ASPERGERS AND BIPOLAR MIX!! !

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YouTube - Asperger's Syndrome & Bipolar: The Brutal Truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4eRBxCk ... re=related

YouTube - Asperger's Syndrome and Mood Disorders:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXIT_HcU ... re=related

The first time I saw a professional I was diagnosed within that hour, with bipolar type 1 she said I was one of the most obverses ones she has seen, very supportive NOT and suggested some medication which I took for about a day and when researched thought I like myself and their was no way I wanted to be controlled by medication and if I did why and for who...and I thought I was Normal. A difference intelligence so often very misunderstood, as we are all different, on or off the spectrum a unique individual and many of us with aspergers have many associated conditions. I can so relate to what Laura says... I have aspergers, bipolar and intellectual learning, but do not see my self as disabled if allowed to do things in my own way, in fact often happy.. step into trying to be not me hard!

I am not sure any of my symptoms are serve, they just are to me, as am use to self and feel apart of who I am, for those interested I have never medicated... but with understanding I enjoy myself, I love being able to intensely focus late into the night, to me simply extremity of mood which leads us to hyper focus and get things done!

Brutal honesty topic

I must admit I had bouts of mania when I was younger, and my mind would race, I would lose my appetite and stay awake for days on end. Very strange. I had the strangest thoughts, and would try to organize them into literary creations. I would also think about, well, you know what, and this is the only time I would think about such thoughts. This is the part that upset/embarassed me the most--I hated it and was glad when it would "pass."

Since I have gone through the "change", I have rarely been plagued with such strange ideas, though I still have my creative side. I was wondering if your bipolar had a hormonal base, as mine no doubt did, but I hid it and did not seek help. This was long before I was dx with AS.

This must be torture for you. Thank you for sharing.

I have never been diagnosed with any type of bipolar, but even i can sometimes go for a couple days with significantly reduced sleep, and absolutely no food. This usually happens if i am really focused on a project, I simply forget about everything else. Good thing I have alarms set for things like work, and such. Maybe I should start setting them for bedtime and food.....

I've only been manic one time that I can remember. It was in the weeks following discovering AS. I freaked out and ended up being admitted to a hospital for 7 days. I was diagnosed as being bipolar by the doctor there after talking to him for about 30 seconds (not exaggerating).

The doctor that assessed and diagnosed me with AS hasn't dropped the bipolar diagnosis yet. She's waiting to see if I go manic again.

If I could turn manic on and off, it would be a pretty useful trait. I probably could have written "War and Peace" in the few weeks time that I was manic. My mind never worked so fast... it was a very interesting experience.

I do not know about hormone based, but many women on the spectrum seem to have huge hormone imbalances and to me bipolar like an extremity of my moods, but never really brothered me too much, kind of got use to my varied symptoms... I just see it as apart of who I am as an individual...., but I do have to lead quite a healthy life style to keep me balanced so too speak, stops me catapulting

HI asplanet, always nice to see you on the boards.

I don't know much about bi-polar and AS, but I have come across some women with AS who are also BPD and it is a real concern to me, particularly being o n the receiving end of the behaviours that encompass BPD/AS.....The closer you get, the kinder you get or nicer you get, the 'friendlier" you get, the more the vitriole and abuse comes out. I try to steer clear of the combination once I become aware of it, because it is so darn horrible to be around.

Sometimes it can take me a LONG time to become aware because of delayed and rather "inconsistent" processing (lol) but once I am, - and it can take me AGES - I see a clear cutting off from such individuals as the only course of action. And i do so, out of self-preservation and a wish for peace in my life.

I remember wanting to die and enving kids with cancer at age three. I had violent mood swings and would attack anyone in my way. My mother STILL has scars from my rampages. My parents also say that as a baby I never slept and instead of crying I would scream...NON STOP. Even to this day my mom swears she thought I was going to make everyone deaf. I was never offically diagnosed with bipolar, some stupid shrink in the booby hatch said I had a "mood disorder" but never spesified which one. He also said I was skitsofrenic and phobic of men. If they were all like him, I definaly would be. All but two of the diagnostic criteria of pedaric bipolar fit me as a child so I do have to stop and wonder.

Dx Bipolar II(rapid cycling) and a bunch of other mental illnesses since the age of 16......

I am now 36........and dx AS.

I have been on every med known to man practically and spent the better part of 20 years on lithium, anti-psychotics, anti-depressants and so on.....

Not denying anything....afterall if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck.......it is a duck.

But all is overlooked now........and I wonder if I lost my humanity for no reason. For sure, the drugs and psych hospitals and psychobabble eroded me to a splinter of my former self.

Devastating.

Mics

No wonder when they test for PMDD that they have to rule out bipolar. I can go through depressive and angry moods during the end of my cycle. And they get worse and worse until that time of the month hits.
I always eat my meals and I always have sleeping problems, which I blame partly on my mother for being nocturnal.

Thanks ! but really you can NOT think that everyone who has BP/AS is like that, it comes down to personalities, I tend to get on with often intelligent, individuals who process information quickly, and like minded individuals who often like myself think outside the square so to speak....but that's just me.... and have many friends and as I have found in life no one can get on with everyone, but to judge individuals before knowing them because of neurological differences is beyond me and I feel so wrong, maybe their is a reason you find it hard to connect with certain types of personalities, like we all do... but AS, BP just like everyone on this planet are all individuals and even we do not all get on, stigmatizing helps no one and the odd bad experience does not mean we should dismiss as I have found often extremely intelligent and interesting individuals.!

I think perhaps by BPD, millie is referring to Borderline Personality Disorder" rather than Bi-Polar Disoder, although I expect your comments are just as valid either way Asplanet.

Still, millie's ability to cope with some of the more destructive behaviors that occur when Borderline Personality Disorder and Aspergers Syndrome combine is something only she can judge. I agree people should not be written off on the basis of a diagnostic label, but if she persistently finds she cannot cope with particular characteristics, then it may be prudent to avoid people who demonstratibly manifest those characteristics.

To each their own I guess; so long as one is using their observation of someone's behaviour, rather than making assumptions based on diagnostic labels, it is probably sensible to avoid people whose behavior one personally finds too challanging to cope with.

That I agree on and just realised who Millie is, so just to say she is a great person and feel her comments may of been based on a few bad experiences! But as I have found in the past, until I got to the stage I am npw which is extremely confidant in self, I was unable to deal with many individuals myself and may well of impacted on others unintentional ...