pdoc said im not bipolar

i went to my pdoc the other day and all this time i thought she dx me with bipolar II and i was telling her that i found out 2 other ppl in my family was bipolar.. and she said ur not bipolar u just have a mood disorder.. when i first started going to her she told me bipolar II....... confusing...... make up their minds what im dx with.. cause im the type of person who needs to know or it will drive me nuts.....

Hey there. The only difference between bi-polar mood disorders and uni-polar mood disorders is the presence of manic or hypomanic episodes (in bi-polar) and the absence of manic or hypomanic episodes (in depression or dysthymia or whatever).

From memory... The exclusion criteria for uni-polar mood disorder is the presence of one or more manic or hypomanic episodes at some point in ones history.

That exclusion criteria always surprised me a little... What if I had a hypomanic episode when I was 7 because I ate too much sugar? Does that turn my depression into bi-polar II?

Lol.

I guess it is that your clinician doesn't really think you have manics / hypomanics.

Bonus:

I think it is fair to say there is less stigma around unipolar mood disorders than there is around bipolar mood disorders.

Congratulations. I guess you are one hypo/manic short of bipolar

;-)

Please discuss your confusion with the T. If you tell her you need to know why or how she decided this, it will help

Hey skittles!
Alexandra is right... the criteria goes like this...

Mood disorder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A mood disorder is a condition whereby the prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to the circumstances.

The two major types of mood disorders are depression (or unipolar depression) and bipolar disorder.

*Depression (or unipolar depression), including subtypes:
Major Depression
Major Depression (Recurrent)
Major Depression with psychotic symptoms (psychotic depression)
Dysthymia
Postpartum depression

*Bipolar disorder, a mood disorder described by alternating periods of mania and depression (and in some cases rapid cycling, mixed states, and psychotic symptoms). Subtypes include:
Bipolar I
Bipolar II
Cyclothymia
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mood_disorder"

But, I also think that the dx criteria is very narrow-minded...cause I don't think ONE isolated manic episode is enough to give a bipolar dx....

Maybe that's what your pdoc meant?
Could it be that you had a manic/hipomanic episode and that was it? And now after some time the doc sees that you don't usually cycle, so then the new dx?

Anyways...dxs are just a way for docs to classify people and people are not their dx, but something much more complex...

If I were u I wouldn't pay as much attention to the dx..just try to work to feel better.

Take care,
Annie

Hello I hope you are doing well Skittles. Maybe the Dr is not sure how to classify your mood disorder at this time. You can always ask your Dr to classify your diagnosis for your peace of mind. Maybe it was just an oversight. Take care Soidhonia

There are such a range of "mood disorders." I have a friend whose son was diagnosed with a "mood disorder" & they have him on similar medications to me (I'm bp 1). He hasn't been classified as bp, just a mood disorder so I think there is just a continuum & where you fallon it can affect you dx.

I also agree there is much more stigma to having bp, then unipolar depression. It seems here everytime there is a guy shooting his family members or people at his workplace, they report that he is bp. No wonder I don't want anyone to know at work.--Suzy

I'm kinda in the same boat as you. I had been told I was BP and then my pdoc says personality disorder, sleep deprivation (which I don't have) and co-morbid depression.

I dunno what to think or if it matters. The medications I'm taking seem to be helping somewhat so I guess I'll just stick it out.

Hopefully you'll get treatment that works for you and in the end that's really all that matters.