[lenjan]

For 9 years, my dx has been recurrent major depression and PTSD. But for the last few months, and especially the last 6 weeks or so, I have had such different feelings than just plain depression.

So I read the symptoms, and I took both the bipolar and mania quizzes, and I scored off the charts on both of them. I have been feeling like my meds have just quit, and I have all these new feelings I don't know what to do with.

Is it possible, after years of being plain-vanilla depressed, to switch over to bipolar? Because I've never dealt with this so severely before. I'm speeded up and lethargic at the same time. I don't have the grandiose feelings or anything, but my brain is going a million miles a minute and I have either more energy than I ever remember having, or none at all. (For example -- Saturday I was up at 6 a.m., and by 11 a.m. I had done laundry, dishes, vacuumed, grocery shopped, gone to the library, gone to the post office, and gotten gas. Sunday? I didn't even get dressed.)

I'm just confused, and I can't see a pdoc till jan. 3, which only sounds not so far away if you aren't living in my head right now!

Just curious. When I was inpatient a couple of years ago, the hospital pdoc suggested to mine (who didn't do inpatient) that I might be bipolar II, but that doesn't seem to be fitting me here, and my pdoc never really gave it any credence. But I seriously have felt over the last several weeks that I am going absolutely 100 percent totally insane.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Candy

for years i was diagnosed as major clinically depressed. then i was changed to bipolarII and now it looks like it's going back to major depression??????????? what to do???????? be sure you let the doctor know EVERYTHING about your symptoms so there is no rush to judgment. i would beg doctors to help me for 30 years and now we're back where we started........

be insistent that the DX is thoroughly worked out and that you're comfortable with it.......good luck.

[gwen26]

hi,
years ago i was diagnosed severly depressed but it was not until this year i was diagnosed with bipolar II with psychosis. i believe it is possible that bipolar stems from depression. the net is a good way to research this and also speaking to your doctor. it is also possbile to build up tolerance to certain meds; so you might just need to increase your dosage. i'm on zoloft and risperdal; they both work together and my racing thoughts decreased significantly. hope to hear you are doing better.
gwen

I was treated for unipolar depression for about 35 years & was diagnosed with bipolar 1 about 5 years ago. My mother had bipolar (anyone in your family have it?--there's a strong genetic component). My manias were not out of control--just feeling really, really good, becoming very active, loads of self-esteem, spending money like crazy, full of great ideas, some agitation, pacing--couldn't keep still, sleeping only about 3 hours a night but feeling like I didn't need any more sleep, etc. Since I didn't have a full-blown mania I wondered why I was classified with bp 1 instead of 2. It is because I had a mixed episode & had delusional thinking while depressed (paranoia, irrational thoughts).

Now that I'm on meds for bipolar I'm so much better. All those years I kept trying different AD's & they would work for about 6-8 weeks (actually send me into a hypo mania), then I would crash into another deep depression. I was going to my family doc for this. When I was finally sent to a pdoc, that's when my true dx came out. So, yes, you can have depressive episodes most of your life & out of the blue have a manic or hypo manic episode which then would classify you as bp.

Good luck. Be patient with finding the right meds. Took me about a year to find the right combo.--Suzy

[complic8d]

I too had been diagnosed major depressive disorder for years, then last year I "became" bipolar 2. We started noticing that some of the "good" times were more like hypomania, lot of the racing thoughts, energy, doing everything. (2 months ago I impulsively adopted a kitten, and I love her). Now instead of just being on antidepressants they add a mood stabilizing agent (right now it's the atypical antipsychotic Geodon). I'm not doing too well right now, in the depression area, so I'm not sure what it will be next.
Anyway, yes, you can be "switched" from unipolar depression to bipolar. Take care. HUGS!

You might talk to your doc about Lamictal. It has helped me a lot in the depression dept. & I hear that from a lot of other people as well.--Suzy