[Moose72]

How far back do your bipolar symptoms go? I think mine go back into my 20s but also I heard voices as a teen. I was diagnosed at 33. I'm 45 now.

[Guiness187055]

My therapist believes as early as 5 years old I was showing symptoms. I was diagnosed at 24 with panic disorder and bipolar. I am 40 now.

[~Christina]

Age 6 , Wasnt diagnosed til 43 . Im 50 now

[wildflowerchild25]

I started getting depressed around 13. I had pretty solid depression for a long time. Even psychotic depression (I saw this shadow thing that would attack me when I closed my eyes/looked away; I also saw people morph into monsters and attack me). I don't recall any mania symptoms in my adolescence but I was dx'ed bipolar at 18. I didn't believe them because I didn't know about mixed episodes so I thought you had to be happy to be manic. I didn't have a euphoric manic episode until I was 25. Now I'm thirty.

[*Laurie*]

I think I was born with mental health issues. I can remember back to 4 years of age and feeling unable to control my emotional reactions.

[jacky8807]

I mean , I was an anxious and sensitive child. colored everything with a black crayon , had ahedonia around 10. but I distinctly remember the world turning on me at 14. I felt like i was losing my mind, I didn't sleep and i felt like I needed to be committed. I was too ashamed so I found alcohol instead. first insanely euphoric episode at 17

[Unrigged64072835]

It was hard to tell because of the abuse and bullying I had as a child. I think around 14. Was more noticeable at 16 when I switched schools and got away from the bullies.

[Sunflower123]

I remembered being deeply depressed and suicidal at age 13. I was diagnosed for many years and through several attempts with clinical major depression and GAD. I was diagnosed at age 33 with BP-2 and I'll be 50 Wednesday.

[Wild Coyote]

It's hard to tell due to all of the trauma.
I thought about suicide a lot as a young child, even though I had a very happy exterior and was very popular in school.
I know I had my first relentless depression at approx. 16 y.o.
It was bad. Couldn't go to school. Finished school on independent study with a tutor. I was in/on the bed for the most part of probably two years. No meds helped. Things have never been the same; they've been drastically different.
I am wondering how I've gotten through the past 50 years of this. It hasn't been easy, for sure. I'm tired.

WC

[JustJace2u]

I would probably say somewhere in my early teens. I was diagnosed with MDD at about age 16, but I wasn't diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder until last year at age 42. I'm pretty sure what I was experiencing as a teen was more Bipolar Disorder, just not full blown mania.

[Victoria'smom]

I had ED by 8 so before then, started self harming at 11, asked for help at 13, got dx. with ED at 16, Depression at 19, Bipolar at 21, Intermittent Explosive Disorder 22, Mood disorder 22, Bipolar 29, Scizoaffective, personality disorder, thrown around every so often.

[franz kafka]

I had symptoms of depression and mania in my teens, maybe 15-16 years old. Diagnosed bipolar at 17. OCD at 29. Schizoaffective at 31. I'm 31 now.

[raspberrytorte]

I don't know in all honesty.

A good question. I had severe social phobia at a very young age and some other symptoms. I think the BP symptoms started after a physical attack in my mid teens but I'm not sure. I was diagnosed with mental illness in my mid teens. I received my BP diagnosis in my mid 30's but had given enough symptoms to my doctors in my early 20's to qualify for the illness.

[scatterbrained04]

Right around 13 or 14.

Originally Posted by Jennifer 1967

I remembered being deeply depressed and suicidal at age 13. I was diagnosed for many years and through several attempts with clinical major depression and GAD. I was diagnosed at age 33 with BP-2 and I'll be 50 Wednesday.

well... happy early birthday!

do you have any plans for the day?

are you 1 of those people that love to celebrate, or don't really make a big issue of it

age 9

what was difficult was that my family didn't believe in bipolar, and refused to get me help for so long

eventually some strangers realised that I probably had it, and went about getting me help, with or without parents permission

I started showing signs in my teens but wasn't diagnosed until last year. I'm about to turn 36.

[rwwff]

I had certain defined symptoms at 5, for good or ill though, I was too frail physically to turn them into real problems until about 25 yrs old. By that time I had built some degree of anger/stress management; though not great. By my 30s I knew what auditory hallucinations were and why you don't ask people if they heard something. Diag and medicated at 51, now I get to see what living without paranoia and without being a rag doll in the face of mood, rage, impulsivity, and hypersexuality; is like. Oh, and no invisible pixie with a school bell either. :/

Its only my first year of control though and my insight may still be poor so I might be mistaking one thing for another. What is clear to me is that kids don't attempt *that* without there being a problem, and I foolishly avoided turning that failure into help at the time.

[5150DirtDiva]

I am actually relieved to see that so many of you can recall symptoms so far back. Almost as far back as I can remember I have had some symptoms. I remember walking in the halls in elementary school feeling very dejected, worthless and at other times feeling high, like everyone was my friend and attractive. I have very early sexual memories too, so weird. I am currently 35, diagnosed around 29 I think.

[Bugtussel]

I had deep depression at age 13-14, but I also suffered from severe social anxiety - - completely mute at doctors. So was not given any help. I continued having severe depressions every few years without getting any help. Finally sought help this last depression, and was dx as bipolar2 at 43.

I believe I had symptoms in my teens. I was hospitalized for attempted suicide at age 20. Not diagnosed with bipolar until last year at age 34.

20 with a bad prolonged depression (months, couldn't get out of room, had to drop out of university). It was preceded by a GREAT time, best of my life, very sociable and ruling the show (NOT my usual personality) -- yeah, very likely hypo/mania, but I can't put a timeframe on it, so I don't count it. The depression was out of nowhere, and definitely BP.

I had issues as a kid/teen, but I don't count them as BP. Big time social anxiety though. I virtually never spoke for the first couple years of elementary school (k, 1st). In second grade I have a clear memory of realizing I was very different. I've never pathologized my childhood with specifics, though clearly there were issues. Back then, everything was ignored and swept under the rug anyway. (I'm 54.)

The depression at 20 was treated with hostility and blame. Needless to say, getting help was out of the question.

[gina_re]

I want to say adolescence. But I wasn't evaluated/diagnosed until about 20 years old. I'm 34 now.

[19J82]

I remember having a conversation with my dead grandmother a week after she died when I was around 6, on a toy telephone of all things. I used to see people who weren't there too as a young child.
The hyper-sexuality, impulsiveness and depressive periods kicked in around age 11-12, funnily enough as my parent's were going through a horrendous break up. My father had undiagnosed BP that he masked with alcohol; he ended up spending 3 years in the local psychiatric hospital. Being the early 90's kids were allowed to visit and I remember walking up and down the corridors with him, wouldn't happen these days!
My teenage years I suffered from depressive periods, and periods of extreme energy, poisoned with hyper-sexuality. Whilst I was a bright kid, my work suffered as a result, and though I achieved good grades, I could have done much better.
University was much the same, periods of depression and periods where I wouldn't sleep as life was so good. Again, hyper-sexuality reigned and I was an *** in the way I behaved towards women in that period of my life. I still wasn't aware that I had an illness though.
2014 I read an article, one of those '10 signs you may have Bipolar' kinds of article; it was a revelation, I felt like the article was written about me. I booked an appointment with my GP, the first time I'd been to the Dr's in many years so a big step. My sexual behaviour when hypomanic/manic had begun to really concern me by now, but I didn't know who to speak to, but now I felt I knew what the issue was I felt good going in to see the GP. I was wrong though. He was more interested in my family history of heart disease and spoke about that for the first 10 minutes, and then when I opened up about the mental health, and my concerns about my sexual and financial behaviour he told me that MH is a difficult thing and to keep an eye on myself. In hindsight I should have pushed for more, but I was broken by it, I felt like a fool for having gone in and left it at that. It was only 2 years later when I was arrested that I got the diagnosis, a little too late sadly.
Funny that this thread should pop up, I've been thinking about this topic a lot the last few days and how many things in my childhood/teenage years are attributable to the BP. Been interesting reading everyone else's experiences too.