Is it possible for bipolar to disappear?

I've always questioned my diagnosis. I was 32 when I was diagnosed with MDD. That was easy to accept and lived for years battling depression. When i was 42 I started acting out of character, flirting, high energy, ect. It lasted for a couple of years, caused my divorce after 24 years, affair with much younger man and many other things including drinking. I slipped back in depression and that lasted until I was 49 and again I started acting out in the same way as before for about 2 two year. Current husband put up with me and my acting out included sexual acting out. Now I've been depressed for 2 years and am 61.

My doctor just down graded my diagnosis from BP1 to BP2. Is is normal to go so long between highs? If I don't have any more highs does that mean I'm not bipolar anymore. Was I every truly bipolar? I know that no one here can diagnose me here but just thought somebody might comment on their experience. I'm just so confused because I've never been this depressed for this long and nothing is working.

I hope this makes some since. I seemed to started rambling. Sorry.

I think you have already answered some of your questions. You are having cycles that are not normal and very destructive in your life, that also came at a huge cost. BP2 is usually found in a depressed state of mind. Hypomania can be uncommon, but does not need to be this way. This is according to my Internet sources.

As far as "getting over" BP, there is a reason they call asymptomatic BP as being "in remission". But as you get older, the cycles can change IMO to being less or more frequent.

FWIW

tucson

It looks like you may be someone who just has looooong cycles. If your highs only lasted for a month or so and the lows for years, I might say differently, but you said you had a least two distinct periods of highs that lasted a couple of years each. So I think for you it's just te way it goes.

I felt the same way except my cycles are very short - two weeks max - but I hadn't been hypomanic since august even when I was off meds for six weeks. But here I am hypo again!

I don't think Bipolar disappears. This is a life long illness. There will be good days, good months, and good years. This all varies for each individual.
Personally I tell myself this is a battle I will most likely face my whole lifetime, I just pray that the brighter better times outweigh the gloomy painful times.

I think it's part of human nature to question a diagnosis that is lifelong. I have fought my diagnosis ever sense it was suggested 20 years ago. I believe that it will never go away. I have hope that I can get my moods to where I can function appropriately in this world, that is very unfriendly to invisible disorders that exist in the mind.

I'm deep in the downs and as I get older I find my cycles are faster. I hate the depressions because I can't maintain and I'm on the verge of losing everything right now if I can't work.

Are you sure it wasnt some kind of midlife crisis? I dont know your story besides what you have shared here and thats what stands out for me.

In saying that, I havent been proper hypomanic for years. My meds do their job to keep that away but the hormone related depression is another story. IMO my depression now is caused but hormones and unrelated directly to the bipolar. Could have hormones had an effect on your behaviour at any time? They can make some people appear "manic". Im diagnosed as BPII so I have a hell of a lot more and deeper depression than high times.

Keep in mind, if you dont need some meds they can work to keep you depressive. Be aware of what you are on and how it can be affecting your mood.

Goodluck, I hope you get some relief from depression soon.

My Doc at Pennsylvania Hospital (very prestigious Psych Institute) in 1992 told me that sometimes mood disorders burn themselves out. (I can't give you an answer on that. I wish they did.) I have heard of people who experience manic episodes with long dormant periods in-between.

This is a book which got a lot of high acclaim in the 90's which was written by a Dr. who is manic-depressive. I can't recall how often her mania occurred but she chronicles it pretty well. Another person who wrote about her illness was Patty Duke. Carrie Fisher has also talked about her BP in Psychology Today.

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness: Kay Redfield Jamison: 9780679763307: Amazon.com: Books

From the intro to BP that can be found on this website:

On average, a person is free of symptoms for about five years between the first and second episodes. As time goes on, the interval between episodes may shorten, especially in cases in which treatment is discontinued too soon. It is estimated that a person with bipolar disorder will have an average of eight to nine mood episodes during his or her lifetime.

I hope this helps.

Thanks to all of you who replied. Hormones could have been a factor at the time. It just feels like the depression will never lift. Of course, I'm scared of manic episodes because I am so self-destrucive.

Cool9, I have in fact read An Unquiet Mind and read Carrie Fishers artical. I can't really relate to either, except for the depression. My manic symptoms seem to be different somehow.

Thank you again for the responses.

Eight or nine mood episodes in a lifetime?? I've had that many in two years.....God only knows how many I had before that.

I was practically symptom free for 8 year in what my hubs calls my "bipolar honeymoon" but then my symptoms came back with a vengeance. For me, and I am prone to mania (except when postpartum) and there can apparently be long breaks between episodes.

Hi Gayle. I have gone thru some of the same stuff you have. Infidelity, alcohol
abuse, etc. There's no set cycle for me. They say every one of us is different.
I have rapid cycled and been in the depths of depression for months. Guess it will finally leave when I do.

I did wonder if it was hormones in the beginning, because I new the doctor told me mine were not suficient. I took homone replacement therapy until I had breast cancer in 2002. Then they took me off the homones. Imginge Hot flashes and chemo at the same time.

Gayle, I was in remission for about 15 years but then, as you've read, I became manic this past June and July and have been in a depressive episode that has gotten very severe since early August. I now believe this illness is very real and permanent for me. I will always agree to take medication for it. The depressions scare me a lot.

I believe that when a person thinks they are "cured" of BP, this is wishful thinking. At best, I would call it remission.

It is possible to go a long period of time between manic episodes, I know because I have done that myself. Sometimes one can go years between episodes. But that doesn't change the Bipolar.

Sometimes if you had a trigger to start it and remove the trigger. I have been symptom free for years then relapsed. I'm not sure.

Bipolar is a life long illness and a person can be in remission for several years. I have frequent episodes so I have never experience a long remission before even though I'm on meds and having good coping skills.

I have been in remission for quite a while too and am experiencing a depressive episode at the moment.

It's the first one I've had since marrying my husband and he is struggling with the fact that my bipolar will never actually be cured, just be in remission. He talks in terms of when it goes away, and when I'm "all better"

Makes it really hard when I'm actually doing poorly at times and struggling to be the best I can at the time. I don't like sharing my moods with him because then the comments start about me not being "all better"

My husband is struggling with this about my illness at the moment. He seems to think that if I take my meds for a while, and attend all counselling sessions, then I'll be completely cured for the rest of my life. Like healing a broken leg.

One time my sister compared it to being an amputee. You never grow a new limb, but you do learn to adjust to it and pretty much just "live your life around it." I don't remember her exact words, really, but I think what she was trying to say, that although bipolar doesn't really "go away" but it is possible to live your life as best as you can.

I think this answers my question. The depression scares me, too. Mine right now is borderline from being simply depressed to deep depression where I start thinking of suicide. I haven't been in a good place in 2 years now. I take my medication faithfully. It's the only thing that keeps me alive.

ONCE A BIPOLAR - ALWAYS A BIPOLAR. By your descriptions of high-energy period behaviors, you've experienced manic (not simply hypomanic) episodes. Sorry I can't give you better news - but hey, why would I lie to you.

I believe from all I;ve read, you have condensed it very well. Sounds true. Thanks.

When I go manic, my BP always disappears!