Is your depression bipolar in disguise?

I had depression for four years before I had my first manic episode and my diagnosis was changed to bipolar disorder. The main sign before my first manic episode that I was bipolar were my extreme sleep abnormalities. I'd be up until 5AM, sleep all day, and stay up even later the next night. My circadian rhythm was all out of wank. If me and my doctor could have caught this earlier I could have been trying the correct medications even sooner and I would have started getting better sooner. The reason I am sharing is so if your sleep pattern is messed up like mine was you can talk to your psychiatrist about the possibility that you have bipolar disorder simply lacking your first manic episode and have the chance to get betters years before you otherwise would have. I hope this helps at least one person!

This is helpful, thanks for posting this. =D I suspected I was on the bipolar spectrum for a long time, but my psych never listened to me because he said, "Are you manic? No? Then you're not bipolar." And I'm sitting there thinking, "Hypomania exists and more questions would be nice..." So I didn't bring it up until MONTHS later and he made me do screenings for the 1st time (after 2.5 years of seeing him...) and he said that it looks like bipolar NOS. I didn't respond well to antidepressants, I had a LOT of trouble sleeping (I'd be up till 4,5,6AM because I just couldn't sleep), there would be times where I would get very happy and very creative and very motivated and buy lots of art supplies...just to not use them in a couple of days because my depression would hit. The hostility is intense, too. I isolate myself so I wont snap at people and start arguments (done that before and it sucks when the guilt comes).

It would be nice if psychiatrists actually listened you. There needs to be a huge reform where mental health is concerned. The hospitals don't listen to you, the psychiatrists don't listen to you. -sighs-

I'm glad you got everything settled, though. Really glad. =D

I didn't figure out that I was bipolar until I read the book "why am I still Depressed?" It lays it all out how we can be on the biplolar spectrum and mostly present as depressed. I took the book with me to my Pdoc and she had it on here shelf I told her what I thought about it and she agreed. That's when I started getting treated and felt a lot better.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm getting the impression from reading posts on this site that a fair number of people are diagnosed with MDD before they are correctly diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

I wasn't diagnosed bipolar until I was 25. I'm kind of weird and only loosely fit the criteria. When I do get a rare hypomania it only lasts for 24-48 hours, never the 4 days they use in the DSM. I'm depressed most of the time and sometimes I get really low. I think I'm like an ultraradian cycler or something. It's the only explanation I have. I can wake up on top of the world and that evening or the next day feel hopeless and down. It's lousy. I think it gets worse as we get older. Mine seems worse now than in my 20s.