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How old were you when you were diagnosed?

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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby Lanka » Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:04 am

23ish. My memory is quite crap, would require ten minutes of figuring out order of things and years..

Before that I was assumed depressed at 14ish+ because I didn't feel like going to school etc. Apparently being bullied and picked at school since first grade doesn't count as reason not to love being in the hell hole..

Got into therapy side of system when I was 17. Mostly because of the hell hole mentioned before. Also silly little details like drunk father and stuff that caused.

Had my first symptoms of bp kind around 20. After the diagnosis went medless (because I wasn't actually doing anything - thus kinda stressless although depressing life.) until year after I finally got to a school I like and stress was too much to bear. After that part of getting myself into deeper the system of mental healthcare I got my updated diagnosis - first bp 2, later bp 2 rapid - at the age of 27. ish. I was sort of aware that by default bp diagnosis required changes over period of years while I had changes over months at slowest, but didn't occur to me earlier to get new diagnosis, guess wouldn't had mattered at the time anyway.

Honestly can't remember how old I was when I got my last, updated diagnosis. That was 2 years ago, I think.. Swear I've lost a year somewhere..

ed: heck, I keep rambling on forums, don't I? tl;dr: 23, updated to bp 2 rapid cycling 27.
Rapid cycling BP II with side of anxiousness, mixed states and BPD/AvPD-traits.
Meds? Went feral. So far nothing has given me the equal of highs on daily basis.

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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby CoconutIce » Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:31 pm

I was first depressed at 15 but not diagnosed until 29. Mood swings worsened as I got older. Since 29 I have gone from bipolar 2 to now closer to bipolar 1 as my mania was moderate this year. It just keeps getting worse.

My first psychotic experience was as a child. Worse one at university though.

If the psychiatrist hadn't left me on cipralex so long I might have been betrer now. If they'd made me stay on seroquel I would have gotten better quicker.

I'm a wreck now. My life is wrecked.
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I will NEVER see a doctor so please don't suggest it.
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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby Thetakishi » Fri Aug 21, 2015 4:43 am

I can remember disliking my self ever since I was little which may have been depression or anxiety. I know I cried myself to sleep many nights imagining my grandma dying and seeing her in the casket, or life without the only validating figure in my life. I had true depression symptoms start when I was 15ish, which lasted until I had my first hypomanic episode after a breakup of a four year relationship, that lasted a few days, then I crashed even harder and went catatonically depressed for a while. Got diagnosed then at 20 or 19 with BP, about a year after being dx'd with GAD.
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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby quietgirl2538 » Fri Aug 21, 2015 4:08 pm

I was 38 or 39 years old. I'm not so sure now. But I've been seeing a psychiatrist since I was 31.
“There’s an Asian expression that ‘a burden shared is halved.’"

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ADD (inattentive kind)
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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby Lexicon_Devil » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:20 pm

I was misdiagnosed with ADHD, depression, and oppositional defiance when I was 8. I was 20 when I finally got my bipolar diagnosis, but I'd known what it was for a couple years by then due to family history and research. Had I been diagnosed in a more timely manner, it probably would've been type II until I was 19 or so... I'm in some ways glad that I saw it get so bad before deciding on my own to seek help, though. I'm not sure how compliant I would be otherwise.
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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby Oliveira » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:44 pm

My 35th birthday.

Happy birthday, me!

Originally diagnosed with "major depressive disorder with dissociation episodes" in 2004.
Currently working on my upcoming signature.
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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby Red.Raptor » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:42 pm

Got out of my 1st psych hospital at 17 with a depression diagnosis. Went in and out a few times about 2-3 years later. That's when they brought up the bipolar diagnosis. It wasn't until I actually sat down with a therapist at around 20 for more than 10 sessions that he gave me the schizoaffective - bipolar type diagnosis because I wasn't having mood problems but I was having delusions and psychosis.

Looking back I believe I had it from when i was about 15+. I would get manic (and depressed but that's not as fun to talk about) and never sleep or eat, take up 2 languages, I was an excellent student WHEN i felt like attending. Even when I didn't go to school I would usually pick up make-up work and complete it. It was also around that time I developed delusions about people being unreal, robots or something. I thought people were watching me through cameras everywhere. And of course I always self-harmed from about 13 but that has little to do with bipolar :P
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The Devil has my ear today, I'll never hear a word you say.

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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby Native Arizona » Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:46 pm

I knew I had problems as a teen - mostly depression though at times I would get into a rage. It wasn't until I was 34 that I was diagnosed as bipolar II.

Throughout the years, I would see my family doctor anytime I got depressed. He would prescribe me an antidepressant and almost immediately I would be grinning from ear to ear. Heck, if my house burned down, I'd be outside toasting marshmallows. I hadn't a care in the world. Within 2 weeks of taking the antidepressant, I would stop sleeping and at that time I would quit the antidepressant and go back to "normal".

Before I was diagnosed as bipolar, I was prescribed Cymbalta. The lower dosage wasn't working on my depression so my family doctor maxed out the dosage and recommended that I see a psychiatrist because I was falling into depression far to often. He didn't know that I would cycle between depression, rage, and somewhat normal.

In 2006, I finally sought the help of a psychiatrist who recommended that I read a book (forget the author right now) to see if I could draw a parallel between what the author went through and what I was going through at the moment. While the author had the classic form of mania, I did not. I had rage that would be triggered by no reason at all. My psychiatrist then diagnosed me as being bipolar and explained that rage is a form of mania. Unfortunately, she kept me on the antidepressant (I was on it for about a year) and now, though I rarely experience rage, I suffer more of the classic form of mania and have only experienced depression once since I've been medicated (during a divorce).

I would not recommend anyone bipolar taking Cymbalta as it completely screwed me up. I have chronic insomnia, I constantly clench my jaw, I have to beware of spending money, and I always feel like I have to be on the go. I no longer cycle and as sad as it may seem, I'm tired of being manic and miss the cycling of the depression. At least I would feel more "normal" if I experienced a true deep depression again but all I experience is mania.

I've tried just about every bipolar medication available except for a few where weight gain is the common side effect. Lithium worked okay but gave me the shakes and I was on such a low dosage that it, in the long run, wasn't beneficial at all.

Today I'm on Geodone, Depakote, and Ativan. I take a myriad of sleeping pills to help with the insomnia (3 l-tryptophan, 2 Benadryl, 2 natural sleep aids, and 1 prescription sleeping pill that only knocks you out for about 4 hours.) I still have problems going to sleep at night and wake up tired in the morning. When I see my psychiatrist next I'm going to ask if what we can do about the insomnia because losing sleep isn't constructive to good health.
If you’ve ever done meth, then you have some idea how I feel
With teeth gnashing, jaw clenching, I’m still higher than a kite
I must be crazy to miss my old cycles of rage and depression
How I long to experience some other emotion than mania itself
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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby Comp_Lex » Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:51 pm

I am going to be formally diagnosed soon and I am 29. I have been struggling with depression since I was 12. I had my first mania episode at 21 / 22. Now that I think of it, the depression may have started earlier, when I was in primary school or perhaps kindergarten. Even in kindergarten I had emotional problems. That's what I remember the most of those times. I always had at least hypomania for as long as can remember. Perhaps since when I was 16 or maybe earlier. But the first really big, type 1 mania was at 21 / 22.
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Re: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Postby robbi » Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:54 pm

Well, in brief, I am 69 and was diagnosed BP2 at age 68, having exhibited the symptoms of BP since age 20. I have experienced the symptoms and outcomes of same throughout my adult life. Long, v. deep depressions, manic episodes ( I once was once running a company and suddenly decided I needed a job. I applied for and got and did a full time job alongside a full time company! Five months later crashed and so to hospital); the streets etc etc.

In the sixties there was no understanding of Bipolar. I was told, with variations, 'there is no problem - you are the problem - pull yourself together.. etc'. I have believed most of my life that it Was my fault. When I was finally diagnosed I felt relief, some understanding and certainly confusion as to my condition and real world circumstances. When I found this forum soon after I felt actual overwhelming, physical feelings of cooling and calm; insight even at last. Others were experiencing the same things! It wasn't just me. There is, I believe, an enormous, lasting value in sharing and forming a lasting, ongoing community.

I would not wish anyone to think that at my age they will still have it, BTW. I was just born into a certain cuspe. The progress in knowledge, treatments and drugs have been substantial and can only hold great hope for all of us in the future.I hope so anyway! :wink:
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