What if you're not really bipolar?!

Sometimes, when my meds give me weird side effects, I have little episodes where I freak out thinking what if I'm not really bipolar and these meds are ruining my brain?! Which is ridiculous because my history of bipolar symptoms is clear.

I'm not thinking that way now, but I had a rough afternoon and tripped on that thought for a couple hours. I even googled what happens when non bipolar people take antipsychotic meds.

I'm wondering if you guys ever get it in your heads that you're not really bipolar and should quit your meds. I have no intention of quitting, as I said I feel the opposite now, I just wonder if it's a common experience. It happens to me occasionally, usually when I'm on the manic side.

You're not bipolar. You have bipolar.

I used to throw away my meds all the time thinking I wasn't bipolar. That led to hospitalization after hospitalization.......

And yes we're not bipolar, we have bipolar

Yes, very true. We have it.

Need that reminder sometimes.

I've wondered before if now I'd be okay off my meds, but then I think back to how bad things were and the thought passes.

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I wonder all the time, until I don't. I'm not doubting right now and need to get back on my medications soon.

I wonder sometimes, because a lot of my symptoms seem sometimes different from other people in the bipolar forum. The things I struggle with most are anxiety and obsessive thoughts. But they come and go in cycles. I've determined the anxiety/obsessive thoughts are my "depressive" episodes and my hypomania, well, that's a little more clear.

I know that bipolar meds help me a lot, so that must mean I have bipolar disorder. Also, I know that I'm not a typical person with OCD, because SSRIs (antidepressants) often make me hypomanic so I can't take them unless I'm severely depressed.

Maybe if you write down the reasons you KNOW you are bipolar, that will help you next time you question it? Post it on the fridge, maybe?

Only when I'm in serious need of a reality check.

Didn't want a reality check. Getting one anyways. Yup, no doubt about it. That beastie owns my ***.

Giggles.... I like the post, lol

I keep thinking the same thing......but I've got the PTSD under control so I'm weirdly stable......I'm not used to stable so keep thinking....what if it was justALL PTSD and the BP label was a mistake? but I'm not sure enough to risk going off the meds yet to find out

I normally feel this way when I have been stable for sometime. Then I stop my meds due to thinking I'm "cured"

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I'll tell you my experience. I think that, if you have issues, chances are if you don't have bipolar you have something else in any case. I don't think it's possible to have problems like those without having a mental illness of sorts.

Thing is, if you don't have bipolar but still have a mental issue, you wouldn't have any problems from taking antipsychotics. I have been misdiagnosed with bipolar for 10 years, when I found out I had BPD instead. I still take antipsychotics, so my meds have not changed that much.

I always go back and forth.

Currently in a denial stage again. Planning on testing my bipolarity with stimulants

I think I'm confused by it because the diagnosis hit me like a truck. It came out of nowhere and I don't know if I've had a hypomanic episode or not. Whenever I post my feelings online, sometimes people say I'm in a hypomanic episode. No idea though

Yeah I doubt it.

My problem is that whatever mood I'm in, I think I'm in that mood all of the time, and when I'm not that way I forget about it, until I feel that way again, and oh yeah! I've felt this way before!

So I don't recognize things as even being certain things until someone brings it to my attention.

After repeatedly being diagnosed (it's ridiculous how many times!) as having bipolar I'm just going with it. It's better than spending another seven years angsting about what's wrong with me.

But yeah, I understand the med thing. I'd go off mine if it wasn't for the withdrawal aspect.

I mean, my meds don't seem to be working very well anyway.

I need to do this!!
I'm always talking myself out of my diagnonsense. Thank you!

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One of my closer friends was diagnosed with Bipolar Type II as a teenager. She stopped taking meds due to the side effects in her early 20s.

Recently, she was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety disorder & PTSD. She was very surprised to find that her new psychiatrist didn't find that she met the criteria for Bipolar. She's still struggling to find the right med combination- so any positive thoughts you can send her way would be great.

I accept that I have Bipolar. I've had thoughts, "are my meds necessary?" I think it's part of the route to accepting what you have- it's normal to question it. If you keep having those reoccuring thoughts, I'd definitely bring it to the attention of your p-doc.

My meds only seem to help to a certain extent. So I often wonder if I have bipolar, or if I'm just a plain ole idiot with a shot out brain.

I don't think there are any people who are on meds for bipolar and have NO symptoms. I think the meds are just meant to improve things so we can function. I would love to be stable all of the time, but I don't think that is a realistic goal.

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I often go long periods without questioning my diagnosis---after all, four different mental health professionals have diagnosed me with bipolar---but every now and again I get a wild hair and decide I've just been in a lengthy existential crisis all this time and I don't need meds. I've never actually tried to come off them, however. I don't have the nerve. I'm just afraid that if I really do have BP, I'll have to start out all over again with the med-go-round. And I don't want to do that.

I've been tempted but I've been warned by many people who are in-the-know not to be fooled. Plus, my history AFTER my diagnosis tells me that I'm still BP and will be forever BP. I get a little wake up call every few weeks.

I'm not convinced I have bipolar! I know I have problems with depression, but I'm not sure about hypomania...
My psychiatrist and psychologist have diagnosed me and I trust them - but just a bit.
I'm on Lithium, Lamictal and Seroquel...
But I want to get out of this depression, so I go with it, do what they say and hope the meds will help me - whether I have bipolar 2 or not.

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Wow guys, I find it really interesting that so many of us wonder about this. I wish there were a test, like some kind of brain scan or genetic test, that would definitively reveal whether or not we have bipolar disorder. That would probably help keep people on their meds. But I agree that if you have to take these meds, then there is something going on with you, whether it's bipolar or something else.

I have to remind myself sometimes of the specific ways in which the bipolar medications have helped me, because they really have. Add to that the volatile reaction I had to Zoloft, and that should pretty much settle it.

I definitely wonder a lot... I quit my meds a couple months back when (looking back) I realize I was definitely hypo manic... now three or four months later I can feel myself spiraling down again... but I still wonder, am I just depressed? Am I really bipolar?

Screw bipolar. I'm tripolar.
I actually think my dx is wrong though, and I'm currently off meds to test that theory, so far my experiment has shown I am not bipolar.