What if I'm not bipolar?
10 Nov 2023, 8:29 pm
I was diagnosed with bp after suffering from postpartum psychosis. I think the original thought was because in high school, I'd suffer periods where I cannot sleep followed by sudden and constant drowsiness.
I get depressed and anxious but that is it. Mania was only present on SSRIs and psychosis oddly enough on antipsychotics.
I noticed my sleep patterns improved when I graduated high school, didn't have a job, and otherwise wasn't forced to handle tons of people daily. I excelled in college especially in subjects I could hyper focus on happily. Others I took online and did great too.
But I've been questioning my bp diagnosis. My current doctor is a moron out for money (his words last appointment when he forgot to mute himself.) I don't have a choice due to insurance. I'm moving next year and I want to be able to discuss this with an actual doctor.
TL;DR: How could I approach a new doctor about my current diagnosis?
11 Nov 2023, 9:24 am
You could explain why you think your existing diagnosis is erroneous and provide your reasons/examples of your life experience to make your assertions seem plausialbe and ask for a change in diagnosis (so the new doctor knows that is what you want).
Aside from that, it is ultimately up to a new doctor on whether to take your beliefs seriously, and a lot of doctor's are inclined to believe previous diagnoses', regardless of their validity.
11 Nov 2023, 12:14 pm
Question. Did the medication given to you for bipolar stabilize you?
Another question. How long does it take to go from a high to a low (Or a low to a high?)
Many get missdiagnosed with bipolar instead of autism and the reason for this missdiagnosis is because some traits of autism can almost mimic bipolars highs and lows, but the difference is that as bipolar is a chemical brain issue and autism is not, bipolars ups and downs take around four days to go from one extreme to the other, while with autism, it can happen several times in a day!
Why the diagnosis needs to be correct and why it matters, is because if someone is given medication to stabilize a chemical imbalance and they do not have a chemical imbalance issue, then by giving the medication it can give the person bipolar issues as well as their autism traits, as while on the medication their brains will be chemically wrong.
With a person who has genuine bipolar issues, the doctor will need to slowly adjust the dosage until things stabilize which means working with the patient daily or certainly a few time a week, and once they have the dose right (Which is why they will need to see the patients regularly for a prolonged period to get the dose right) the patients life seriously imporoves and stabilizes and they will live a normal healthy life once the dose is right. If missdiagnosed, the dose will never be right anf the patient will go through an awful time! Some missdiagnosed patients went through a few years of this until they come off the bipolar medication. BUT always work with your doctor as they are the ones who keep notes and are paid for their expertise. (And if they are not an expert in this particular field they should be arranging for you to be with the relevent person and let them take over, as each doctor tends to have their specific areas that they are good at. They may be ok as a general knowledge doctor, but this really needs more than that, which it is why it is important to be diagnosed correctly in the first place.
The mistakes in miss diagnoses stem from the patients highs and lows where doctors (And everyone else hearing about mental highs and lows) immediately assumes it is bipolar, as bipolar is themost well known common cause of patients having these symptoms.
Of course, one can have both autism AND bipolar and I would not like to say what doctors should do for that! Haha! Will need real experts to work it out if highs and lows are caused by both conditions as it would take someone to watch the bipolar patterns and just medicate for that. (Not a lot one can do for autistic generated highs and lows though apart from providing a relaxing enviroment and to reduce stress etc.(But I only know what I have read or what experts or missdiagnosed patients have said, as I don't know much... Just passing on what they have said about it. Worth looking at missdiagnosing bipolar for autism on youtube and watching youtube videos about it... Where they compare the two conditions in detail. Also worth asking your doctor to see how they came up with the conclusions, as they may have seen or noticed something that you have not).
Bipolar is much easier to treat. Autism has very little in the way of treatment in itself, as treatment is for side issues which autism may amplify rather than autism itself, as there is no real way to treat autism other than to try and dampen down some of the effects which can leave some patients in zombie like state which is what happened to someone I used to know who spent almost a decade like that until she decided to come off the medication and get her life back. Not good for them or anyone else to be honest!
So if medication is helping you keep with it and let your doctor know it is working for you. If not, than report back to your doctor and tell them! Doctors can't tell what you are feeling as they rely on you to tell them!
11 Nov 2023, 9:24 pm
Another question. How long does it take to go from a high to a low (Or a low to a high?)
Many get missdiagnosed with bipolar instead of autism and the reason for this missdiagnosis is because some traits of autism can almost mimic bipolars highs and lows, but the difference is that as bipolar is a chemical brain issue and autism is not, bipolars ups and downs take around four days to go from one extreme to the other, while with autism, it can happen several times in a day!
Why the diagnosis needs to be correct and why it matters, is because if someone is given medication to stabilize a chemical imbalance and they do not have a chemical imbalance issue, then by giving the medication it can give the person bipolar issues as well as their autism traits, as while on the medication their brains will be chemically wrong.
With a person who has genuine bipolar issues, the doctor will need to slowly adjust the dosage until things stabilize which means working with the patient daily or certainly a few time a week, and once they have the dose right (Which is why they will need to see the patients regularly for a prolonged period to get the dose right) the patients life seriously imporoves and stabilizes and they will live a normal healthy life once the dose is right. If missdiagnosed, the dose will never be right anf the patient will go through an awful time! Some missdiagnosed patients went through a few years of this until they come off the bipolar medication. BUT always work with your doctor as they are the ones who keep notes and are paid for their expertise. (And if they are not an expert in this particular field they should be arranging for you to be with the relevent person and let them take over, as each doctor tends to have their specific areas that they are good at. They may be ok as a general knowledge doctor, but this really needs more than that, which it is why it is important to be diagnosed correctly in the first place.
The mistakes in miss diagnoses stem from the patients highs and lows where doctors (And everyone else hearing about mental highs and lows) immediately assumes it is bipolar, as bipolar is themost well known common cause of patients having these symptoms.
Of course, one can have both autism AND bipolar and I would not like to say what doctors should do for that! Haha! Will need real experts to work it out if highs and lows are caused by both conditions as it would take someone to watch the bipolar patterns and just medicate for that. (Not a lot one can do for autistic generated highs and lows though apart from providing a relaxing enviroment and to reduce stress etc.(But I only know what I have read or what experts or missdiagnosed patients have said, as I don't know much... Just passing on what they have said about it. Worth looking at missdiagnosing bipolar for autism on youtube and watching youtube videos about it... Where they compare the two conditions in detail. Also worth asking your doctor to see how they came up with the conclusions, as they may have seen or noticed something that you have not).
Bipolar is much easier to treat. Autism has very little in the way of treatment in itself, as treatment is for side issues which autism may amplify rather than autism itself, as there is no real way to treat autism other than to try and dampen down some of the effects which can leave some patients in zombie like state which is what happened to someone I used to know who spent almost a decade like that until she decided to come off the medication and get her life back. Not good for them or anyone else to be honest!
So if medication is helping you keep with it and let your doctor know it is working for you. If not, than report back to your doctor and tell them! Doctors can't tell what you are feeling as they rely on you to tell them!
Not sure of meds stabilized me. I do know SSRIs and antipsychotics make me significantly worse. Lithium is what I have been taking but honestly my moods seem to still be environmental.
I was diagnosed PMDD years ago which I can verify sends me over the edge. I am mostly stable on birth control and was stable when pregnant.
Honestly I think if I had better living situations, I'd be almost totally stable. I tend to become anxious/ depressed when I'm spending a ton of time trying to figure out how to eat and pay bills (just like everyone else I guess.) Then I've got super crazy in laws and trying to support my spouse through his own issues. Quite fankly I think swings are justified and normal.
I don't swing a lot. The few moments in my life which weren't chaotic I spent mostly content. Not really happy and not really sad (except a few days before Aunt Flo of course) I don't think I get to experience it enough.
This doesn't include over stim though which will send me into a panick attack and swing to depression once the event is over. Sometomes I become anxious about the event again and, rinse and repeat. Dentist is a perfect example. I will rapidly cycle between depressed and anxious weeks before the appointment, have a panic attack at the appointment, and be depressed for a week after.
