Am i bipolar or borderline?

So i am 17 years old, and have been diagnosed bipolar at a really young age, around 12. When I was 10-14 i was hospitalized many times, 12-14 i was in the hospital about 11 times, usually back to back then the time began spacing out(I havent been in a year! ). So i was hospitalized usually for suicide attempts and depressive episodes and I also had very bad manic episodes resulting in sexual dangers, drugs, hurting others, ect. things i always noticed about me especially in middle school I always was very attention seeking, especilaly for males attention so i was promiscuous. I would get very afraid of abandonment whether or not it was real i would make up situations that they would probably abandon me and do anything to avoid it. Sort of delusional. Whenevr i felt the person is gonna leave i begin to do things and be obsessed so they wouldnt leave. I sort of have switch ups or splitting on people but not too many that i can recall since i was like 12 or 13, when it was frequent. I would also threaten suicide if I didn't get what i wanted, and always scared boyfriends away and had very intense emotions and would have unstable relationships.

Now that i read more on borderline personality disorder, I feel as if i have it.. my counselor said she doesnt know or think so because my mood swings are usually longtme episodes, especially my depressive episodes whihc can last for months at a time. Wiht borderline to my understanding episodes are usually short and situationally based? like for me the best thing in the world could be happening rn but i would still be depressed, or my boyfriend could dump me when im manic and i wouldnt give a $#%^ or threaten suicide.

I am diagnosed with PCOS also, which imbalances my hormones. My question is; do i seem borderline or bipolar? or is this just being a teenage girl with bipolar which might make things more dramatic? I feel like being already hormonally imbalanced and being 17 and having bipolar might make me a bit more attention seeking but ive never met someone with bipolar who is attention seeking like me and is afraid of abandonment and wants male attention as bad as me... anyone?

Hey, deannarae.

Comorbidity of Bipolar and BPD is common, is it possible that you perhaps have both? as someone with BPD myself, I can definitely see why you'd think you fit criteria, so I'm not doubting you at all.

It's definitely possible that you have Bipolar disorder & the hormones and such are crossing over, things can be a lot more difficult when symptoms overlap and come into close contact.

Again, being 17 myself and having BPD, I can 100% see your reasoning and logic.

Assuming you have a psychiatrist or something of the like (in that you have a Bipolar diagnosis) I'd definitely suggest that you mention this to them, just to be on the safer side.

One thing I noticed; you're using BPD terms such as splitting, etc. how did you learn those? do you think you could be reading a little too much into Borderline Personality Disorder? a lot of mentally ill people make the mistake of looking for more problems and diagnoses and end up becoming the disorder itself. my psychiatrist told me off for it a while back.

Edit: keep in mind that if you're to mention this to a professional, you should try not to be specific and say "hey, I think I have _____ because I've read about it a couple times and now I identify with it 100%" as this can confuse psychiatrists and lead to misdiagnosis. ALSO that people under 18 are rarely diagnosed with 'serious' mental disorders including personality disorders as your personality is still developing. I only got my diagnosis as a 'minor' because my psychiatrist saw the symptoms in me for well over a year, but it could be different where you are. that's just my experience.

I'd like to remind nobody here can diagnose you -- we're not professionals here so you're pretty much asking completely random people on the Internet who have no clue what they are talking about and can only share their own experience, strength and hope.

I have bipolar I with borderline traits, I keep on saying I failed the borderline test by one point (I needed to tick 5 boxes, and "only" ticked 4 out of 9). A friend of mine was diagnosed with "bipolar NOS and borderline NOS". One does not rule out the other. Only your psychiatrist can give you the final diagnosis. You might try a second opinion without telling the second specialist what the first diagnosis was and see if they arrive at the same conclusion.

Deannarea and Corgis,
Just 17 and struggling with so much! How tragic for you both. To me, at age 61, you are still children. Please don't take that as a put down. This should be a joyful and careless time of adolescence. I'm sorry. But it is not the end. You live at a time when psychiatric help and medication have never been better. I have hope for you.

Deannarea,
What a medical history you have! I'm glad you have had the support you needed to keep you going since age 10. Permiscuity does not make you a bad person. You must feel a hunger for something missing in your life and this is what you do, hoping to fill that need. When you talk of clinging to boyfriends and your fear of losing them, I think the permiscuity and insecurity must be related.

At your age, I didn't need medication, but I desperately needed a caring professional to talk to. Having loving and supporting family and friends is important too but they lack the education and training to hear what you really need and guide you in that direction.

I'm assuming you have a regular psychiatrist who does the best they can for you with your medication. See them as often as you can, and tell them everything going on in your head and life.

If you don't see a psychologist or counsellor at least weekly already, talk to whoever you need to so that you can get this kind of therapy. Asking your doctor or psychiatrist if you can see a psychologist would be a good place to begin. Maybe your primary care giver (mom, dad, social worker?) can talk with you and your psychiatrist about this and they can arrange it.

I hope you stay in touch here. It is not all old foggies like me. There is lots of experience and support from the many people with bipolar that log on daily.

Skilsaw & Oliveira made some good points. especially with getting a second opinion!

As Skilsaw said, there's definitely a generous amount of users around the same age range as you, I'm just one of them. but then again there's a handful of those that are significantly older, it's nice to have a healthy balance of both, I think! more experiences, more advice & support.

Wishing you the best, OP. I believe in you!

It's also going to depend upon which psychiatrist you see as there are no blood tests or these things. You could see a few and get a different diagnosis from each.

I think it's going to be difficult to say for sure as you're so young. I'm in the UK and my psychiatrist is dead against diagnosing under 18s with bipolar and the like. He just doesn't believe it's possible. I think a good psychiatrist will admit that mental health varies wildly from physical health. There's so much they still don't know about it.

This is so crazy.
The forum just went haywire on me and this old message from January 2016 popped up.
The message I was working on disappeared.
Paranormal... The clocks just changed back one hour. That has got to be it.
Or aliens. Witches, A sorceress, or goblins... something is out there
Here is the message from long ago:
_________________________________


Deannarea and Corgis,
Just 17 and struggling with so much! How tragic for you both. To me, at age 61, you are still children. Please don't take that as a put down. This should be a joyful and careless time of adolescence. I'm sorry. But it is not the end. You live at a time when psychiatric help and medication have never been better. I have hope for you.

Deannarea,
What a medical history you have! I'm glad you have had the support you needed to keep you going since age 10. Permiscuity does not make you a bad person. You must feel a hunger for something missing in your life and this is what you do, hoping to fill that need. When you talk of clinging to boyfriends and your fear of losing them, I think the permiscuity and insecurity must be related.

At your age, I didn't need medication, but I desperately needed a caring professional to talk to. Having loving and supporting family and friends is important too but they lack the education and training to hear what you really need and guide you in that direction.

I'm assuming you have a regular psychiatrist who does the best they can for you with your medication. See them as often as you can, and tell them everything going on in your head and life.

If you don't see a psychologist or counsellor at least weekly already, talk to whoever you need to so that you can get this kind of therapy. Asking your doctor or psychiatrist if you can see a psychologist would be a good place to begin.