not quite sure

a bit of history---
i was a severly abused child (sexually)
there is a large family history of bipolar on both sides (nearly everybody)
i was tentatively (unofficially) diagnosed as bipolar a few years ago by a councelor (not m.d. or ph.d)
my current psychologist hasn't suggested it (it's never had reason to come up from either of us--i'm diagnosed with ptsd and severe depression)

ok, the question---
well, not right into the question. . .every few weeks or few months (not regular intervals or anything like that) i will have anywhere from a day to two weeks of extreeme hyperness, more than normal agitation (accompanied by more frequent flashbacks), huge bursts in creativity and desire to create (start fifty million projects and actually manage to complete most of them), some ocd type actions, and complete insomnia (max. 1 hour out of 24) but all of this is still accompanied with severe depression. could this be bipolar even though most of the time it lasts only about two days and doesn't occur very often? there's a ton of family history, so i'm probably more suspicious than i should be.

kaelynn - hi. there are a lot of related issues that you could have a mix of. also, as people age often the depression increases. Is it seasonal at all?

in my case I am BP II - when I was young, I was hyper, creative and didn't sleep much. when I got older those first two things cut back for more depression.

I believe that there are NOS type "mood disorders" that have not been studied yet as well.

these and other disorders are tied to seratonin levels. when they figure out how to raise and drop the levels so that each one is right, is when many people will stop suffering. Probably 20-30 years off...

I think if you decide to find out more, you'll find plenty of resources out there. Good luck.

W

i think that i am bi polar because for my entire life, things were always up and down, my mother especially taught me how to be unstable and never get done what you wanted too, but i don't know, there are periods of extreme depression followed by some psychotic symptoms, i think a bit of it is hereditary. mainly, it's just that i have always had crazy $#%^ going on like you, and when you are raised that way, then thats what you know, but it's all going against the natural order of things, and ways that we are supposed to be dealing with things basically, i'm on an anticonvulsant, and basically, it's also a med for sezuire patients, it slows down that over excitement of emotions, and then the antipsyhotic helps to control the psychosis that comes to me when i am depressed because of yrs of abuse, so i hope that helps, in my world, i can't make it without medicine, so my doctor has gotten me on somthing that takes away the symptoms, because i've tried for so long to reverse everything on my own, but thats why it's a disorder, and not just depression or somthing i can snap out of, it's like it just is, there is no choice, no matter how much i want a change, and now that i'm on this medicine, it's controlled, i'm not having episodes as ofeten and when i do, the risperdal, antipsychotic, that takes away all the feelings that put me further down, the learned process i was taught growing up, i'm going to hurt you, and then hurt you more, why? because i hate you?

but i never did anything wrong, i couldn't get over it, and i guess thats what makes it a disorder, it never goes away, until the medicine, and now i'm actually happy, i can find a reason to really be here, and life isn't painful anymore, it's ok, and i actually enjoy it, so, with that, i leave you with hopes that you get better, because when your sick, thats what it's all about.

kaelynn,

My guess and it's only a guess is that you have some type of bipolar. I say that because you get so many things going and manage to finish most of them. That's what I do, and I'm a bipolar. I once was on huge amounts of all sorts of medicines, but I've been off everything for a long time. I have a program that seems to work for me. You may want to visit my website to see how I can be crazy, yet free.
Good Luck,
Jim S

P.S. There is research that bipolar states can be brought on by lack of sleep, so I lie in bed everynight for 8-9 hours whether I sleep of not. Keeping a regular schedule for rest might be very important for you.