bipolar and AS

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Oh dear, you know far too much, they'll have to dissappear you now. Beware of the black helicopters. *sighs*

The word "paranoia" springs to mind. I don't know how you view yourself, but I aint "weak" or "sick" thank you very much.

Last edited by andy1976uk on 21 Jan 2007, 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

What makes you think Alex would know anything about it IF the govt was watching WP? If they were accessing the site they would have no reason to tell him or ask his permission.

It astounds me that people think this is some secret site and will divulge anything. Anybody can read the posts on here without being a member and the govt pretty much gets to do whatever it wants to.

Hmmm, I think Ticker is in on it too, yeah, that avatar is very suspicious-looking and isn't Arizona where they have all those underground UFO bases? She MUST be a part of the shadow government and it's sinister scheme to kill all the Aspies and sell our carcasses to McDonald's.
Now....where did I leave my tinfoil hat?

Last edited by andy1976uk on 22 Jan 2007, 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

wow... conspiracy theories abound! *waves to the CIA*

I could have Bipolar II maybe... not so sure.

Wondering if there's a sinister connection between the name "Asperger" and the McDonalds conspiracy which we our now aware of. AHEM. *gets mental image of someone walking upto counter and ordering "Aspburger, large fries and a coke". *hiding under desk*

I've wondered whether I'm a bit bipolar. I tend to go a bit manic when I develop a new obsession, and am more likely to get depressed in between obsessions.

I believe that this topis is about Bi-polar and AS. Let's get back on topic, please.

Ticker, I hope you didn't change your avatar on my account - I was just joking.

One thing i've been trying to figure out is if there is a connection between the two. Or if AS can be confused with appearing bipolar? I know that when i started my aquarium obsession, i could have appeared manic, and it was one of the examples that earned me a diagnosis when i went to a therapist for suicidal thoughts (unrelated to the fish ) My therapist told me that manias include spending an abundance of money on excess, such as buying a 30 gallon tank, using my entire graduation money that was supposed to go to school books. I tend to get excited about whatever new thing i find interesting, and thus spend money when i probably shouldn't reasonably do so.

Manias also include:
-Increased physical and mental activity and energy
-Heightened mood, exaggerated optimism and self-confidence
-Excessive irritability, aggressive behavior
-Decreased need for sleep without experiencing fatigue
-Grandiose delusions, inflated sense of self-importance
-Racing speech, racing thoughts, flight of ideas
-Impulsiveness, poor judgment, distractibility
-Reckless behavior
-In the most severe cases, delusions and hallucinations

I don't get the decreased need for sleep, though i do have trouble falling asleep when manic, due to the exaggereated "feeling good" and racing thoughts. I also don't get grandiose delusions (I may have greater self-importance but isn't that a good thing?) Nor do I get hallucinations, at least not when manic. Some of the manic symptoms i get when i spike into depression, such as the hallucinations (only when panicking and only a couple of times), impulsivness, poor judgement, reckless behavior. I have been told that the manias and depressions do not have to occur separately at opposite ends of the "things feel great i can do anything!" to "life sucks i want to end it" spectrum. All of that is just so ya'll get a little feeling for the disorder and my experience with it.

But there are some aspects of bipolar that i have always had, even though it is not supposed to develop until early adulthood. I have always had mood swings suchy as being interrupted when i am really focused on something and too much sensory overload cause me to be irritable, or "freak out." When i am talking about something i know or want to talk about (unlike most of the time when i am quiet) i will get really excited, talk fast, and have abundant physical energy (sometimes what i now know is called stimming). So when therapist asked if there are periods that have increased physical and mental energy, and that i talk more, am more social, and talk faster than normal, the answer was yes. And times when i am excited like this are often occumpained by other so-called manic symptoms of heightened mood and greater self-confidence.

However, I have noticed a distinction between these earlier mood swings and what i now experience. For one, depression became so much worse than anything i had ever experienced. After a depression, everything would be fine and like i had never been depressed. Until a week or two later when i crashed again, even harder (harder bc of self-defeat from thinking i had beat it). In between depressions i usually had an increased desired to make everything perfect, i could fix everything about me! i just needed to do such and such! didn't work. manias now seem to be internal, where i sit in a chair, think of the things i want to do, can do (some of them quite strange, like wanting to bust everything in the room and believing i could overdose and not die), yet i cannot make myself move to do anything, just have rapid thought after rapid thought, while my emotions fly through the roof. It's probably good that it's all internal so that i don't hurt myself.

Sorry, that was a long post, but many of you seemed interested, so i thought a bit more detail might be beneficial. Hope it made sense. Not all of it does to me, hence y i am posting here so that i can learn more. I'm not even sure if bipolar disorder and AS are supposed to coexist...if it's even possible or if i am just seeing things that aren't there.

I have bipolar type I and AS, both diagnosed.
It is a ghastly combination. I am sorry, but I feel uncomfortable about some of the things that have happened while on a bad mood extreme or mixed state (I'm one of the unfortunates who generally gets dysphoria or mixed state rather than euphoria on the manic episodes).
The only advice I can give is to get the bipolar under control ASAP.

Thank you aetherlost. I am trying to get the bipolar under control (on mood stabilizer called trileptal, and zoloft for depression) but seems like there is only so much you can do. It's better now that it was at the end of summer when i finally decided to do something about it. Therapy has helped some too. Except when i go into therapy, i have trouble talking to my therapist about my feelings, and i don't think she can read me well. I have started educating her about AS, sensory defensiveness, and CAPD, so that she can get a better understanding of me to be able to work with me better. I come across to people as being stable, only a bit depressed or antisocial. So therapist sees me stable too, when i am certainly not. She knows enough to diagnose bipolar, but i don't think she knows full extent of what happens with me. Oh, and i understand perfectly about feeling uncomfortable about some things that happen while on extremes. It is a very frustrating, often embarasing, disorder that has a tendency of driving others away, sometimes more so than AS. While i am sorry that you are going through this too, i'm glad i'm not alone and there's someone else out there that has just confirmed that what i suspect is at least a possible combination. Just know that you're not alone either.

No offense taken. I just figured out finally how to get a real picture as avatar. It only took about 5 tries though.

I'm an aspie, my older brother is bipolar. I suspect he has AS. He shows a lot of the signs. I also think his 6 year old son has AS.

It is common for people with AS to have other disorders such as bipolar, ADHD, OCD, etc... check the wikipedia article on AS under the comorbid section.

Agreed. I have been diagnosed with depression, and sometimes I feel like I go from extremes, but I don't think I have ever had real mania.

I take the mood stabilizer Lamictal. It has helped immensely with my mood swings and breakdowns. I still have them, but they're not as frequent or as intense. My PCP and psychiatrist (and even myself) thought I was cyclothymic (bipolar IV) for awhile because of my then undiagnosed Asperger's. I can appear "hypomanic" when I'm really in an "up" mood from one of my "special interests": talking really fast, interrupting people at any cost to keep talking, being really happy, sleeping less, being more productive. But again, this is all just the Asperger's- the fact that I was on SSRI's without a mood stabilizer proves it: if I were bipolar, I would have had a (hypo)manic episode while on the SSRI's.
-OddDuckNash99-

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Ah! Ha! Ha! Don’t take it serious. It was intended to be in humor! I have a terrible weird DRY SENSE of HUMOR (Upside Down)

To set the record straight for anyone I may have accidentally offended, I don’t think Aspies including myself are weak, And I surely don’t think Wrong Planet is really being monitored by Government Authorities, although I asked that in a question. Please forgive me if you think I was indicating anything other than good humor. I’m just trying to be funny to see if Alex himself will respond!! !!

My Strategy was
(To use the secret agent approach) or (The Shhh!! ! Conspiracy theory) or (I even thought of making something up about space aliens and Alex) “Laugh out Loud” LOL just trying to be in a good mood.

Well according to the responses, I guess I really am from a “Wrong Planet” H’mmm! If my Aspie sense of humor is not even funny to my fellow Aspie’s. Then I’m surly lost in the abyss of no Humor! I never was good at making jokes let alone friends. I was hoping other Aspies would be on the same (Page) Mental plateau, and find this funny. UH OH, I finally lost my marbles (Seen them?) I’m just lonesome looking for attention!

Later.
Malcolm.

See posted below, I tried to make it appear solemn. Must have worked hu, don’t take it serious….(Smiles)