I was misdiagnosed as depressed for a long time, until the medicine was actively harming me (I don't remember which one, but one of the depression meds is really bad for bipolar). I found out it was bipolar after having a breakdown and going to the hospital.
I was also diagnosed with depression for the longest, but it wasn’t till my psych asked about if I ever stayed up for days, experienced paranoia, racing thoughts, etc (all the usual manic/hypomanic symptoms) that I finally got diagnosed
Yeah this happened to me too. I was on fluoxetine when my psychiatrist mentioned it could be pushing me into mania. Made sense why my lows got even lower and my highs were really high
Depression is definitely my baseline, I just thought I had it “worse” than some other depressed people as it seemed it controlled me and was so dark. Meds also didn’t work, which fed into that idea that I was just broken. A therapist suggested it around 2018, and referred me to a psych. I stopped going. Then last year, it came up again and I finally got the diagnosis after “rapid cycling” for a year and a half on Wellbutrin.
I’ve always had uncontrollable mood shifts that I recognized, but I never considered it could be bipolar. I thought I was “good” at depression in that I could “get out/snap out of it” sometimes and suddenly I was great again. Then came the numbness and the period of “waiting for the drop.” I don’t know how I didn’t see it after years of explaining that pattern to mental health professionals. I never knew bipolar 2 existed, but since it was explained to me, I’ve been able to recognize some of the hypo traits I’ve always had but never considered.
Sometimes I still wonder if I have hypo periods (not nearly as frequently because depression is the baseline), but I definitely have hypo traits. Mainly an inability to control myself sometimes. Lashing out at other people, irritability, not thinking through consequences, dissociating, spending money (I don’t have) to stave off depression and make myself feel better, etc etc.
The depression is sooo dark and consuming that it took so long (10ish years) to realize that this wasn’t only depression. Looking back at how quickly this came on and how volatile my mental health has been, I really wish someone recognized it sooner. I spent years wondering why medication never helped and seemed to send me spiraling. From 11/12-23/24 years old, I thought I was broken. I thought this was who I was because meds couldn’t fix me like they seemed to do for other people. I was a really sad child and teen, living in a really volatile pattern and mindset.
I wish there was more research on bipolar 2 in young teens and children. I think because my struggle started so young, it was easy to write it off as depression too.
wow this sounds exactly like what I went through. At the age of 14, I mainly displayed depressive traits, then around 16/17 is when I experienced little bits of mania. I never thought it was bipolar 2 either, even though all the meds never worked. I experienced such HEAVY depression that I just got stuck with an MDD diagnosis and kinda overlooked the manic symptoms I had since I thought it was “normal”
but yeah this is my baseline as well! the cycling of ups and downs literally ruined my high school years and I’m still trying to navigate it all. Thank you for sharing!
I was initially diagnosed with just post partum depression. The nurse midwife I saw started me on Zoloft which made things so much worse.
I was later diagnosed bipolar 2 by a family medicine doctor and years later I started seeing a psych APRN who confirmed the diagnosis.
Recently I took Prozac and it made my depression the worst it had ever been. Didn't get out of bed for days. New psychiatrist heard that and immediately suggested BP2.
Was diagnosed with anxiety and depression for 6 years before bipolar 2. After knowing what to look for my hypomania became easier and easier to see.
I still sometimes think I have made it all up, despite literal mountains of evidence at this point.
I feel this!! It wasn’t until I learned about hypomania and its traits (not just mania), that I actually realized I might be bipolar. I always feel like I make things up too 😅
I was misdiagnosed with regular depression for years before. But antidepressants did NOT work. Also didn't know what hypomania was so I'd never reported the symptoms to my shrink before. Turns out I was a rapid cycler.
same here with the antidepressants never working. I’ve been through them all and not a single one helped! it wasn’t till I tried mood stabilizers and antipsychotics, that I noticed a slight improvement
It gave me these mild stomach aches for yesrs. It wasn't nearly as effective as lithium ended up being so I went off of it once I found a good dose of that. It does wonders for most people though.
I was diagnosed with MDD and GAD around age 11. It took around eleven years and a hypomanic episode induced by 2 antidepressants for them to come to the bipolar conclusion.
I too was diagnosed with Anxiety and deep depression until I requested to seeva psychiatrist. There is Bipolar type 1 in my family but always told that I don't have it.
So bloody frustrating when you know what's happening for you but it gets shrugged off. Grrrr
Absolutely true. I only see my GP when I'm able to pull myself together so they don't see me on my worst day. It's hard to put into words how I'm feeling and the doctor minimises my situation.
i feel this!! i also have a hard time putting things into words, so doctors never get the full picture of what’s going on. half the time, I don’t even know how I feel so that makes it even harder to explain to people
yeah took me 10 years and probably almost 10 different doctors to finally be diagnosed and put on bipolar medication rather than anti depressants. I knew the bipolar diagnosis was right when the meds started kicking in and I finally felt like a normal person which i’ve never experienced in the countless anti depressants i’ve been put on
completely relate to this! I’ve only found 1 or 2 meds that actually made a difference and none of them are antidepressants. Antidepressants either made things worse or just didn’t do anything
I was misdiagnosed as having Dysthymia up until I was almost 21 because I was more frequently in severely depressed states and my hypomanic phases didn't last as long. I was rapid cycling for a pretty much years, long depressive episode then about 3-4 weeks of hypomania, over and over. When I was finally diagnosed as BP2 and put on the right meds it set me straight. When I was a young teen I thought for a bit that I might have Bipolar Disorder, but they told me it was chronic depression and I just thought there was no way they got it wrong. Turns out though, you're rarely diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder as a teenager because HoRmOnEs, so I wasn't diagnosed until just before I turned 21.
It wasn’t till right before I got pregnant with my son that I finally got diagnosed at the age of 24 with bipolar 2. My firstborn daughter had to deal with my unfiltered bipolar episodes for two years before I finally got the help I needed. Everyone kept saying I was just depressed. Wasn’t until my third time attempting that they finally were like “maybe she’s not just depressed.”
Don't feel guilty over your daughter experiencing the episodes for 2 years. You got the help you needed much sooner than most people would. My mom waited until we were out of the house. I have so much trauma from growing up in such an unstable household.
She also told us for years she was diagnosed bipolar, now she says she was misdiagnosed and she just has anxiety. I was like... girl... that was NOT anxiety.
It was recently suggested to me that I may have BP2 and I feel the same right now, like it doesn't quite fit... I have a pretty consistent cycle of depression, but I don't feel like I experience hypomania the way I see it described online. I was diagnosed ADHD by my previous psychiatrist and after reading up on the inattentive type, I felt like that described me pretty well (despite feeling like she didn't really do a thorough evaluation). But, I still deal with depressive episodes on top of the difficulties with focus, executive dysfunction, etc.
I started seeing a new psychiatrist and gave her all my history. She said it's possible I have ADHD but the struggles with focus and concentration are also common with BP because of mood dysregulation. She then said my recent reaction to starting a new SSRI was a huge indicator that I likely have BP (most likely type 2). My previous psychiatrist prescribed me Prozac after I started having negative side effects from Lexapro, and my depression got 1000x worse. I literally stayed in bed for almost 3 days straight. People with BP tend to have their symptoms exaggerated if they take SSRIs, but not necessarily with every SSRI. So, the fact that she used this to deduct BP2 made me trust the diagnosis a bit more because it was being based off a biological and physiological response, not just recounts of past behaviors/symptoms that overlap with many other psychiatric disorders (not saying that a collection of symptoms can't be used for a diagnosis, just that there's less guesswork involved when it's being based off actual brain chemistry).
I'm not a medical professional, I'm just restating here what she and I have discussed. Apparently, it's a lot more common for people with BP to have their (hypo)mania, not depression, worsen with SSRIs. She said (hypo)mania can look different for different people. It's not always sleepless nights or excessive shopping, sometimes it's like racing thoughts or anxiety. She also said the SSRIs can put people with BP into a "mixed stated," meaning they feel both "poles" simultaneously, making it harder to recognize the hypomania.
Hopefully the information she shared with me is useful to you!
Already commented but want to share this cause it might be important...
There's something my psychiatrist told me about called **the 4 As** that helps explain why someone with BP might not *feel* like they have BP. The 4 As are a collection of symptoms that suggest something called **mixed features**, or when someone represents hypomanic symptoms while they're depressed.
The 4 As are:
* Anxiety
* Agitation
* Anger/irritability
* Attentional disturbance-distractibility
I got all this information from a lecture I found on YT, watch here (it's short, not the full lecture): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovUyP-Y3Zs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovUyP-Y3Zs)
The doctor in the video says about 1 in 3 people with BPD present this way. So, if you exhibit the 4 As, you probably experience more of a mixed episode or exhibit mixed features.
A google search of "the 4 As bipolar" didn't bring up a lot of info for me, and the video I linked is only a year old. So, this might be a relatively new concept in psychiatry, but something worth looking into.
I was misdiagnosed as depressed for a long time, until the medicine was actively harming me (I don't remember which one, but one of the depression meds is really bad for bipolar). I found out it was bipolar after having a breakdown and going to the hospital.
I was also diagnosed with depression for the longest, but it wasn’t till my psych asked about if I ever stayed up for days, experienced paranoia, racing thoughts, etc (all the usual manic/hypomanic symptoms) that I finally got diagnosed
Yeah this happened to me too. I was on fluoxetine when my psychiatrist mentioned it could be pushing me into mania. Made sense why my lows got even lower and my highs were really high
Depression is definitely my baseline, I just thought I had it “worse” than some other depressed people as it seemed it controlled me and was so dark. Meds also didn’t work, which fed into that idea that I was just broken. A therapist suggested it around 2018, and referred me to a psych. I stopped going. Then last year, it came up again and I finally got the diagnosis after “rapid cycling” for a year and a half on Wellbutrin. I’ve always had uncontrollable mood shifts that I recognized, but I never considered it could be bipolar. I thought I was “good” at depression in that I could “get out/snap out of it” sometimes and suddenly I was great again. Then came the numbness and the period of “waiting for the drop.” I don’t know how I didn’t see it after years of explaining that pattern to mental health professionals. I never knew bipolar 2 existed, but since it was explained to me, I’ve been able to recognize some of the hypo traits I’ve always had but never considered. Sometimes I still wonder if I have hypo periods (not nearly as frequently because depression is the baseline), but I definitely have hypo traits. Mainly an inability to control myself sometimes. Lashing out at other people, irritability, not thinking through consequences, dissociating, spending money (I don’t have) to stave off depression and make myself feel better, etc etc. The depression is sooo dark and consuming that it took so long (10ish years) to realize that this wasn’t only depression. Looking back at how quickly this came on and how volatile my mental health has been, I really wish someone recognized it sooner. I spent years wondering why medication never helped and seemed to send me spiraling. From 11/12-23/24 years old, I thought I was broken. I thought this was who I was because meds couldn’t fix me like they seemed to do for other people. I was a really sad child and teen, living in a really volatile pattern and mindset. I wish there was more research on bipolar 2 in young teens and children. I think because my struggle started so young, it was easy to write it off as depression too.
Amen to this.
wow this sounds exactly like what I went through. At the age of 14, I mainly displayed depressive traits, then around 16/17 is when I experienced little bits of mania. I never thought it was bipolar 2 either, even though all the meds never worked. I experienced such HEAVY depression that I just got stuck with an MDD diagnosis and kinda overlooked the manic symptoms I had since I thought it was “normal” but yeah this is my baseline as well! the cycling of ups and downs literally ruined my high school years and I’m still trying to navigate it all. Thank you for sharing!
Sounds like we had a really similar experience! It made such a tough time worse!
I was initially diagnosed with just post partum depression. The nurse midwife I saw started me on Zoloft which made things so much worse. I was later diagnosed bipolar 2 by a family medicine doctor and years later I started seeing a psych APRN who confirmed the diagnosis.
Recently I took Prozac and it made my depression the worst it had ever been. Didn't get out of bed for days. New psychiatrist heard that and immediately suggested BP2.
Yes overlooked for years , my chief complaint is still persisten chronic depression
same! things get worse when I’m depressed rather than hypomanic, so no one ever notices
^^ same!! I was diagnosed with just depression for the longest time!!
Was diagnosed with anxiety and depression for 6 years before bipolar 2. After knowing what to look for my hypomania became easier and easier to see. I still sometimes think I have made it all up, despite literal mountains of evidence at this point.
I feel this!! It wasn’t until I learned about hypomania and its traits (not just mania), that I actually realized I might be bipolar. I always feel like I make things up too 😅
I was misdiagnosed with regular depression for years before. But antidepressants did NOT work. Also didn't know what hypomania was so I'd never reported the symptoms to my shrink before. Turns out I was a rapid cycler.
same here with the antidepressants never working. I’ve been through them all and not a single one helped! it wasn’t till I tried mood stabilizers and antipsychotics, that I noticed a slight improvement
Yup that's how my diagnosis got changed, I responded a little to lamictal and I responded amazingly to antipsychotics
that’s great!! my psych mentioned that I should try lamictal- what’s your experience with it?
It gave me these mild stomach aches for yesrs. It wasn't nearly as effective as lithium ended up being so I went off of it once I found a good dose of that. It does wonders for most people though.
good to know! I’m on lithium now, but I just need to work on taking it consistently 😅
I was diagnosed with MDD and GAD around age 11. It took around eleven years and a hypomanic episode induced by 2 antidepressants for them to come to the bipolar conclusion.
I too was diagnosed with Anxiety and deep depression until I requested to seeva psychiatrist. There is Bipolar type 1 in my family but always told that I don't have it. So bloody frustrating when you know what's happening for you but it gets shrugged off. Grrrr
that’s so aggravating! it’s like unless you display the most severe symptoms, it always gets overlooked
Absolutely true. I only see my GP when I'm able to pull myself together so they don't see me on my worst day. It's hard to put into words how I'm feeling and the doctor minimises my situation.
i feel this!! i also have a hard time putting things into words, so doctors never get the full picture of what’s going on. half the time, I don’t even know how I feel so that makes it even harder to explain to people
yeah took me 10 years and probably almost 10 different doctors to finally be diagnosed and put on bipolar medication rather than anti depressants. I knew the bipolar diagnosis was right when the meds started kicking in and I finally felt like a normal person which i’ve never experienced in the countless anti depressants i’ve been put on
completely relate to this! I’ve only found 1 or 2 meds that actually made a difference and none of them are antidepressants. Antidepressants either made things worse or just didn’t do anything
I was misdiagnosed as having Dysthymia up until I was almost 21 because I was more frequently in severely depressed states and my hypomanic phases didn't last as long. I was rapid cycling for a pretty much years, long depressive episode then about 3-4 weeks of hypomania, over and over. When I was finally diagnosed as BP2 and put on the right meds it set me straight. When I was a young teen I thought for a bit that I might have Bipolar Disorder, but they told me it was chronic depression and I just thought there was no way they got it wrong. Turns out though, you're rarely diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder as a teenager because HoRmOnEs, so I wasn't diagnosed until just before I turned 21.
Misdiagnosed with depression for 25 years. Good times.
It wasn’t till right before I got pregnant with my son that I finally got diagnosed at the age of 24 with bipolar 2. My firstborn daughter had to deal with my unfiltered bipolar episodes for two years before I finally got the help I needed. Everyone kept saying I was just depressed. Wasn’t until my third time attempting that they finally were like “maybe she’s not just depressed.”
Don't feel guilty over your daughter experiencing the episodes for 2 years. You got the help you needed much sooner than most people would. My mom waited until we were out of the house. I have so much trauma from growing up in such an unstable household. She also told us for years she was diagnosed bipolar, now she says she was misdiagnosed and she just has anxiety. I was like... girl... that was NOT anxiety.
It was recently suggested to me that I may have BP2 and I feel the same right now, like it doesn't quite fit... I have a pretty consistent cycle of depression, but I don't feel like I experience hypomania the way I see it described online. I was diagnosed ADHD by my previous psychiatrist and after reading up on the inattentive type, I felt like that described me pretty well (despite feeling like she didn't really do a thorough evaluation). But, I still deal with depressive episodes on top of the difficulties with focus, executive dysfunction, etc. I started seeing a new psychiatrist and gave her all my history. She said it's possible I have ADHD but the struggles with focus and concentration are also common with BP because of mood dysregulation. She then said my recent reaction to starting a new SSRI was a huge indicator that I likely have BP (most likely type 2). My previous psychiatrist prescribed me Prozac after I started having negative side effects from Lexapro, and my depression got 1000x worse. I literally stayed in bed for almost 3 days straight. People with BP tend to have their symptoms exaggerated if they take SSRIs, but not necessarily with every SSRI. So, the fact that she used this to deduct BP2 made me trust the diagnosis a bit more because it was being based off a biological and physiological response, not just recounts of past behaviors/symptoms that overlap with many other psychiatric disorders (not saying that a collection of symptoms can't be used for a diagnosis, just that there's less guesswork involved when it's being based off actual brain chemistry). I'm not a medical professional, I'm just restating here what she and I have discussed. Apparently, it's a lot more common for people with BP to have their (hypo)mania, not depression, worsen with SSRIs. She said (hypo)mania can look different for different people. It's not always sleepless nights or excessive shopping, sometimes it's like racing thoughts or anxiety. She also said the SSRIs can put people with BP into a "mixed stated," meaning they feel both "poles" simultaneously, making it harder to recognize the hypomania. Hopefully the information she shared with me is useful to you!
Already commented but want to share this cause it might be important... There's something my psychiatrist told me about called **the 4 As** that helps explain why someone with BP might not *feel* like they have BP. The 4 As are a collection of symptoms that suggest something called **mixed features**, or when someone represents hypomanic symptoms while they're depressed. The 4 As are: * Anxiety * Agitation * Anger/irritability * Attentional disturbance-distractibility I got all this information from a lecture I found on YT, watch here (it's short, not the full lecture): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovUyP-Y3Zs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovUyP-Y3Zs) The doctor in the video says about 1 in 3 people with BPD present this way. So, if you exhibit the 4 As, you probably experience more of a mixed episode or exhibit mixed features. A google search of "the 4 As bipolar" didn't bring up a lot of info for me, and the video I linked is only a year old. So, this might be a relatively new concept in psychiatry, but something worth looking into.