Biopalor and Aspergers?

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I was diagnosed with BP long before AS. I can't understand it. I can relate to feeling detached at some odd stretch of time with AS but not with BP. I never felt gregarious or "high" or felt the need to socialize wth anyone. My only social'ness would come if I knew they well enough or painted.

In other words, I've never made friends or had these so-called ups or downs. Sure, there are times where I feel social enough but not enough to keep friendships or relationships in that liking. I'm a sympathathizer but not an empathizer if that makes sense. I can't get people or reciprocate their feelings if that makes any sense.

i have bipolar and aspergers, and im semi-confused



why were u diagnosed with bipolar if you don't have highs or lows?

But i agree completely. Im a sympathizer too. I like to hear about other peoples problems because of that. And i feel social too, but i can't keep relationships either

Personally I think that AS looks like a bipolar disorder or a schizo affective disorder in women because it affects us differently. You might not have bipolar at all. Bipolar runs in my family and I've showed mild symptoms but never strong enough to be medicated or officially diagnosed. I was suffering from clinical depression for years until I learned about my AS, within that time I was almost Dxed with BP or Schizo affective. My argument was that I wasn't hallucinating or having real mania. It's a good thing AS came into the picture I don't know what the hell I would have been DXed with.

I've heard of people having a special interest "spell," like where you stay up nights without sleeping to do research or work on a project, interpreted as hypomania. And maybe it's hard for people to relate to things than can depress ASD people (IOW, that it seems "irrational" to them)? Anyway, just some thoughts.

You can be diagnosed with BP if you have primarily mixed episodes [mixture of depressive and manic symptoms]. I've only had this once [that I can recall]. It was medication-induced, before anyone twigged that I wasn't a unipolar depressive, and it was awful. It just went on and on until I was taken off the medication. What I've learnt from that is this: a GP shouldn't be doing psych. meds until someone's seen a psychiatrist and been given a proper diagnosis.

Also, not all hypo/mania is pleasant or euphoric. Some people get irritable and aggressive, plus they get agitated from all the excess energy they feel from a hypo/manic episode. For some people, being manic is not necessarily a good place to be. Don't know if that's the experience of the OP, but the stereotype of a BPer being either euphoric or depressed doesn't always hold true.

Personally I guess I'm one of the "lucky" [IF you can be lucky] ones and have had largely good experiences with mania. I'll be more bombastic, a lot more sociable, would talk faster, would need less sleep and generally feel good about myself. Until the delusions set in, of course

With schizo<x> and ASD - the negative symptoms of schizo<x> can superficially appear like ASD, and vice versa, which is why clinicians have to be careful in making a differential DX. That being said, you can be both bipolar or schizoaffective and be on the spectrum.

Hi there,

I have also been dx with Bipolar II (rapid cycling) although now that the AS dx has come to light, I suffer more from "traits" of the Bipolar disorder as opposed to filling the full criteria. I have been on lithium and anti-psychotics. I was also dx with schizoaffective many years ago. I have been hospitalised with "psychosis" and manic presentation as well as severe depressive presentation. My moods seem to cycle quite rapidly but whether it is more an AS hyperfocus period with massive productivity or mania, I'm not sure. I also have features of ADHD but am holding off on the meds side of things there.

It is all a mixture of many things dear one. If it is becoming unbearable, maybe talk to your doc about it.

Take care,

Mics

I was dx'ed BP1 30 years ago. Looking back, I formed a theory about my behaviors.

I believe that humans are social animals and that we gain significant emotional nurturing from contact with each other. While young, dazed, and without the advantage of perspective, I suffered from a condition that ostracized me from other people. I had no way to articulate this, even to myself at the time, but if contact meant nurturing, I could starve in a crowd of people who told me that they loved me.

I began to observe cycles in behavior in my late 20's that resembled bipolar symptoms. Mania to psychosis, then down to deep depression.

I believe now that the mania was driven by rage, a fury rooted in abandonment I knew since I was born. Because of who and what I was, I could not perceive the level of contact I made with others, so I recognized it as no contact at all. Over a period of time, weeks, probably months, the frustration and anger from isolation mounted within me until my anxiety robbed me of sleep a few days, and then it was BLAST OFF!

Recovery would pass through a brief period of lucidity, where I could see how defective I was, leading to hopelessness, more and more acute as I began to visit this place of clarity with no sense of progress from last time there, and no end to the pattern in sight. This led to depression.

Eventually, I would resume my non-contact socializing, unable to recall exactly what I had just been through. I would fall back into the superficial social persona that held together what interaction I could muster. And I would again expose my social antennae, which I now believe picked up more than I realized, to social situations that vexed and frustrated me to new fury.

To the psychiatric observer, I exhibited a clear patten of mood swings, from mania to breakdown and depression.

But every therapist who really looked into what I was going through saw something else going on.

The last one said, "It's some kind of thought disorder."

I started having bipolar symptoms in my early 20s but only realized the AS 17 years later (early this year). I was never more sociable when I became manic. I was quite anti-social. My mind couldn't shut down at night. Lots of racing thoughts. There were times when I would desperately try to sleep, but could not for even 5 minutes and this would go on about 5 days until completely delusional and having constant auditory and visual hallucinations. I've done some really crazy things and nearly died twice because of it. Finally got the right meds 5 years ago and I'm deathly afraid of ever going off them. I think at the time of my big problems with episodes, the AS compounded the situation since it led to isolation which in turn increased stress levels - a major trigger for bipolar.

Sometimes, I can't help but wonder, if I have reverse Bi-polar. I seem to be sluggish, in the spring and the summer, but I come alive, as soon as the first heavy rainfall of the spring, takes place. I love the cooler weather, and it seems to love me. I was really hyper, when the first heavy rainfall happened, last September.