject and once one other person in the hospital was also manic and couldn't sleep either and we accidentally woke everyone up in the ward. I think that is what they based it off of. Also I was psychotic when I was there, sometimes getting as bad as yelling and screaming at the voices and terrified that someone was going to kill me at that very moment.

Wow! I would say that it made at least some of your diagnosis easier. I know I'm bipolar II even though my pdoc at the PHP just has me down as MDD, severe, recurrent, no psychosis. But all you need is one episode of hypo lasting, I believe more than 4 days to be diagnosed. The time before I think I was from about June - October of 2012. But I guess since I was not professionally observed, they disregard it. The state I used to live in, my pdoc never ruled out. Bipolar. I don't know why the pdoc does not discuss this with me.