[nehalemqueen]

I'd dealt with anxiety and emotional problems from childhood, and when I was sixteen or so a child psychiatrist first brought up 'bipolar', but my parents didn't accept that diagnosis and it took another decade to get the right diagnosis, finally. I think, though, that I've shown bipolar symptoms my whole life-not sleeping for days, restless agitation, racing thoughts, and depression so deep that I couldn't function for sometimes weeks at a shot. I know that they haven't labelled kids as bipolar often until very recently, and even today I know that some doctors don't think it should be a condition diagnosed in childhood--i definitely had those symptoms, though. What about everybody else?

Welcome to PC, nehalemqueen!

A lot of people show signs from a young age. However the professional community tends to not make a diagnosis until at earliest late teens. I think for me I started really to show signs about the time I was 15 or 16 personally. Diagnosis wasn't until my 20s however.

Best wishes

[TheatreKid]

Mood symptoms started when I was around 15. I started showing "magical beliefs" that maybe could be called psychosis probably around age 12, I believed that if I had a picture of someone in a frame, that person could spy on me through their picture. (This is before Harry Potter came out.) or that friends and family could spy on me by seeing through my eyes whenever they wanted to, usually while I was thinking about them. Sometimes this bothered me, but for a while I was in love with Baby Spice and I thought she was watching me through the poster in my sister's room, which I liked.

[Polibeth]

I think I started showing symptoms at age 12, but diagnosed at 28.

[Curiosity77]

I first had symptoms at around age 10 or 11. It was depression and suicidal thoughts. I didn't get the diagnosis until i was 29 though. Lots of years of knowing something was wrong, but not knowing what.

[Blue_Bird]

Around 12, not diagnosed until last year at age 19.

[pawn78]

13 showing symptoms. Diagnosed at 19, but it was unclear, diagnosed at 32, unmistakable mania. Bipolar 1

[BetwixtRealms]

When I was 10 or 11 when I had my first manic episode - it was the catalyst that got my parents to start seeking treatment. I was diagnosed and on meds by 13.

If I think back though, depressive episodes pepper all my memories. Even younger I remember withdrawing for days at a time and thinking of self-harm. I have always been described as "emotional," "pensive," and "moody" by my family.

I know that many professionals think children shouldn't be diagnosed but at least for me I see several benefits to an early awareness. I may not have initially implemented the tools I learned but as an adult it is a source I think I unconsciously pull from.

[BipolaRNurse]

I started having night terrors right around age 6 (one of the symptoms of BP in young children) then proceeded to full-blown depression and suicidal ideation at 10. Spent some time on and off what I think were antidepressants when I was about 13 and no one could find anything physically wrong with me.....I remember some of the meds they tried made me sick to my stomach, or sleepy, or dizzy, or wired. Finally the doctors gave up and I got better on my own.

The manic side began in my late teens/early 20s I think. Of course, I can look back on this now and know what it was all about, but at the time I just drank like a fish and masked it. In my late 30s my whole family thought I was "mental" but didn't have the courage to say it (I could be a little intimidating, especially when manic). Finally I was diagnosed a little over 2 years ago, at age 53.

[inflammable]

I probably starting showing symptoms at around 11. Diagnosed at 18.

[Slovensko1]

Originally Posted by blwi3310

Welcome to PC, nehalemqueen!

A lot of people show signs from a young age. However the professional community tends to not make a diagnosis until at earliest late teens. I think for me I started really to show signs about the time I was 15 or 16 personally. Diagnosis wasn't until my 20s however.

Best wishes

Very true, I was 13 when diagnosed, And of course was in denial, I had 3 doctors diagnose me with Bi Polar manic depression, I have recently discovered why people like myself cannot Go off their medication, I recently had the bright idea that maybe those doctors were wrong, you know, the 90's were the decade that a pill solved everything. Well, I have become a monster without my meds, Not physically violent towards anyone, But hatred and anomosity towards everyone I love, blowing up over the dumbest things, punching walls and any object I could find at the moment, thoughts and actions suicide, severe happy sad moments, the smallest thing would turn that happy moment into a nightmare, I have recently gone back on my meds, I know this is off of the topic, but please anyone reading this, don't believe for a second that you are fine when you go off of medication, I am Bi Polar I know that now.

[Skitz13]

I'm from a small farm town and I started showing symptoms when I was about 10 which was right after my parents separating. The doc said it was just a reaction to my situation. By the time I was 14 I had my first of many suicide attempts. At that point I was "attention seeking". Once I was an adult the episodes were getting worse and had moved to a big city. It was at that time I was diagnosed with BP.

[Dix888]

Extreme insomnia all my life. Parents said "if one jot of light hit your face, you'd cry & be awake all night." I remember clearly being age 7, not sleeping for weeks & wanting to die. Then going into euphoria where I thought trees understood me. Told my father when I was 15 "I have this, it's manic-depression" while reading a book about Lord Byron, the poet who had severe manic-dep. Was misdiagnosed at 18 as having paranoid schizophrenia but I'd been suffering insomnia for months & had hallucinations from lack of sleep. Finally diag. at age 46! Now on good meds so I can usually sleep well

[wildflowerchild25]

It's hard for me to say when bipolar came out...I've had emotional issues my whole life. Horrible anxiety as far as I can remember. Depression from age ten, but I had a reason - my dad died. In fact that drove a lot of my symptoms I feel. I didn't have true bipolar symptoms that could not be attributed to anything else until age 25; at least that's how I feel. But I've had so much trauma in my life it's hard to untangle it all. Looking back I see things that could be bipolar much earlier...

[r010159]

11 years old

[pawn78]

My oldest daughter is turning 6 soon, and she is already showing signs that both my wife and I have noticed. Extreme mood swings, extraordinary tantrums, intense energy. And I don't mean "normal" tantrums and energy for her age. Even her friends and other parents noticed her intensity.
I don't mind at all. I love her no matter what she might have, she takes after her old dad.
My youngest daughter is the opposite, very mellow and overall happy kid. She is more like my wife.

Obviously it is too early to tell anything, but my oldest daughter's personality is eerily similar to my own. Bipolar runs strong in my family. My dad is type 1, sister is type 2.

[MJH4040]

I started showing symptoms right around the onset of puberty. I would say around age 12-13. I wasn't diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder until I was around 20. Seeing as though I also was diagnosed with OCD, I can remember having symptoms of that starting as early as Elementary School.