Aspergers and bipolar disorder

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I'm some degree of aspie, ( also with noise and smell sensory integration issues, and a bit of ocd which worsens when feeling insecure/under pressure) ; i had a mood-disordered period of a few years, ( but so oblivious was I that it took a magazine article describing manic-depression for me to realise that my wild adventuring, fast thinking and talking, mad spending and reckless travelling, loss of friends left right and centre for spouting rabid rants, mainly radical lesbian feminist ones, etc, and outrageous behaviour at weddings and like functions, and dramatic exits from jobs, was not just some kind of thrilling "personal is political" revolution! ) , then it settled into increasing depression.

I've found that I can limit, even completely eliminate this, ( both the grandiosity and speeding etc of mania, and the deepening darkening black-hole downers) , by excluding wheat and dairy completely, as I have done increasingly often, and for increasingly long periods of time , because depression-clouds and "speedy" thinking are very visible, and unpleasant, to me now. I would rather not do that anymore.

There's been quite a few threads about AS and MD, apparently it's not an uncommon combination/association, and links to some good articles have been posted but sadly now lost in general discussion back pages. One study looking at links between AS and MD showed that when occurred together was a reliable indicator that more than one other close family member would also be AS and/or MD; I forget which exactly.

I was diagnosed Bipolar as a kid, but I think that's largely because it was before AS was an official diagnosis, or at least before it was widely known. It was the closest thing they could find to explain how I am, but AS is the only thing that explains everything. So I think it likely that the bipolar diagnosis is simply a symptomatic manifestation of your aspieness, which would technically make it a comorbid condition. Although I have not yet been officially diagnosed with AS, I'm entirely certain that it's the reason for all of my psychological quirks. I don't think my bipolar diagnosis was inaccurate, it just wasn't the primary condition. From what I can gather, this is fairly common and it sounds like it's your case too.

My recommendation for medication (because it's what works for me): When depression starts to hit, intentionally make yourself stim. For me, at least, it seems to release some happy-time chemicals into my brain, making me smile and giving me a boost of energy, which effectively eliminates the depression/mania and instantly regulates my mood. I can't guarantee that it'll work for you, but it's done wonders for me. The more active and repetitive the stim, the better it works for me.

My father is diagnosed bipolar and though no one ever diagnosed him with Asperger's (it wasn't a diagnosis when he grew up) it's generally accepted in my family that he has it and that's where I get it from, because some parts of his personality are so similar to mine.

Manic depression is a Jimi Hendrix song.

Bipolar disorder is characterized by mood swings between mania and depression. It became the official label for the condition about ten years ago. Whether you're Type II or the wildly psychotic Type I, whether you rapid cycle or drift up and down over periods of years, it's all BPD.

I tested my suspicion that the Bipolar label was beginning to slip off me by quitting my meds nearly five years ago. I've been stable ever since. I was called Bipolar I for good reason, florrid psychosis five times in fifteen years. I now believe that my hosptializations were the result of emotional starvation caused by my limited abiliity to connect socially.

Now twenty years older, I no longer react in panic to the re-realization that I am different than most others I know.

dp