[251turnaround]

Does anyone else do this?

I've honestly forgotten what I was like around the time I was diagnosed. I'm starting to think I've never really experienced 'true' mania or hypomania before, and those times when I was 'up' were really just good day streaks. To add to this, I've skipped meds on occasion and nothing happened. No symptom relapse or anything. I'm really starting to question whether or not this is actually real and if I was just being overdramatic when describing how I felt to my therapist/pdoc all those years ago.

[ComfortablyNumb5]

I think the same thing. It’s frustrating. Sometimes I worry to the point where I think about stopping my meds because what if the dr’s are all wrong?! Yes, I think about this quite often.

I honestly think Bipolar Disorder is probably one of the more often misdiagnosed mental illnesses out there. I have received this diagnosis before and that was later determined to not be the case (my issues are depression, OCD and specific phobia related panic attacks). It is not out of the realm of possibility that the diagnosis may be incorrect. That being said, I encourage you to make an appointment with a different pdoc and receiving a second opinion if you can.

Yes, I question my diagnosis all the time, especially lately when I was stable and had no episodes for over a year. I thought it was all bologna and like you said I was being overdramatic. It doesn't help I've also been diagnosed with other things like schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder.
Right now I'm pretty sure I have bipolar disorder though. Sometimes I think I have bipolar II or depression instead of bipolar I but then I remember things that happened while I was in manic psychosis. I've talked about this in group a lot and it helps when they say they've seen me in the throes of bipolar episodes and that the dx is most likely correct.

[tecomsin]

I do this all the time. After 10 years I can say that I've never really accepted the diagnosis.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I had FINALLY accepted my dx then I had a former t say she wasn't sure I had bipolar but maybe it was hormones and anxiety causing my
Issues.

It really threw me through a Loop! I told my pdoc about the conversation and said I was really confused. He said she was the one who was confused because I have "bipolar bigtime." I told my psychologist this story recently and he said "I'll have to agree with your doc."

Lol

[Sunflower123]

I have had different doctors diagnose it as different things. Too my knowledge, I’ve never had a hypomania episode. I still think it’s important to treat the symptoms and focus less on the label.

[tecomsin]

Well I suffer a lot of symptoms of poor mental health. For many years I was treated for depression by psychologists and performed according to a pretty high work standard. I functioned but I wasn't happy.

Then a gp sent me to a psychiatrist for chronic pain who decided i had 'somatoform disorder' and gave me a high dose antidepressant (60 mg of celexa). Then I had a manic episode for the first time accompanied by severe trigeminal neuralgia type symptoms that were eventually addressed after many days in a psych ward with Tegretol...

Anyway after I got the diagnosis of bipolar no one has ever questioned it except me. Unfortunately my overall physical and mental health (I do believe these are closely connected) deteriorated in what I would call a hostile environment.

I've also had a cancer diagnosis and treatment and have unfortunately a myriad of other health problems in the last years too [although the chronic pain largely resolved with lyrica and not sitting at a desk anymore]. Lots of anxiety now and panic attacks for the first time.

I am definitely not a well person but I still don't know if it is really bipolar that is my main problem in life or rather that I have a trauma reaction from childhood and from life. (When your psychiatrist of many years says that your last decade of life has been a tragedy.)

What bugs me most about the diagnosis is that it seems as most people pigeon hole you and even though all psychiatric ailments are more or less mysteries think they know everything about you because 'you are bipolar'.

I think another part is that it is much more stigmatizing to have bipolar than to have depression ... no doubt about it.

But there is no denying that many trained people think this is what I have. For me it has been an unhelpful diagnosis in the sense that it hasn't led to me feeling better ... just surviving.

[BipolaRNurse]

I have been diagnosed with bipolar five times, and yet I still find myself questioning it on occasion. Sometimes I wonder if I've exaggerated my symptoms or my providers are all wrong. At others, I think I'm merely in the middle of a really long existential crisis. But then I remember the crushing depressions and the wild and crazy manic episodes, and I know the diagnosis is the right one.

[Victoria'smom]

I have psychosis but I don't think I'm bipolar. I am all over the place mood wise but what if that's BPD? Therapy doesn't work for me.

[Misterpain]

I haven't seen an updated number in years but the old rule of thumb was bipolar patients where misdiagnosed on average for 8 years , but nowadays bipolar is a in vogue diagnosis, it almost seems these days to be the basic diagnosis that doctors come up with to explain what they don't know or understand and it's a winning stratedgy because bipolar is considered SMI (Serious Mental Illness) insurance pays for that and in most cases big pharma has a new friend for life , I think questioning it is healthy because there are millions of people who have been misdiagnosed by a Pdoc who had a neat little form listing the criteria for the diagnosis but the same symptoms exist in some 40 odd other conditions both physical and psychological , so a rush to judgement is often made.

[boogiesmash]

Yes. Originally I was diagnosed with major depression, which yea I agreed with and that’s reason I went to get help. Then therapist changed my diagnosis to bipolar, I think cause I had too much fun in my 20s. Now in iop doc changed my diagnosis back to major depression. And to be honest I feel better now, without an antipsychotic.

[251turnaround]

Originally Posted by scaredandconfused

I honestly think Bipolar Disorder is probably one of the more often misdiagnosed mental illnesses out there. I have received this diagnosis before and that was later determined to not be the case (my issues are depression, OCD and specific phobia related panic attacks). It is not out of the realm of possibility that the diagnosis may be incorrect. That being said, I encourage you to make an appointment with a different pdoc and receiving a second opinion if you can.

Oh I've gotten like three opinions that all say bipolar yet I still often deny that there's anything wrong haha

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

I am all over the place mood wise but what if that's BPD?

That's what I think sometimes -- BPD.

My therapist claims she's seen me manic before. She said my speech was "pressured" and unlike me, and that my sleeping pattern at the time was "not typical". And I guess I kept getting up off my chair during that same session, which she thought was really strange. lol.

I still don't know.

[rwwff]

I guess I'm kinda the opposite in that I've never been seen for depression (just called myself lazy, and it passed before anything to horrible happened). Once you've been seen "up" by a doctor however, the definition of the thing is just a lock as far as dx; so I'm not sure what other dx it could be other than sz(e) but my features aren't anywhere near that debilitating.

dx wise, I'd have to say if you've been seen by an objective observer while manic or hypomanic, you kinda have to trust their judgement.

[rwwff]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

And I guess I kept getting up off my chair during that same session, which she thought was really strange.

That is funny, I put a death grip on the edge of my pdoc's desk to keep myself from moving too much during intake; it worked, but I don't think it looked any less strange in retrospect. ah well.

[rwwff]

Originally Posted by boogiesmash

Now in iop doc changed my diagnosis back to major depression. And to be honest I feel better now, without an antipsychotic.

I wonder how much of a litmus test that might be. Does the AP relieve distressing symptoms? Mine definitely does; enough that if I had to be on one med only, I'd go with a fuller dose of the AP instead of the stabilizer+ap combo.

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

And I guess I kept getting up off my chair during that same session, which she thought was really strange. lol.

Similarly, early on in the dx process, I was bouncing on the couch insisting I didn't need the meds, haha. I was feeling GREAT and invincable! At the end of the session she just said, " Let me know when you change your mind." Sure enough, I called 3 weeks later, desperate, crashing hard and fast.

I don't doubt my BP dx. I do get tempted to go off my meds when doing well for a stretch though...I'm pretty good about not actually doing it though.

[Nammu]

I do question my diagnosis. I've been given that label by multiple pdoc and Ts but my very first more than 30 years ago was MDD, that was easier to accept. Anytime I'm stable for a length of time I start wondering and questioning. I can be off meds for months before symptoms return.....but return they do.

[BatsBelfry]

I always question mine but it seems like it is only when I'm on the up swing. I try and thick back to me before meds and that time period is fuzzy. I'm not really a good opinion though. I guess I would need to ask others in my life.

[Guiness187055]

Nope I am without a doubt bipolar. No if, ands, or but's about it.

[Faltering]

I go in and out of denial depending on my mood.

[all74]

I sometimes do this myself (question my diagnosis) but then I have another breakthrough of symptoms and that brings me back to reality.

[Pookyl]

I used to question it early on. Three years later I have found that I am rarely symptom free. E.g. I have had one good month in 2017
It's easy to believe that I'm bipolar when I look bipolar, sound bipolar, act bipolar.

[bioChE]

I’ve had 20 years and 8 doc’s with the same diagnosis. That’s about as objective as you can get. Yet I still wonder if it’s the original MDD diagnosis I was given. No idea which is correct, but I do believe I’ve got a mood disorder.

At present, my psychiatrist and I are backing off my antipsychotic slowly, and so far so good. If I end up going off it, that would leave me on a mood stabilizer as my main psych drug. It would be interesting to see if that’s enough to keep me stable.

I’ve been taking amino acids that are precursors to neurotransmitters since around March, and have not had my previous symptoms of periodic depression return since that timeframe. There’s a reasonable chance they could be related. Not advocating med free, but I’m not going to stop something that’s part of what works.