Another "could I have it?" thread

I know a lot of people post their symptoms and ask if they might have bipolar disorder or cyclothymia, and I'd like to preface this by saying I -am- going to see a therapist to get a professional diagnosis, BUT...that being said, I like to get other people's opinions (especially those that actually have it or know a lot about it personally).

I am mostly concerned with the idea that I might have cyclothymia, but I thought I'd post it here for general feedback.

Anyway, I have noticed that my moods have been fluctuating more and more. I've suffered from mood swings for quite some time, I'm not really sure when it started though, but it seems that almost my entire life has had a cloud over it in some form or another. Lately, I have had a couple days--a week at most--that feel really good, followed by more frequent periods of anxiety, emptiness, or outright sadness/crying/etc. Often my moods change within the same day, and it's so frustrating.

I could of course go on and give you way more details, but my main question is this: do I have a reason to believe it could cyclothymia IF my "good/happy times" do NOT lead to anything negative?

I have many of the positive symptoms--feeling more optimistic, confident (possibly overconfident/even more boastful than usual), more productive, sometimes I talk faster, feel more energetic, sometimes a bit crazed/laughing more easily at things, etc--but none of the really negative ones. I don't do anything impulsive such as shopping sprees, gambling, sex. I might appear a little crazy when I feel that way, like sitting in class laughing over a drawing I made or something, but that doesn't really bother me.

I suppose that sometimes I have grandiose ideas but not to the extent where I think that they will magically happen...to give an example, during one of my "good times", I thought that I could possibly become a USC cheerleader when I go there next semester, despite having no dance/cheer experience whatsoever; however, I didn't think I would just make the team out of thin air and I still thought that I'd have to take dance classes beforehand, but I felt like I really -could- do it if I set my mind to it. During one of my "bad times", I would feel too anxious or empty to even want to try.

What do you guys think? Should I rule out cyclothymia/bipolar if my "good times" are not leading to any negative consequences/symptoms? What else could it be?

Thanks in advance.

We're not allowed to give you a diagnosis. That is up to a psychiatrist. But even a psychiatrist would hesitate to provide a diagnosis online. The best thing to do is to see your doctor for a referral to a psychiatrist.

Your dream of becoming a cheerleader is All American. Up there with Miss America and Barbie Doll. Don't feel bad about that. There are millions of girls that have this wish. Maybe it is unrealistic, given the competition among girls who have been focused on it since Junior Highschool.
But Hey, I buy just one lottery ticket everytime Lotto Max gets to $50 million. The main thing is not to be disappointed if your dream doesn't come true. Unfortunately there is a lot of pressure to believe in Cinderella, and Snow White.

I think the best thing you can do now, besides seeing your doctor, is to take on a healthy lifestyle.
Eat modest portions of good quality food. Exercise or take yoga, and sleep regularly but not too much. You will be amazed at how good just that will feel.

Look after yourself.

Thanks for the reply!

Actually, I already saw a psychiatrist. He told me to take 5-HTP after I saw him for only one session. I was skeptical...I've read that 5-HTP can be unsafe and also that it's not necessarily the best idea for cyclothymia because it could induce mania? I don't know. I'm still considering taking it, but I didn't really trust that psychiatrist (he seemed flippant and lied to me about the potential side effects of 5-HTP) so I am going to try to find a new one. Still, I want to be prepared when I go in. I don't want a psychiatrist to tell me one thing when I clearly know another.

I also already told my primary doctor about my mood swings but he didn't seem to care much. He gave me a lot of blood tests, which all came up fine, and that was that. I asked him if my hormones could be causing my mood swings/if it could be linked to my menstrual cycle, and he said "As long as you're having normal periods, it shouldn't be that"; then I asked him about 5-HTP and he just said "I don't see what good that would do" and nothing else. It's so hard to find a good doctor here for some reason. Very frustrating, not sure where I should go next, but I think I'm going to try the therapist at my school. I don't know if she'll be able to help much though because as far as I know, she's a therapist but not a psychiatrist.

That's why I'd like some general opinions here, even though I -am- going to see a professional as well, and hopefully a good one finally.

As for the cheerleader thing, that's the weird thing...I really have no true interest in it at all. I've never been interested in dance or cheer, but during one of my "good times" (hypomanic? I don't think so, but maybe?), I got all these ideas about what I could do at USC and I thought that being a USC cheerleader was the very pinnacle of awesomeness basically. It probably does tie in to what you said about a lot of girls having that dream in some form or another. It's not that that bothers me, just wondering if it's possibly "hypomanic" for me to suddenly think that I wanted to take dance lessons and eventually try out for something like that.

It felt good to feel like I could do it, to feel excited about it, however silly it might have been though! And it didn't lead to anything negative, so I'm hesitant to say it's hypomanic rather than just optimistic.

My main question remains: can hypomania be completely positive and still be considered hypomania? Or does it have to have negative qualities to it?

Thanks again.

P.S. Oh, I forgot to mention, I already have a very healthy lifestyle. I exercise (getting my heart rate up for at least 20 minutes) 5 times a week and do plenty of walking on the other 2 days, I eat healthy (I can't afford to buy all organic or anything yet, but I eat mostly healthy stuff), I don't drink/do any drugs, etc.

No matter how your appointments go, you should fill 'mood diary' anyways. May give you proper leverage to make a specialist to consider it if you can't convince them otherwise. Depending on how long your cycle is, it may take months to see the swings, but eventually it'll show pattern if you are BP. Maybe. Wouldn't hurt anyways.

Just simple rating of your day's mood at evening should do. I had to fill them for half a year or so with the psychiatrist who gave me my first BP diagnosis. I had predone pieces of cardboard with scale, amount of sleep etc. on them. You can just as easily grab a layout from web and do one yourself. I think there are few on this forum too, but they shouldn't be that hard to find anyway. Just be honest with yourself and don't bother trying to lean the scale to either direction. If you feel your mood is changing even within same day, just make the diary accordingly, be that a rate for every 6 hours if need to. It's not like the world would run out of paper.

I know feeling of hypo making one seem way more optimistic and outgoing. I've taken so much extra crap to carry when I've been hypo.. Volunteering for leading school stuff etc. Don't take me wrong, it has been fun even without hypo kicking me forward, but stress inducing next hypo, and getting stress from something I agreed to while hypo is one vicious snowballing circle to break.

*Hugs.*

Golden.Chiffon wrote:I know a lot of people post their symptoms and ask if they might have bipolar disorder or cyclothymia, and I'd like to preface this by saying I -am- going to see a therapist to get a professional diagnosis, BUT...that being said, I like to get other people's opinions (especially those that actually have it or know a lot about it personally).

Counselors and therapists have various social worker or psychologist's licenses, but that isn't where I'd suggest you go, to get your diagnosis done. Meaning you need to see a psychiatrist to get diagnosed with bipolar, or related, or similar disorders.

A psychiatrist has all the same training as a medical doctor, PLUS the specialized training in the major mental illnesses and their treatment.

And a psychiatrist, because of his in depth medical training, really is a good guy to start with.

I am mostly concerned with the idea that I might have cyclothymia, but I thought I'd post it here for general feedback.

Ok - Bipolar has 4 main forms - cyclothymia, bipolar 1, bipolar 2, and various mixed states. Cyclothymia is a subtype of Bipolar disorder.

It's kinda hard to 'bite your own teeth', so self diagnosis really has its limitations.

The best thing you can do, is see a psychiatrist.

Anyway, I have noticed that my moods have been fluctuating more and more. I've suffered from mood swings for quite some time, I'm not really sure when it started though, but it seems that almost my entire life has had a cloud over it in some form or another. Lately, I have had a couple days--a week at most--that feel really good, followed by more frequent periods of anxiety, emptiness, or outright sadness/crying/etc. Often my moods change within the same day, and it's so frustrating.

I bet it's frustrating. Are you taking any prescriptions, have you got any other medical-physical diagnoses? Any use of recreational drugs or alcohol?

I could of course go on and give you way more details, but my main question is this: do I have a reason to believe it could cyclothymia IF my "good/happy times" do NOT lead to anything negative?

I don't know what you mean, 'do not lead to anything negative'. You mean, you don't feel you get any mania? Well, for one thing, it's hard for most people to know when they get mania. It's hard for most people to evaluate their own symptoms, in other words.

I have many of the positive symptoms--feeling more optimistic, confident (possibly overconfident/even more boastful than usual), more productive, sometimes I talk faster, feel more energetic, sometimes a bit crazed/laughing more easily at things, etc--but none of the really negative ones. I don't do anything impulsive such as shopping sprees, gambling, sex. I might appear a little crazy when I feel that way, like sitting in class laughing over a drawing I made or something, but that doesn't really bother me.

Yeah...I leave it open, again, because most people have a hard time evaluating their own symptoms.

I suppose that sometimes I have grandiose ideas but not to the extent where I think that they will magically happen...to give an example, during one of my "good times", I thought that I could possibly become a USC cheerleader when I go there next semester, despite having no dance/cheer experience whatsoever; however, I didn't think I would just make the team out of thin air and I still thought that I'd have to take dance classes beforehand, but I felt like I really -could- do it if I set my mind to it. During one of my "bad times", I would feel too anxious or empty to even want to try.

It's just impossible to say from an online description. Really impossible.

Have you ever had any friends or family express concern about your mental health? If so, what did they say?

What do you guys think? Should I rule out cyclothymia/bipolar if my "good times" are not leading to any negative consequences/symptoms? What else could it be?

I think the best advice I can give is talk to a psychiatrist. If you can, have family or friends write down their comments. If you're getting comments from friends like, 'I'm really worried about this person's moods' or 'I am concerned that this person seems to work to exhaustion', your symptoms may be seen differently by others. Having several points of view can help a psychiatrist to understand what's going on with you.

Thanks in advance.

You are doing everything right! If I was a psychiatrist, you are the kind of patient I would want. Maybe the school therapist knows the name of a good psychiatrist.

I think a period of mania can be all good. Think of the person who becomes manic and assumes leadership during a natural disaster. They stay awake and work saving lives for 48 hours afterwich they get by on just 4 hours of sleep per day. Or think of the person my psychiatrist told me about. The fellow made $200,000 in a month to six weeks each year and spend a large part of the rest of the year depressed.

But these are rare incedents. Mania can be bad right from the start, or turn out to have bad long term consequences. And we go there anyway because we are hoping to rekindle the fire.

Take care,

skilsaw wrote:Or think of the person my psychiatrist told me about. The fellow made $200,000 in a month to six weeks each year and spend a large part of the rest of the year depressed.

Personally I'll take my life over that person's, even if it means I will never see five zeroes on my account (unless my bank has a computer error and allows me to go that deep into the red, that is).

A psyciatrist told you to take 5-htp? As a temporary thing, or because you didn't want to take medication or - what was the context of that advice?

It is a tryptophan supplement and I would be concerned that various 'downstream' biochemistry typical of depression, would prevent tryptophan supplements from having any effect (other than possible serotonin syndrome). I'm not sure the evidence is very compelling for it. But docs will recommend it if the person refuses other treatments.