Diagnosis difficult

How long did it take you to get diagnosed and how did it finally happen?

I am seeing a pdoc and therapist right now. They try to diagnose me but it seems difficult. They say they are confused. I seem to show borderline traits and they came up with bipolar II or cyclothymia. Also they are irritated that I can still control myself more or less and seem to be high functioning but I know that I could be functioning at a higher level if it wasn't for the constant mood changes. I crave a diagnosis to make treatment easier and more effective. But maybe that won't be possible and today the T said I should just try to do a therapy that teaches me to handle my moods in a better way. But I am so fed up with therapy because it's been more than ten years of going from T to T and I am only 25. I want a diagnosis to maybe try medication and to know wtf is wrong with me. Do many of you have various dxs?

sorry you are going through this. It took me decades to get diagnosed. I presented as clinically depressed. I was on and off antidepressants for years with one hospitalization. In between I was just a "happy hyper person" It wasn't until I hit menopause that hypo mania and mixed states started happening along with suicidal ideation. Then I got diagnosed as BP2 with rapid cycling.

Is your T anti med? Or does she just think you're not "bad enough" to need meds? If you think you need them you may be right. Once I got on APs I never looked back. Sure I have some side effects and yes I've gained a little weight, but I have a life now. And most of the time I feel pretty good.

I don't think he is anti med but I think he thinks it might be dangerous to give me meds such as anti depressants if I am bipolar and maybe he also thinks I am not bad enough. I still function when depressed (more than when hypo, when I just want to have fun and everything else becomes secondary). I guess I have a life but I am dying for some inner peace and getting of this rollercoaster to take a deep breath because I feel all my life I have just been running.

Do you know why your mood changes when it changes?

Antipsychotics could very well help with BPD as well and maybe you don't need meds even if you were to be diagnosed as having BP. BPD is in some ways more like (chronic) psychosis than BP2. It's borderline psychotic.

Is your judgement often impaired and are your convictions very changeable? Can you be very certain and shortly after very uncertain about something, about yourself, causing shame or distress? Are you ever confused about who you are? Do you fear losing someone's affection or do you fear affection? Are you a pretty rational and responsible person or would you like to be?

In which situations do you experience the most inner peace?

How long did it take you to get diagnosed and how did it finally happen? I've been to several drs. all have had their own opinion as far as I know this is everything I've been diognosed with through out the years. I've been DX. with depression, ED, depression, bipolar II, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, personality disorder, mood disorder nos, ed nos, Bipolar 1, mood disorder NOS, ED nos, Personality disorder nos, bipolar w. psychosis,

For now it's Bipolar w. Psychosis, ED NOS as far as I know but they are looking at bpd and anxiety.

You may want to look into nero-psychological exam it's a 4 hour exam testing everything from personality to abnormal behavior. The most helpful thing for me is to bring my husband with me. So if you have a close friend that you don't mind sharing your mental health information with it may help. Have you transferred all your files to one place yet?

Wow, many very good questions, Icare dixit. I don't really think my judgement is impaired very often, even though like everyone else I sometimes make poor decisions. I sometimes feel that I can be influenced by the people I get to know easily, but when it comes to terms I am pretty sure about what I want and what I need. I am pretty much confused about who I am, but it is more like I feel split because I sometimes am so sad and sometimes so happy and full of energy, which could also be linked to bipolar. Moreover I have a lot of different interests. I do fear losing people's affection but this got way better over the years. Sometimes, like now when I am hurting due to falling in love, I think I don't want to ever let anyone get close to me again, but I don't act according to this. I am sometimes very rational, but this also changed over the years and know I listen more to what I feel. I surely had some very strong borderline traits in pubercy, like black/white thinking, idealisation and the opposite, strong fears of being left alone, anger and sadness, self-harm etc. All this mainly disappeared over the years of therapy. Now I mainly experience depression without obvious reason and high phases of enormous productivity. What brings me inner peace is mainly spending some time alone and reading, writing, and then meeting good friends and sometimes cuddle up with someone.

@ Miguel's Mom: That sounds very interesting. Where do they do this testing? I unfortunately don't have very close people where I live but anyway I might ask a friend to come along. I would like to do this, as it seems safer to me than just having me tested concerning OR Bipolar OR Bdp because I read a lot on both and I am afraid that I might be anwering intentionally to get diagnosed with one of them.

You would have to look for a nero-psychiatrist that is willing to do the test as an adult. It's often saved for children and often not covered by insurance. Bipolar is a mood disorder, borderline is a personality disorder people can and do have both.

It does sound like BP (not BPD, I'd say).

At any rate, it usually takes a long time to be properly diagnosed, but they may prescribe meds before that time. I was diagnosed after 7 years, but I've been on antipsychotics after the first few weeks, the third visit or so. It took so long to diagnose me because the dosage was very low for acute mania and it didn't work very well. It clearly wasn't enough. They didn't know much about BP because I would only admit having some problems with anxiety. The psychiatric nurse recognised it as psychosis but the psychiatrist specialised in anxiety disorders. It was also difficult to diagnose because it could just have been one episode of mania/psychosis and not a (more) chronic condition.

I've also been diagnosed with BPD.

After a second long period of mania followed by (with some overlap) non-affective, incongruently fearful psychosis they finally diagnosed me. Another thing that made it difficult is that I'm quite chronically affected, so to speak, having schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. It's more of a developmental disorder than BP is (generally; it's a quite heterogeneous group).

Maybe you can ask for a second opinion if you believe it's really a problem or could become a problem. I would then suggest you ask for a mood stabiliser (which can be an atypical antipsychotic), not an antidepressant.

I have been in therapies for ten years, first for anorexia, then anxiety and depression, then supposedly borderline and now whatever. I think that I have BP and it gets more obvious over the years, because the borderline traits decline and the eating disorder is long since under control. I now get euphoric phases and simple depression. The difficult thing about me is that I definitely don't get mania and that I am always controlling myself pretty well when I am around foreigners but I think if they saw me being alone it would be quite plain to see.

Have you seen a psychologist? There therapists that can diagnose in US. What does your psychiatrist want to put you on?

I have seen tons of psychologists. Unfortunately I am not in the US, I am German, living in Berlin. But I am seeing a therapist and she tries to diagnose me together with a pdoc. Until now they don't want to put me on anything and they doubt that it is necessary but anyway we keep thinking about it. I guess it would be mood stabilizers (different topic: I am very afraid of gaining weight, because of having had anorexia it might become more difficult with the eating again).

There are several weight neutral drugs to choose from. lamictal and topamax come to mind for Mood stabilizers. Abilify and geodon are Anti psychotics that are weight neutral.

These are good comparisons of the two.

thanks for this Nate.

If you get on seroquel I guarantee you won't have a problem with eating

I'm 25 too.

I first sought help when I was 22, in the summer after I finished my undergraduate studies. I was Dx'ed with depression, ADHD, GAD, and OCD.

I thought the diagnoses were bullcrap, so I ignored them and carried on with my life until I hit 24. That was around the time I finished graduate school and first started working.

My concentration was always awful, but it seemed to be worse than usual. I didn't realize at the time that I was in a mixed state. That was when one of my good online friends suggested that I seek professional help, as I was suffering for such a long time and she said I really needed to do something about my depression.

Fast forward 3 months later. I was Dx'ed with bipolar disorder after my pdoc determined I was in a mixed state. (I was hallucinating, energetic, suicidal, getting 0 sleep, etc etc.) It took a non (pure) depressive episode for me to get diagnosed properly.

So in my case, it was pure luck. I happened to see a pdoc right in the midst of an episode. My therapist was (and still is) a complete moron. She is no longer my therapist, but she kept insisting that I had "never experienced depression before". Then she refused to read my mental health history, saying that she knew all there is to know. (If she read it, she would have seen the depression Dx.) So it goes to show that psychologists/therapists can't always be trusted to give the proper diagnoses. Sometimes they can't see what's in front of them.

Wow! That's the first time I've seen people with BP portrayed as even worse people than those with BPD.

Don't we (assuming it extends to all types of BP) love to leave others to clean up our mess!

And as I lack depth and (deserve no) empathy, is that due to my BP or BPD?

Wow, due to that image I'd rather say I have BPD but I don't really see myself there because for example my relationships and friendships are pretty stable, I don't really have any conflicts and I don't demand too much of others. My mood swings mostly affect myself and not the people around me. Very interesting though, kind of confused me.

I hope you nor any of your loved ones were at the Christmas market.

I fI was in any state when I went to my current psychologist I was also mixed. I was cutting every day and doing lots of drugs, little sleep, energetic but miserable. First thing they asked was if I needed to be hospitalized but I don't want to mess up with my current education (lawyer's title). Shortly after I became hypomanic (which both my therapist and my group psychologist said I was) and started doubting I needed any help at all. Now I can feel myself slipping back into a mixed state or something like it and it is really uncomfortable.

Thank you for askind Icare dixit! I was at home and I already checked on my closest friends and family. Everyone is well. Anyway it is a really strange feeling, even though I am not going to feed on hysteria here, as long as noone knows if it really was a terroristic act or just a dramatic accident.

I don't see why your not medicated if they've already dx you with hypomania.

Me neither... Everyone says: Those states of hypomania you get... But whatever haha just keep messing with me a little longer. I thought being hypomanic was enough.