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Originally Posted by Yellowfever
And I have to tell you that it is just more painful looking for the right medication, than not being on them at all.
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Hi,
It is totally up to you whether you want to be on medications or not.
But now that you have diagnosis you are dealing with a whole new ball game than you were when you were diagnosed with depression.
After three meds for depression fail to help you, the pdoc is supposed to re-evaluate the diagnosis. Are you saying that you went the on the med merry-go-round for depression and are not sure if want to do it for bipolar as well?
Some people get lucky and get good bp meds fairly soon. The big trick with bipolar is getting the diagnosis. Many people are un-dx'd or miss dx'd for years and years. Once the bipolar dx is made, they have a clearer path about what the right meds are.
Do you have a job or family-relations that are effected by your bipolar?
How are you sleeping?
Pdocs and insurance companies use the DSM to dx:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder
Mari
Quote:
Bipolar I
In Bipolar I disorder, an individual has experienced one or more manic episodes with or without major depressive episodes.
For a diagnosis of Bipolar I disorder according to the DSM-IV-TR, there requires one or more manic or mixed episodes. A depressive episode is not required for the diagnosis of Bipolar I disorder but it frequently occurs.
Bipolar II
Bipolar II disorder is characterized by hypomanic episodes rather than actual manic episodes, as well as at least one major depressive episode. There has never been a manic episode or a mixed episode.
Hypomanic episodes do not go to the full extremes of mania (i.e. do not usually cause severe social or occupational impairment, and without psychosis), and this can make Bipolar II more difficult to diagnose, since the hypomanic episodes may simply appear as a period of successful high productivity and is reported less frequently than a distressing depression.
For both disorders, there are a number of specifiers that indicate the presentation and course of the disorder, including "chronic", "rapid cycling", "catatonic" and "melancholic".
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Bipolar NOS
Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified is a catch-all diagnosis that is used to indicate bipolar illness that does not fit into the other diagnostic categories.
If an individual clearly seems to be suffering from some type of bipolar disorder but does not meet the criteria for one of the subtypes above, he or she receives a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder NOS (Not Otherwise Specified).
Rapid cycling
Most people who meet criteria for bipolar disorder experience a number of episodes, on average 0.4 to 0.7 per year, lasting three to six months.
Rapid cycling, however, is a course specifier that may be applied to any of the above subtypes. It is defined as having four or more episodes per year and is found in a significant fraction of individuals with bipolar disorder. The definition of rapid cycling most frequently cited in the literature (including the DSM) is that of Dunner and Fieve: at least four major depressive, manic, hypomanic or mixed episodes are required to have occurred during a 12-month period.
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Quote:
The experiences and behaviors involved in bipolar disorder are often not understood by individuals or recognized by mental health professionals,
so diagnosis may sometimes be delayed for 10 years or more.
That treatment lag is apparently not decreasing, even though there is now increased public awareness of this mental health condition in popular magazines and health websites.
Despite this increased focus, individuals are still commonly misdiagnosed.
An individual may appear simply depressed when they are seen by a health professional.
This can result in misdiagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and harmful treatments. Recent screening tools such as the Hypomanic Check List Questionnaire (HCL-32) have been developed to assist the quite often difficult detection of Bipolar II disorders.
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