Posted by JohnX2 on June 3, 2002, at 0:27:22
In reply to Help-I think might be Bipolar, posted by JennyJen on June 2, 2002, at 23:29:02
> Hey Everyone,
>
> I am new to this board and find it packed with so much great information. It seems several individuals here have been re-diagnosed as bipolar II and finding good results with mood stablizers. I have failed several antidepressants and am starting to wonder if I am bipolar II. No mania or hypomania that I can recall.
>
> Can those individual who were misdiagnosed and really bipolar II tell me what there behavior was like during there 20's and 30's. What are some tell tale signs of bipolar II?
>
> Thanks everyone.
>
> JennyI'll make a quick post before I nod off.
You don't think you have any hypomania symptoms.
Can you explain?Have you and your physicians discussed issues/symptoms of:
intense agitation/anxiety,rage,or symptoms of attention deficit
disorder comorbid with the depression? Racing thoughts?Is all this a recent phenomina (in your 20's or 30's)?
Bipolar disorder can kick in during the 20's.
It's possible be hypomanic and not euphoric.
This is sometimes called a dysphoric hypomania.
It's characterized by possible symptoms of
agitation, racing thoughts, possible anger, and
more. This is generally concurrent with being depressed.
A lot of times the agitation and racing thoughts
are hard to differentiate from anxiety and ADD
symptoms.It would be nice to know what your exact depression
symptoms are like and how you responded to the antidepressants.
What types of ADs did you take? Did they ever kick in?
Did they work for a while and then peter out?IMO, I think the brain is really complex and the mood stabilizers
are good medicines in general to help calm the mood in a lot
of situations. Some people are just cyclothymic and have cylcical
mood swings but aren't bipolar per se. Some of the mood stabilizer
that have been released lately also have good AD properties.
And the APs (atypical antipsychotics) that are approved for bipolar
are also useful to treat generic anxiety/depression. Sometimes
peoples body chemistries just click better with thesee meds
than the mainstream antidepressants.FYI, I probably tested at least 8 antidepressants before going the
bipolar route and getting stabilized on mood stabilizers.John
poster:JohnX2
thread:108496
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020602/msgs/108505.html