And no offense to anyone else, but I feel ashamed.
My mom says not to worry, I haven’t changed as a person. It just describes what is.
I don’t go manic. My doc says my agitation is part of hypomania.
I guess I just want to hear from other bipolar peeps.
I feel so alone.
While many may think BI-polar diagnoses is cut and dry, you either fit a set of criteria or you don't
Nature does not like things to be in such neat boxes with rules for a DX.
The fact is BI-POLAR is varied and different for almost everyone
Some get episodes that are destinct, others get episodes that are misleading
For instance, over 40 years I was on lithium, and tegretol and some others,
but back I was not given a bi-polar DX, despite know periods of mania.
Why well I did not do well, but it was not the medications it was my PTSD.
Problem was normally I am hypo-manic most of the time, with medicine I
sometimes am normal. My current psychiatrist based on my level of mania
that he could see and my descriptions was going to DX me as Type 2 bi-polar.
That was until I told him how my current DX of Severe Mixed Bipolar I was made.
Like all these other DX times, my DX would not have been made correctly
had it not been my psychiatrist at Sheppard Pratt Trauma Disorders Unit
who was 25 feet away when she watched me switch from a very manic state
to a very depressed one in less than a half an hour.
Point is bi-polar comes in many flavors, a correct DX is sometimes just luck,
Often the observations of nurses and other such people don't provide
the observation information needed to get a correct DX. There are a percentage
of us who are hard to diagnose correctly, and there is a percentage of those who's
symptoms behaviorally (psychosis being amount them) make diagnoses easy.
Even still treatment with a correct DX can be elusive. I am on a ton of medications,
2 different mood stabilizers (Lamictal, Lithium), 2 different anti-depressants (doxepin, wellbutrin)
Visteril, and there are other meds that are no-psych meds, all said and done over 20 pills a day.
Even with all this, my bi-polar depressive cycles escape successful treatment.
Getting a correct DX sometimes take a lot of effort, and diligence. Sometimes it
take the right doctor and the right setting to get a good DX.
Your doctor may be right, or wrong, or partially right.
The best source of information for getting a good DX is
what others who are close to you and know your behavior and
habits, to pickup on things that can be useful towards a DX
My housemate represents that to me, she see's when I am the slightest
bit manic, where I don't, she knows when I am struggling or hurting
as she says I am heavy footed when I am walking at home. Like children
might make in an upper apartment during play, you can hear loud foot
steps from them playing. You might ask those around you what
they see. You might get some surprises. You might take it a step
further and ask them to tell you when they see it. I have that now.
The information you might get might be invaluable towards a correct DX.
If your able to deal with it you might have them record the highlight
of your moods, seeing it yourself and your doctor seeing what he
does not see in the office.
Remember the DX is not as important, it's a label, a good medicine regime
is more important, regardless of the DX.
