early bipolar terminology

just wondering.

when you were first diagnosed, are their things you didn't know the terms for, so used something else?

for me, I didn't know the whole "high/low" thing. I didn't know you could say you were high, or you were low

so, I used to call it valleys and mountaintops until I actually learned that saying high and low were actually okay (the term valley and mountain top was something I made up, based on how I felt)

any of you have these?

I didn't know the term or meaning of hypomanic. Couldn't figure out WHY I didn't feel *high*. (I get angry and nasty when I'm hypo)

I think hypomanic means not quite manic. Or at least that's what I glean from research.

I tend towards mixed episodes where I'm manic and depressed at the same time. I feel angry and aggitated, but to depressed to do anything.

I am type II so I should know what it is, but t and pdoc tell me different things.
Manic without psychosis. I have heard different opinions on whether I am hypomanic or manic when I have unrealistic delusions (like being immortal). Never lose touch with reality, but it's a loose grip sometimes.

"rapid cycling" doesn't have to be all that rapid. 4 different episodes total in a year, I think. There is some other word for cycling during a day.

I thought I knew what bipolar meant, but I really didn't. That interfered with me getting help. I had a manic event triggered by diet pills a long time ago, but only recognized that I was typically depressed. So I resisted getting any treatment. Many years later, i had another also triggered by a prescription. Fortunately, this time I had since read about hypomania and recognized it and at least had a doctor in place--mostly due to anxiety I think.

My last full-on manic episode (from a side efffect of a drug--severe insomnia) was mixed state too. I had crying spells. That was my argument -- how could I be manic, I'm crying?. I hadn't heard of being mixed.

I'm still not sure I have a good hold on "mixed emotive state." I am familiar with depression sharing a very volatile and chaotic condition. I take "mixed" to mean that in general.

*Ultradian* Cycling daily.

Bipolar "not otherwise specified". I thought there was only bipolar 1 and 2. That was my original diagnosis and it was really never described to my satisfaction. I didn't have to wonder too long though...a couple of years later I was diagnosed bipolar 1, and that's where it's stayed through four different mental health care providers. I don't suppose it'll ever change even though I only have hypomania now.

When I was first diagnosed it was called manic depression and there was a lot more shame connected with it than nowadays