So I'm not bipolar afterall?

I spoke to my pdoc today about being diagnosed bipolar twice, and he said it was only the hospital's opinions, and because I'm managing without meds I'm most likely fine.

He actually thought that I had previously told him I wasn't on meds anymore, which shocked me. I never told him this and was planning on telling him it had been almost 14 weeks without them today when I saw him.

I'm so confused. Even my mom was like:



The meds never helped me. They never help. I simply stop taking them when I come to the realization that they're not going to work. Then, 4-6 weeks later I usually get better...for a while.


Oh well. Back to the waiting game.

Has anyone ever had their diagnosis come into question sometime after it was once accepted to be accurate?

Nah not really but you are going to get different answers from different doctors. Mine wasn't even going to put me on meds because I didn't want them but they eventually determined I need them. So you doc seems to think if you can manage without meds you are not BP. I guess it just depends on what doctor you have, as psychology isn't exactly an exact science at times.

My diagnosis was questioned as well. But not because I did well off meds, but because I did well on them, and my episodes went away. My new doctor hasn't seen any because of that and he isn't sure I'm BP since he hasn't seen it himself.

I agree that different doctors will give different diagnoses. A diagnosis is really just a doctor's subjective opinion anyway. Psychology is not a reliable science, it's basically a guessing game, and we just hope that our doctors are guessing right. My psychiatrist is making an assumption without knowing what I was like before medication, which is foolish.

Perhaps you should stress to him that the medication has never worked, and the only reason you are doing well now is because the episodes have naturally backed off for a bit? It's hard to converse with doctors sometimes as they believe they are right, but if you don't agree then you should let him know that. Has he seen you when you were having difficulty with BP moods?

- EGD.

EarlGreyDregs wrote:Perhaps you should stress to him that the medication has never worked, and the only reason you are doing well now is because the episodes have naturally backed off for a bit? It's hard to converse with doctors sometimes as they believe they are right, but if you don't agree then you should let him know that. Has he seen you when you were having difficulty with BP moods?

Everytime I see this guy, we seem to have the same conversations. Maybe only half of what I tell him seems to stick.
He saw me when I had cut my arm open and had me hospitalized, and he also saw me about a week before the second hospitalization when my therapist thought I was insane. I don't think he's ever seen me hypomanic, or at least I wasn't aware of it myself and he didn't notice, either.

He told me he thought I had "a bipolar mood disorder" at one point. Yesterday he simply said, "there was evidence of a cycling mood disorder, but you seem to be doing fine now".

I read your topic on stress induced bipolar disorder, and I think stress is my main trigger. Once I graduated high school, my stress levels went way down, and I stopped rapid cycling between constant sub-episodes of hypomania and depression.

I think there may be something political going on here?
Perhaps doctors have been told to stop labelling so many of us mentally ill as it is affecting moral, welfare payments, days off work and the world view of the great Western Democracy that breeds mental illness in so many of its population?
And if you are not taking or responding to their drugs then you are not good for their "cure rate" statistics - so better to say there is nothing wrong with you - or you are now cured?

ladyjello wrote:If you are not responding to their drugs you are not good for their stats - so they will say you are now cured.

I hope this isn't the case. I asked him what meds I would take if I went back on them, and he said he didn't know and would determine that by the symptoms I had at the time.

I don't think I'm "cured" at all. I've been having mood problems since early childhood. It wasn't clearly bipolar disorder then, and it wasn't severe enough to be recognized as a mood disorder. I distinctly remember many time periods in my life where I was different from my normal self; I did plenty of foolish and embarrassing things, which led to me becoming hyper-self conscious, which masked the changes in mood even more until it exploded on me one day and I realized it was probably bipolar disorder, and two hospitals more or less confirmed it.

I'm rambling now.

_______________________________

*edit

I've been doing research on ultradian bipolar because of my initial, intense daily cycling back in February and came across a post online where someone said they would have episodes that lasted weeks to months, but then became daily. She said the doctors assured her that the mood swings become more frequent at first when the depakote kicks in, then they become less intense.

My mood was originally fluctuating in and out of hypomania for about a week, but when I went to get treated for the insomnia, I was given Risperidone and ativan. A few days later, I started rapid cycling between full blown depression and intense hypomania within hours for a couple of weeks.

I'm wondering if the risperiodone did this to me. I've never actually rapid cycled between moods without having been on or recently on medication, as I just today realized this.

The initial hypomania was brought on by Ibuprofen (I'm sensitive to most medications). I felt giddy and euphoric, and only slept for 2 hours, but was able to accomplish more the next day than I normally do in a week. I kind of wanted to keep the high going, so I became stressed out when I felt it going away, but it came back numerous times (I'm thinking the stress happens to be a trigger, but it doesn't produce pleasurable moods, even when high, so this is why I wanted the insomnia treated).

The meds plus the stress of it all probably pushed me much further then I ever could have gone in normal circumstances. When things were taken away--the stress and the offending medications--I got better rather quickly. About a month after the meds cleared my system entirely, I made almost full recovery from the rapid cycling.

I'm simply too sensitive to meds and their side effects, but at least I know with confidence that what happened will likely never happen again now. I see no reason to ever again expect rapid cycling of that caliber.

In short, stress+bad meds=disaster.

I probably do have some form of bipolar disorder just because of my history major depression and the unnoticed hypomanias, and it's only gotten worse with age, but it definitely doesn't seem to meet any specific criteria as of now.

Hi Agaain
Excuse my cynicism - just where I am at just now - good luck