What is Cyclothymia?
Cyclothymia is harder to diagnosis for sure- I suggest that you start a mood swing chart where you chart your moods every night- it’s easy to do. I will do a blog on it soon with a link to a download mood swing chart- there is one in the back of my book Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder along with one of my charts- the book is all book stores- so you could look at it and start your own.
I have charted my mood nightly for the past seven years. It has been invaluable.
Cyclothymia can be so hard to diagnosis as it is often seen as moodiness- the depression is easy to spot- though it can be seen as negativity which further compllicates things! The problem is the mild mania. This is harder to spot- which is why charting the mood helps.
Cyclothymia is cyclical- thus the name! It means that your moods will eventually form a pattern. The depression form of cyclothymia is called dysthymia. That’s what my mom has- lamictal has helped immensely. Be careful of taking anti depressants as they can cause the mania to get worse!
It’s great that you’re exploring your moods and finding out what works for you.
Julie
Hi Julie! I like very much the way you explain the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Certainly, that is why I’d like to ask your opinion on a diagnose (actually, two diagnoses)I had. Last year I was diagnosed with cyclothymia and generalised anxiety disorder by a neurologist. I started taking medication but then, after a few months, I stopped taking my meds because I did not feel that the meds were actually doing the desired effects, they weren’t working. And appart from that,and the most important reason, I did not have enough money to afford the treatment (psychotherapy included). Since then, my symptoms have been getting worse. I can’t concentrate while studying,I suffer from continuous mood swings, my mother says that when I start yelling at people and family (and though I am usually right when I talk to them) I loose control and I act like a crazy woman. I honestly yell at them because they are trying to impose their wrong points of view, they do not back their ideas with real facts and I feel an extraordinary rage when they try to persuade me. I am also a very straightforward and honest person, which is something people don’t like because they’re used to hear soft “lies” instead of harsher “truths”. I’ve been experiencing these symptomps for 3 years now (more or less)and I sometimes I feel like an inflated mood, like I am able to face any challenge in life and my strenghts are renewed. But then I feel hopeless when my projects can’t concretize and I start asking myself if it is worth living (by the way, I also can’t sleep very well. I usually sleep 6 to 7 hours at night, and though I feel tired and want to continue sleeping, I am able to function well during all day long without the extra hours of sleeping). In addition, my grandma says my reactions are similar to those experienced by my father, who drinks alcohol a lot and has divorced my mother recently because of his promiscuous behaviours with other women (BTW, I don’t drink or take drugs fortunately, and hopefully never will)
Today, I went to visit a new psychiatrist and he said he doesn’t think I am a cyclothymic. He says I only suffer from the generalised anxiety disorder, but the cyclothymia is not a diagnose for me. However, I do think I suffer from some form of bipolar (be it mild of more severe), and I feel desperate because nobody understands how I feel. People say it is just moodliness and that it depends on me to improve my personality. Even the psychiatrist said it was just a feature of my character and that it is going to depend on my will power to overcome this.
I know you should not diagnose a disorder, but I would love to hear your words and your opinions on this matter. Being a bipolar yourself, do you think I am suffering from cyclothimic disorder, or is it just me exagerating things? Please, could you help me clarify this and what is your advice in this particular case?
Thank you very much in advance Julie! I hope you can enlighten me with your knowledge and experience.
By the way, I am a Paraguayan living in Paraguay, South America. There are few good specialists in bipolar disorder in my country, so it is a major problem to find the appropriate professional who can diagnose correctly a certain type of disease…