[lilithmoon]

I was diagnosed with gad. But I think its bipolar. I have both when I read up on them. Psych saw me twice and said I dont have bipolar...but my sister has it.... its hereditary. Could I have 2 disorders, or are these symptoms the same and its only GAD? Please help

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[jesusplay]

I had GAD and Bipolar.

THey aren't hard to confuse.

I've seen 14 mental health providers this past year and they all ted to focus moreo n the bipolar since it's more serious and forget about my GAD.

Get a second opinion, reading stuff on the internet doesn't make you whatever you think you are.....well it can lol.

Try to distinguish what is anxiety behaviour and what you suspect is manic behaviour. Record your symptoms. Many anxious symptoms can be mistaken for mania (racing thoughts, paranoia, too much energy, not being able to sit still, unusual behaviour, regrets, not sleeping etc). There is a difference between the two, I find it quite easy to distinguish, if you cant you may be getting confused with what you are experiencing.

[Rapunzel]

It is possible to have both, and it is also possible for one to look a lot like the other sometimes. Anxiety goes along with a lot of mood disorders. One difference is that GAD tends to be most of the time, while bipolar has distinct episodes of depression and mania and during those episodes people can notice that you are not like you usually are. It is ok to ask the person treating you why they don't think you have bipolar disorder. They should be able to explain it and if they missed something you will have the chance to explain what they missed. Either that, or you will have a better understanding of your diagnosis. It's always good to ask questions if you aren't sure about something.

[AnxietyGirl916]

I have both an anxiety disorder and bipolar II. I think it's hard sometimes to see where one ends and the other begins.

[lilithmoon]

Thanks all. Im most concerned about this anger and rage iiget all of a sudden when my husband says something to set me off. I flip out. Feeling like I cant calm down. And depressed feelings. Sleeping too much daytime, cant sleep at night. I have always had these "mood swings" where I seem to overreact

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Are you in therapy? No matter what your diagnosis is, therapy will help, especially with your reactions to triggers.

So far the symptoms you described are present in many different mental disorders. I suggest trying to get your sleep routine right, that will make a difference to your life and moods. Melatonin was helpful for me to get back into the sleeping at night routine. I cannot stress enough how important it is to sleep right long term, a bad sleep pattern could easily be causing all of your symptoms.

[IndieVisible]

It's hard to sort out quickly, could take years.

I have BP1, SAD, GAD, ADHD.

For me the hardest is GAD. The thing that works best for me (benzos) docs don't want to give me for very long and any thing else is very little effective. Zoloft helps a lot and got rid of all my SAD, but not my GAD.

And being BP we get the stereotype that we are all drug abusers, alcoholics, and will have sex with any one. That's the first question I get asked when I see a new doc, do I do drugs and alcohol. Sure I was all that when I was younger, but I'm 58 now and all I do is drink moderately and no sex. Yet I still have to deal with that crap. I feel like saying just give me the damn benzos and shut the F up.

Good luck to you!

[Tagless]

It is possible to have both GAD and Bipolar. However, if both, then it is difficult to judge whether you have anxiety as a result of the Bipolar or if it manifests on its own. I noticed you are from Canada (so am I) so we do have free health care, so I'd recommend you get a doctor's opinion (by psych did you mean psychologist or psychiatrist?) even just at a walk in clinic, if you're having hypomanic/manic symptoms to go and elaborate on it and the doctor there can screen you properly. There are a variety of good books on Bipolar disorder out there, I'm not sure if I can recommend my favourite on here, but a lot of the ones I've read are very enlightening

[lilithmoon]

I dont know how to get my sleep schedule on track. I cant sleep at night bc I napped, I cant get up early... I will ignore or totally not hear alarms some days.im depressed, so if im up early I nap later on even when I know I shouldnt. And I am a mom ..single so I have no where to go to stay busy and I feellike if my baby nas, my older ones watch tv play video games and I get to sleep and ignore life a bit. Then in the evening they r in bed and I get met time.but its not good bc my son has prek in a.m. and my 10 yr old gets himself off to school bc my hb did that but he moved out Monday.

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[lilithmoon]

My sister has bipolar slept a lot, naps still and I know its hereditary. I was told gad although I told the psych. It was in my family. She didnt see me much and them moved away. I have a dr appointment thurs.

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You have to be strict with yourself. Sleeping like that will definitely be affecting your mental health, most people dont realise just how important it is to sleep right - especially with bipolar!

As suggested Melatonin will help you sleep at night, but you must not sleep during the day. It feels hard when you are depressed but it does pay off, sometimes it takes a few months to get into a good routine but dont give up! There are some calming herbal teas or over the counter sleep suppliments that can be helpful. Sleeping too much or not enough will cause depression, anxiety and even mania.

Definitely resist sleeping during the day!

I have both GAD and bipolar type 1 …. for me, GAD is a pervasive presence that is ongoing on a daily basis. I am rapid cycling bipolar type 1 and my mood episodes hit me like a bus. I became disabled due to my bipolar disorder while I was managing to get by with GAD. I can easily distinguish the two - both are unpleasant (to say the least) and I hope you feel better soon.

[lilithmoon]

Thanks everyone. ?. I will try but I dont feel strong. Sleeping pattern is in bad habit

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[Rapunzel]

It is hard, and to some extent it is a matter of holding yourself to what you know is good for you with sleep schedule. There are some things that you can do. Light and dark are a much more significant factor than they get credit for. Light (particularly the blue part of the spectrum) is the signal to your brain to make and release the chemicals that wake you up. So, you need to get exposure to bright light early in the morning. Natural daylight is the real thing. You can make it a point to get outside every day for at least 20 minutes before 10 a.m. It is harder in the winter when it is cold, and seems like if it is stormy or cloudy it isn't light enough anyway, but the light is there (unless you are way up north), and it does make it through the clouds. Or you can get a bright light (the kind made for SAD) that you can use indoors. Bipolar disorder is affected by light and sleep cycle too, but I don't think that we think about it as much. And everybody has a circadian rhythm, some on a schedule that is working better for them than others. I don't know how anyone can have kids and not have their circadian rhythm disturbed.

Dark is as important as light, maybe even more so if you have bipolar disorder. Dark is the signal to your brain to make melatonin, the chemical that helps you relax and sleep. If you are not going to bed before midnight, you are not making enough melatonin. Light exposure in the late evening interferes with melatonin production. Yellow light is okay, so you can use a lamp or fixture with a yellow light bulb if you need to do something at night. One of the best things that you can do to regulate bipolar disorder is to eliminate exposure to blue spectrum light after 10 p.m. Even if you are manic and not sleeping, make sure to get your dark time (or even start it at 8 p.m.) because that will restore your balance in the way that it is off at that time. I'm sure that it isn't easy, but if you can do it, it will work.

I have alarms to remind me when it is bedtime. You can also use an alarm to limit naps to no more than 15-20 minutes (if you don't go into REM sleep, the nap is much less likely to interfere with sleep at night). It isn't easy, but you can build routines and discipline yourself to follow your routines. Involve the kids. Explain that it is something you need to do so that you can be happy, feel better, be a good mom, ..., and it is good for them also. You can have little variations and exceptions, but the more you stick to a routine even on weekends or when you have less structured days, the better it will work. I don't have bipolar disorder, but I do have SAD, and I'm not good at following through with this stuff either, but I know that I feel better when I do.

If you want to work on routines, Flylady.net is really helpful. (Helps with organizing and cleaning up, but the best thing I learned from her was how to set up routines for myself to do the things that I know I need to do. You have to start simple, with maybe three things you do before bedtime and three things that you do in the morning, and build on it slowly when you have the routines established. If you try to change everything all at once you will not keep it up.)

[lilithmoon]

Thanks so much!

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