Bipolar, Cyclothymia or something else?

We are waiting for my husband's appointment for a formal diagnosis, but are anxious to figure out what is wrong with him. We understand no one can clearly diagnose him, but just to get an idea. We are almost positive it's a mood disorder.

Since his early teen years he's felt like this. His mood goes up and down within a day depending on what is going on. Sometimes he stays in a decent mood for a few days, but never more than two. I've told him at times that EVERYTHING bugs him. I'd say he's more on a low than a high. I'd never say he's in a really good mood, but it's more of a decent mood. Level is the best way to describe it. When he's "level" he is still pretty set in his ways as to his opinions on things, but more apt to listen to my side of things and open his mind up to new ideas. He's more apt to compliment me and be concerned with how I feel. He gets creative during these times and makes parts for his four-wheeler or starts a new project in the shed rebuilding one of the bikes we own. He starts talking a lot about the hopes he has for our kids (we have 5) and what their future and our future will be like. He's pretty much how I would love to have him be 24/7.

When he starts getting down, I call it spiraling. Things start bugging him. Or something happens and he thinks that he's the only one in the world that has bad luck. "Why is it always me?" Is a question I hear frequently. He has basically the same complaints. Noises the kids make irritate him. Habits they have annoy him. The house being a bit messy gets him going. (He's a neat freak) And he starts voicing these complaints over and over until he works himself up to a peak. At times he's able to calm himself down. Sometimes he explodes in anger. If it gets bad enough or if he gets upset enough, he's prone to hitting walls, throwing his hat, breaking whatever he's working on if it's not going his way. When he gets this way, he sometimes cries about what he's upset about or what he's worried about, if it's a major issue. When he gets explosive, he frequently asks, "Why is it always me that causes problems for this family?" And he likes to point out that we all should have to change, not just him. But when he calms down he realizes and has said that a lot of the time he knows that he is the one who causes the most problems.

He has been prone to addictions. When he was a teen he drank a lot, but was able to stop that on his own. He also quit cigarettes last year after smoking for 20 years, but he didn't give up the nicotine because he substituted chewing tobacco for smoking...still I give him credit.

His ups are great and his downs are bad. Basically we are tired of having to "pussy-foot" around his moods and he is tired of causing all the big problems.

Does this sound like cyclothymia or does he just have a bad temper or maybe anger issues?

Thanks for any info! K&C

Sounds to me like Bipolar 2. It is very hard to live with, the person with Bi-2 doesn't understand their anger and mood swings any better than the love ones. Everyone is prone to being cranky, but if he tends to spend more time being cranky and withdrawn and only a few times being "level" it sounds typical of Bipolar 2 disorder.
Even with medication and treatment, it is sometimes difficult to treat trying to get the right combination of meds. Sometimes all someone needs is a moodstablizer, other times it's a mixture of drugs, that is done on the trial and error method.