Depression or bipolar???

Avatar for lisalyanne
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-31-2003
Depression or bipolar???
17
Fri, 11-07-2003 - 12:52pm
Hello all,

I am 27, married to a wonderful man, have 2 wonderful boys, ages 2 & 3. Have battled depression practically (or at least feels like my whole life) I have these episodes however of anger, irratibility, irrationality, confusion, restlessness, can't sleep, disorganized & disjointed thoughts etc... but not mania so to speak, no euphoria like they talk about. Has anyone else experienced this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lisalyanne

lwatkins@stmartin.edu

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 11-07-2003 - 12:59pm

There are different degrees of bipolar.

    CL for The

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-14-2003
Sat, 11-08-2003 - 11:26am
Good morning....

Thank you for your post! I am 34, married, no children.....and have been expriencing major depressions on and off since I was about 15. Of course until about 8 years ago I was never diagnosed...and it felt great to have someone finally listen to me and believe that what I was feeling was real and not just a 'mood swing that would majically vanish'.

But I too have had the same concerns as you have - it is frightening because the symptoms you described are exactly how I feel and lately I have been wondering the same things. Knowing that there are others out there who have the same questions and feel the same way is very reassuring to me and I am hoping to get the courage to speak to a professional about this.

It sounds like you have the support of your husband and family in your situation? If I may ask - how does your husband work with you on this. I find that my husband can be supportive but more often than not it is just something he doesn't understand and really cannot relate to at all.

Good luck to you and your family in diagnosing and dealing with this situation. And thank you for youor post!

Melissa

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2003
Sat, 11-08-2003 - 1:29pm
Hi there

I just wanted to welcom Lisa and Melissa.

I have been dealing with depression for all of my 25 years. Well, as far back as I can remember anyway!

I have to run, but I wanted to say hi and send you ladies some (((hugs)))

Take care

Pamela

Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Avatar for ewalsh75
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-16-2003
Sat, 11-08-2003 - 4:01pm



Wow it ounds earily like me also..

Oh ya Welcome to the board!!!!!!!this is a great place to be.

Um ya forgot where I was going with this okay back on track I have cyclothymic disorder which is a constant form of bipolar less severe than bipolar disorder but I have a constant and rapid cycle of good mood (high happy, like a kid at christmas) no mania like classic bipolar I get agitated agrivated very rare occasions violent but my temper boy I have the classic Irish temper but I would talk to your doctor about what you are going through they would best be able to tell you what is going on I recently found out that I had cyclothymis disorder I have very short periods of normal mood too short periods if you ask me I get stuck mostly in the depression state but I do get high moods often just not that often.

I too act and react the way that you described but it is hard to pin point the disorder cause alot of people go by what they read and think okay I am not going on wild spending sprees or anything like that but what it means I guess it reckless behavior me I have sex that is my recklessness unprotected sex I used to do drugs but have been good for the past few months and stayed away (yeah me!!)

Do you loose track of your thoughts get distracted easily by eather another thought or something that catches your eye? the reason I ask is because that happens to me alot where I have to rehearse in my head what I am going to say as to not loose track of it in mid sentence when I am at work or around people I dont know very well and dont really know me.

well anyways I would speak with your deoctor see what he or she says and then go from there, are you on meds now> I take mood stabilizers and just started a new one about 3 weeks ago so far nothing but it is still early gonna keep the fingers crossed.

by the way I am 28 and have supposibly had this whole thing since I was a teenager now that I look back the signs were all there just never bothered to pay attention to them

good luck and keep posting here you'll like it.

Erin

Avatar for karenmrh
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-23-2003
Sat, 11-08-2003 - 7:51pm
Lisalyanne:

"...episodes however of anger, irratibility, irrationality, confusion, restlessness, can't sleep, disorganized & disjointed thoughts etc...."

Hate to break it to you, but that's a good description of either mania or hypomania (the only difference between the two is degree of impairment).

Some people are the giddy, expansive, overly friendly towards the oppisite sex, kind of manic.

Some people are the angry, irratable, twitchy manic.

Some people can be both at different times or the same time.

I'm the kind of bipolar, at least right now, who's all over the place, and I've been both.

It might be a good idea to talk to your doctor or therapist about your concerns.

Some good websites are...

http://www.psycheducation.org/

http://www.mcmanweb.com/

http://www.bipolarchild.com/index.html (this is a site about early onset Bipolar, but still interesting nonetheless)

Best of luck. There are several of us here who are Bipolar, and who knows some who may be Bipolar who haven't been diagnosed.

It takes a long time for most bipolar people to be diagnosed properly. The average is 10 years after first episode, in my case more than 22 years.

Hugs,

KarenMRH

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-18-2007
Sat, 11-08-2003 - 9:05pm

Karen, thanks for those references.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/ladybug987/Signatures/springbutterflybarb.jpg>

CL-ladybug987

Avatar for lisalyanne
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-31-2003
Mon, 11-10-2003 - 1:08pm
My husband is very supportive. He definatley doesn't understand, but he is really trying to. He says if I am diagnosed with Bipolar (going to Pdoc on wed.) it will make a lot of things that have happened easier to deal with. I have suspected this for a long time, and been too scared to go to a professional. I have this fear of being locked up in a looney bin. But, I went on a spiritual retreat last month and one of the ladies there husband died a little over a year ago, and she was talking about him being bipolar and not taking his medication and the hell her family went through, and how thankful they were that he was gone, they loved him, but his death released them of his mental illness. It really got me scared that my family might feel that some day. I don't want to put my family through that. It scared me into getting the courage to talk about it. I understand where you are and keep me informed and I will do the same.

Lisa

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Avatar for lisalyanne
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-31-2003
Mon, 11-10-2003 - 1:13pm
I find that i have a very hard time following thoughts through. If I want to talk to someone about something, I have to write it down and read it word for word or else I can't get through what I want to say. Its really weird. I get tounge tied, go off on weird tangents, stutter....end up with the person giving me really weird looks. I also when I go into my mania, hypomania whatever it is, want to do really risky behavior, I talked my husband into going to a swing party once....I will keep you all informed on wed. thanks for listening!

Lisa

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-06-2003
Mon, 11-10-2003 - 1:25pm
Lisa,

Can I ask you how often your moods shift? Since my depression has come back, there have been periods during the same day where I've gone from the hopeless wanting to die mood to a raging lunatic who takes everybody's heads off, to an even briefer period of "normalcy". But this is all within a same-day period. Is this what you're experiencing or am I totally off track here? Thanks for listening and good luck with your upcoming appointment!!!!

(((((((((Lisa)))))))))))

Traci

~ ML ~  

Avatar for lisalyanne
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-31-2003
Mon, 11-10-2003 - 1:26pm
Thank you so much for the links. The more I explore my past behavior the more I find out...I also have the tendency to want to do risky sexual behavior (see other post) The one thing I am really really really really scared to talk about is ever since about 13 I get occasional hallucinations and hear voices during the "episodes" They are usually of the religous kind. I am feeling very crazy and scared right now. But, I am going to get help, wed. is my appt. I have two wonderful little boys (ages 3 and 2) and they need me to be well.....

Lisa

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Pages