[redphiend]

Hi. I'm new to this, and have only just signed up because i'm tired of my changing moods. I'm still not sure if what I have is Bipolar because it doesn't sound severe enough. I'm just tired of feeling half-crazy all the time. Sometimes my moods will change in a day- feeling awful then one thing can make me feel great for a short period, then i'll feel awful again or i'll feel 'hyper' for the rest of the evening. Or having great energy and wanting to do loads, which then changes to wanting to simply stop. I don't know if I could call it 'mania' as such though. It feels like i'm on a two weekly cycle when i'm feeling great and in control, but then it's as if i've got PMT symptoms when my period isn't due!

Any comments on this would be appreciated!

[essenceten]

Originally Posted by redphiend

Hi. I'm new to this, and have only just signed up because i'm tired of my changing moods. I'm still not sure if what I have is Bipolar because it doesn't sound severe enough. I'm just tired of feeling half-crazy all the time. Sometimes my moods will change in a day- feeling awful then one thing can make me feel great for a short period, then i'll feel awful again or i'll feel 'hyper' for the rest of the evening. Or having great energy and wanting to do loads, which then changes to wanting to simply stop. I don't know if I could call it 'mania' as such though. It feels like i'm on a two weekly cycle when i'm feeling great and in control, but then it's as if i've got PMT symptoms when my period isn't due!

Any comments on this would be appreciated!

Hi,
I am in the same boat. My pyschologist thinks i may be bipolar because of my mood swings. I think its a bit extreme too. I am really moody around that time of the month also. I know for a fact I am depressed. I just started to take medicine for it... because I too am tired of feeling crazy and lashing out at everyone. I feel a lil bit better. Its too soon for me to tell if Im all the way "better". I say don't look at the diagnosis and be open to treatment. Thats what Im doing.

[Michah]

Hey there, please get your thyroid function tests done.......it is not a given, but it can severely effect your moods and pre menstrual dysphoric disorder.......this can be used in conjunction with seeing a therapist for a mental health dx if you wish......

Please read this link.....you will be very surprised.......

http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=4545

http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=4640

If you have any questions please feel free to ask........

[niecy440]

I constantly grapple with do I really have this disease. I don't know if i'm I or II but take meds for it anyway. I have a hard time understanding the difference between the two biploars. I have extreme irritability not any highs or grandiose thoughts. I'm usually very emotional especailly at that time of the month but on meds I feel like I couldn't cry unless someone died. My doctor has told me that irritability is also mania and they don't have to be highs in the traditional since. It is scary to be diagnosed with this disease but i'm sure some combo of meds will help. Give it sometime and listen to your pdoc or get a 2nd opinion if your still not sure of the dx.

[redphiend]

Thanks for that. I did go for blood tests a while back but i'm still chasing up the results! When I described my feelings the doctor was a bit dismissive, saying they were vague. How do you go about asking for further investigation, and what do they actually do to diagnose you? I'm awful at the doctors, I go into an 'i'm coping' mode

[Michah]

Originally Posted by redphiend

Thanks for that. I did go for blood tests a while back but i'm still chasing up the results! When I described my feelings the doctor was a bit dismissive, saying they were vague. How do you go about asking for further investigation, and what do they actually do to diagnose you? I'm awful at the doctors, I go into an 'i'm coping' mode

Same, same babe........I am a "coper" as well........the reason I say about thyroid is that I have a thyroid condition that is genetic.......I have a goiter(enlarged thyroid) and have had yerrible symptoms for about 4 years...

Because of my mental health history that spans 15 years, I was not taken seriously until my thyroid started to stick out of my neck......

Now, I was admitted into psych ward(again!) in 2007. I was manic......out of control. Now when I started to see my psychiatrist(my doctor put me on lithium) he took six months to actually put a name to it, Bipolar II and that was only because I needed a dx for a medical form.......There is dissension in the ranks.

Both my psychologist and psychiatrist beleive that there are inconsistencies, they concur that there is a mood disorder but not sure which one.......My GP beleives that I have had bipolar all along and then I find out that my thyroid could have caused this!!

I am not phased about the dx with bipolar.......it either is or isn't.......but i have an undiagnosed, untreated thyroid disorder that I want fixed as it has a pretty good chance of destroying me if it is not treated.......

I can't tell you the fighting i have had to do to get listened too.......be aware of blood results for TSH that are within range.......TSH is like a fingerprint, it is unique to everyone and people function better on some levels than others.

My TSH is in the lower end of the range and I have never been so sick in my life. You probably do not have thyroid problems.........but in my experience it is better to be safe.........and if there are inconsistencies, you need to look elsewhere.

[Phoenix17]

Hey I am new to this also I dont anyone to talk to about all this without them looking at me like I am crazy thats y I signed up today. I got diagnosed 2 years ago with Bi-polar I sometimes wonder too if I really am i go 2 weeks being hyper loving life in control of things to the next wek being I dont want to do crap around the house or anything all I wanna do is sleep if thats Bi-polar then wouldnt the whole world be Bi-polar? My Dr told me today she wants me to taken the "Millan"? test has anyone had that? im just confused on the whole thing.

[Michah]

Originally Posted by Phoenix17

Hey I am new to this also I dont anyone to talk to about all this without them looking at me like I am crazy thats y I signed up today. I got diagnosed 2 years ago with Bi-polar I sometimes wonder too if I really am i go 2 weeks being hyper loving life in control of things to the next wek being I dont want to do crap around the house or anything all I wanna do is sleep if thats Bi-polar then wouldnt the whole world be Bi-polar? My Dr told me today she wants me to taken the "Millan"? test has anyone had that? im just confused on the whole thing.

Sweetie, do what ever it takes.......you will probably spend a fare bit of time initially being confused.........we all go through it and testing can be painstaking.

If you trust your T do the test......I have never heard of the millan test, but if it gets you closer to an answer, give it a go.......

Good luck.......

[northern]

I have had Hashimotos thyroid for the past 14 or more years. Took an awful long time before I was actually told Yup! you do have a thyroid problem.

I was depressed, crying all the time and nothing much has changed in that time. I avoided Doctors, as I never felt I was being listened too. Just turned up to get my Meds, and told them I was coping OK even when I wasn't.

Now I am told my thyroid is acting up because I started taking meds for Diabetes. Now have to take less thyroxine which has thrown me for a loop.

At no time during those years did any medico say to me 'Do you know that a thyroid problem could also be causing all the other problems'.

After 10 years of thyroid my old GP told me he thought I was BiPolar 2 as well. As I had moved some 2 years before, I never went back to follow up being that he was a 4 hour drive away and I suffer from a driving phobia.

And now with a new GP whom I have recently been seeing because of really chronic diabetes 2 you probably have BP type 2 as well (I believe I am Ultra radian cycling) Oh! lucky me. Would explain so much of my crappy life.

Off to see a Doctor soon that might be able to help with regards to all the mental & pyshical problems with everything that is involved.

[angry_pandit]

hey i am going thru the same thing, as in, in the head. Its has come to a point where i surprise myself on my behaviour, and paniced myself into believing i was schidzo , i tried the doc thing but din work out coz i dont want to take any meds, i keeping a very, very close watch on myself, noting patterns and triggers and food cycles, coz at the end of the day, i beleive 90 % of the people are bi polar, they have to be, just notice people around you, very few on whom you can depend on to have a constant mood pattern, some of them are high on religion, some on meds, some on drugs and some on work,
i am giving myself sometime, to self analyse and hoping my instincts kick in to help me out, coz i dont think anyone else can, the doc would have to be 'you' inorder to help you, coz, dont you think its obvious when you are narrating you cycles, they are subjective to your current mood swing,
when i am in manic i feel no work spoken can be harmful unless i make it, and when i am depressed even a smirk can make me feel worthless and lonely,

guess too much on my head, well this is my take on it, hope it helped in anyway, and if you wanna talk more please let me know, feeling like a bouncing puppy right now....

cheers !!

[skeeweeaka]

Originally Posted by redphiend

Hi. I'm new to this, and have only just signed up because i'm tired of my changing moods. I'm still not sure if what I have is Bipolar because it doesn't sound severe enough. I'm just tired of feeling half-crazy all the time. Sometimes my moods will change in a day- feeling awful then one thing can make me feel great for a short period, then i'll feel awful again or i'll feel 'hyper' for the rest of the evening. Or having great energy and wanting to do loads, which then changes to wanting to simply stop. I don't know if I could call it 'mania' as such though. It feels like i'm on a two weekly cycle when i'm feeling great and in control, but then it's as if i've got PMT symptoms when my period isn't due!

Any comments on this would be appreciated!

Hello,

If you are having mood swings, the first thing you should do is get a checkup. Hormonal imbalances can mimic bipolar disorder... Since your moods are cycling like that I would suggest getting your estrogen, testosterone (total and free), and progesterone during the follicular (day 1-3) and luteal (day 19-21) of your cycle... If you go to the doctor and it is not during one of these days of your cycle, get them to give you the order for the testing and get the testing done as an outpatient at a hospital or clinic on those days!!!

Also thyroid disorders can mimic bipolar disorder...I know several people who were psychotic and diagnosed BP but found to have thyroid disease years later that cured everything. Thyroid testing would be TSH, Free T3, Free T4, and Thyroid anbibodies... There are also other deficiencies that can mimic bipolar disorder or cause depression so please get checked out and finally a good psychiatrist is important until you can get all of the proper testing!

I personally have spent the past 10 years of my life suffering psyhosis for 10 days every month believing that it was hormonal and not getting anyone to listen to me only to discover 3 weeks ago (after years of begging to get my hormones tested) that a small amount of estrogen CURED my psychosis...not my depression or mood swings yet...but my psychosis was a major part of my illness!

If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me by PM!

Best Wishes,

TJ