Comments on: Is it depression or bipolar depression? A Quiz!

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:36:30 +0000

I’m new to Julie’s articles and am gobbling them up as fast as I can. So much on these topics is written by people that do not have the depth of experience necessary to speak with any authority. Julie clearly does.

Her articles have led me to conclude that I’ve been mis-diagnosed with unipolar depression and actually suffer bipoloar-II. About ‘half my puzzle’ is depression, and the other half is a mix of anger, anxiety, mania, irritability, and so on. I never knew what to make of any of the non-depression stuff. I never considered it part of my central problem. I just thought that when not depressed, life simply sucked in a more energetic way.

Great comments on this post. Amazing how intelligent and well spoken people with these diseases can be.

Thank you Julie for giving me hope.

By: John

John — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:45:56 +0000

I’m with Helen. When stuck at the low end of my bipolar experience, at least my mood is consistent and I can just hunker down and sleep a lot to escape it. But dysphoric mania is absolute hell. Lots of energy, but it’s all directed into anger, paranoia, and useless activity.

For me, the worst part of being Bipolar is the inability to be productive. I’m about to lose my house and am fully cognizant of how to save the situation. I know I have the ability and the skill to put things right. But this insidious illness takes away the necessary focus to act on what my mind knows to be the proper course of action. For those without Bipolar disorder, please try to understand this aspect of it. Imagine yourself with a crystal clear idea of how to fix something or being able to clearly see a path before you. Now, imagine you also have the intelligence and experience to navigate those waters. Now, imagine the frustration you’d feel being completely unable to focus on a task long enough to see it through. Even the simplest tasks.

Finally, imagine that nothing you try fixes it (medication, talk therapy, will power, etc.)… and imagine not just years of living with this reality, but decades… a lifetime.

That’s our world.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:51:06 +0000

I agree with the description of number 6 (I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, dysthymia, and major chronic recurrent depression when I was 18 and I am 24 now.) Maybe it is because I also have dysthymia, but I don’t think it is totally accurate to say that depression doesn’t return after finding the right medication or that it even completely goes away. I don’t think I am bipolar because it took me about 2 years to find the right antidepressant and I never felt like what you were describing in situation #3. The main reason I changed medications was because if the stimulant was too strong (like Effexor, an SNRI) it would make my PTSD worse and I would have panic attacks or uncontrollable 2+ hour crying spells more often and over much smaller things like just being late somewhere, or someone talking to me in a harsh tone of voice but not actually yelling.

I saw the same psychiatrist and counselor for 3 years and they both said every time they saw me, I was in the same mood and that I had a flat/depressed affect. My counselor saw me every week so I don’t think I had a manic or hypomanic period that she missed. I had to change counselors after graduating from college and the one I have now basically gave up on me. She criticized me because my mood has not improved and “I am so depressed all the time”. She hasn’t seen me since my Wellbutrin XL dose was changed from 150 to 300 mg. Now it is easier for me to recover from being triggered or stressed out and I can stop crying faster. I feel calmer overall but that is the only difference.

So anyway, I just wanted to let you know there might be an option that fits somewhere between 6 and 7. My psychiatrist and counselor told me since when I was younger I wasn’t allowed to get help, the depression has become a permanent part of my personality. The brain changes from my depression and PTSD can’t go away now that I’m an adult.

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:17:49 +0000

There’s not much worse than dysphoric mania. My doctor called it agitated depression (that’s before I was properly diagnosed B1) You have the energy, but there is so much agitation and negativity associated with the mood. I spent a week in the hospital with this, heard voices, saw figures, was an angry out of control patient. Meds helped, as did time in the hospital. A very unpleasant state of mind. Helen

Hi Helen, I agree. It’s like your body wants to turn inside out. It’s so uncomfortable. I am so glad you’re better. Meds really do help this kind of mania- often it’s a combination of a mood stabilizer and an anti psychotic.

Many people get in trouble when they’re in this mood swing as it makes a person so compulsive.

Julie