Do I have bipolar disorder?

I have been researching bipolar disease as over the past few months I have been displaying symptoms of it, and although my first depressed episode lasted a few weeks and I have had manic episodes lasting a few days each most of my "episodes" last between an hour and a day, and I quite often rapidly switch between moods several times throughout the course of the day, often with normal moods occurring as well. I am scared to go and get diagnosed and be shrugged off as just having bad mood swings, as I am only 17 and some of my friends seem to think I am just overly emotional. I fit almost every symptom for depressed episodes when I have them and often contemplate suicide, and I seem to fit most of the symptoms of manic episodes too, with extremely high distractability and engery.

Do I have bipolar, or a similar illness, or do I just have extremely large moodswings?

[hell1971]

Hi

I dont know enough about how bipolar manifests its self but I think you should go and seek a medical opinion. The fact that your friends think you are overly emotional means that you need some help in managing your emotions, you may just need some support and guidence but if you do have bipolar then it is not worth the risk of not finding out, you would not want to find out years down the line when you have had a major episode and it has effected your life adversly, as a mum I say go and see your GP for a referal to the mental health service.

good luck

[DontAccuseMe]

I am wary of being diagnosed with it right now, according to a lot of online sources you must have displayed symptoms for at least a year to be officially diagnosed with it and I don't want to waste my time to just be told I may have it but they cant be sure.

I also tend to avoid my friends when I am having episodes of either kind, depressed for obvious reasons and manic because the few people who have seen me go through manic episodes think I am being overly weird and even occasionally ignore me, which drives me into depression.

[hell1971]

You should still seek help, they may be able to help you manage things and then even if it does take a year and from what I have read it can take many years before bipolar gets diagnosed you may not have bp and getting help now may just help with the issues you are having. People get depressed and have high moments without being bp, if you are displaying early signs then early intervention is better for the persons long term prospects.

[monkeyc]

Best advice is see a pdoc.  The myth that it can take years for diagnosis is just that - a myth - yes it can be hard to diagnose where other things are present (drug use is a prime one as it masks the disease; for example ice users may be using ice as a medication or the ice may be bringing on BP like symptoms) but in most cases it does not.

Regardless seeing a doctor will set your mind at rest, it might be that you are just going thru a hard time right now and need some assistance or might be suffering from depression - a doctor can help here.

Online sources are not always the authority - if it concerns you and you can get into a doctor then see one and put your mind at rest.

[bernie40]

I agree, you should definitely speak to a doctor about how you are feeling.

Don't get too hungup on "labels", whether or not you are bp, you are in need of some support right now.