[Fromtheworst]

So, I'm having what I would describe as a mania. Which ibdont think has happened before but when I think about it, probably has but never ever realized. I never thought of myself as bipolar. And I kinda snapped back to reality somewhat maybe? Can anyone give me some specific examples of the difference between BPD and bipolar in the sense of these mood swings. My moods have always been up and down a couple thousand times a day. I have an overall sense of depression like 90% of the time. I'm not asking for medical advice just some personal experiences, as to if you can tell the difference.
If you have bipolar and BPD or maybe if you understand the two better than I do. I've tried to research but find the same crap.

And also...it makes me so sad to think all of my motivation and drive is just a mood swing that isn't real.. I get some much done when I'm like this (probably not out of the ordinary) but it gives me hope. And then I seem to let myself down. If it's more BPD then maybe I can control it better...? Like work on not letting outside stuff control me so much. I was seeing a therapist but quit because she focused too much on my gambling. Which yes is a problem but it's not THE problem. I feel like I can work through it better on my own, because a lot of the time I don't know what I'm trying to say because I don't know how I feel. But on my own I have the time to work it out. And she told me not to stop gambling just track my spending for a week and all that did was give me permission to go off the deep end. It's taken me 3 months to clean up that mess. I know it's not her fault but it was like here's a case of beer.alcoholic now, don't worry about anything elsenbut how many you drink. Well then don't mind if I just drink them all.

Ah sorry I'm going on and on, but it's how we do it, right?

[ComfortablyNumb5]

I could have written that myself. I have BP, BPD and substance abuse problems too, and tons of other crap. Like you, I really can’t tell which of my symptoms are BP or BPD. I’m no dr but I’ll take a stab in the dark...

I would say that my mood swings (last a few min to an hour) are my BPD where as longer episodes of feeling down or major anxiety are my BP. As far as where the substance abuse comes from, I really don’t know because there’s a high likelihood in both disorders. Impulsivity is also a major issue for me. I blame a lot of that on BPD because I get like that no matter my moods. Also, both disorders are treated with similar meds. So yea I’d say it’s definitely hard to differ between the two. I’m not sure even the pdocs can tell most of the time.