Mike your right the whole planet is not bi-polar but tell that to someone that is.

Its just like alcoholism its a disease that tells you ya don't have a disease and they go off their meds and their right back where they started hopeless.

good question. i am in the category by the way. i just don't know. i have told my doctors about how i am yet i am not "bipolar." i believe i may be though (but i do indulge in too many books and am a hypochondriac). i always think that there is something wrong with me. it does not matter what i do....i am sooo sad.

I just find it rather ironic that it seems these days that 7 out of 10 addicts are diagnosed bipolar.
Something seems really wrong in these numbers.
Like I said, my sister was diagnosed with it, but she is perfectly fine when she is not drugging and/or done with withdrawal.
She is a normal human being. Oh...she doesn't take her meds as recommended.
She SAVES them - I'm going to guess for when she is out of cocaine.

3 years ago I was doing a lot of cocaine. At the insistence of my family, I did see a psychiatrist, and yep, you guessed it - he said I am bi-polar. He put me on about 6 prescriptions 3 x a day. Then, I went to a therapist who cautioned me that bi-polar is the new "in" diagnosis and that its being mis-diagnosed right and left. Yes, I have bad days and I have good days, and I have medium days too. I don't have to pop a pill every time I can't sleep or feel depressed or anxious. Its called "LIFE". And its not always perfect. I am pretty angry about these M.D.'s calling people bi-polar, because I am a victim of this exact thing - and I suppose I did appear manic to some people around me, because back then I was on cocaine. So, I would urge your sister get another opinion, and also track her moods for herself. Bipolar is pretty extreme, I think. And the P.D.R. has some specific criteria for it. I am definitely an alcoholic / addict, and I suffer from depression related to my addiction and abuse of chemicals, but bi-polar I am not. I am sorry that this seems to be so rampant. The same doctor also told me I am ADHD and I really doubt that one as well.

Alcoholism is rarely fully understood by professionals, this is why they often diagnose alcoholics incorrectly. Alcohol/substance abuse is often one of the diagnostic criteria for many psychiatric illnesses.

However, regardless of what diagnosis we may have, this does not prevent us from working through the steps and living a sober life. If when recovery has been achieved and the person has been sober for a while, they can always ask for a review of their medication.

It is vital that we in AA give no other advice than this. I know an AA member who was a psychologist who had been called in three times to identify AA members who had committed suicide because some idiot in AA told them they could not be sober if they didn't.

sorry! finger went out of control - that should have read 'couldn't be sober if they continued to take their medication!'

I know I have said it several times, but after being 110% honest with my doctor, I was prescribed 4 different types of med's. I was diagnosed bi-polar also.
After 12 steps, and a year of clarity, just about all my symptoms have became manageable.
I am down to one med. that is way necessary.
Like my lawyer says; Well Bob, I think we are all bi-polar to some degree.

Bipolar is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed mental illnesses currently. My mother is bipolar and she's also borderline personality. Here are some hallmarks. My mom would spend money and use her credit cards like crazy. Dad had to sell the house we lived in to pay off her debt. She's had to declare bankruptcy, Dad also had to use all of his meager inheritance to bail them out of debt once again. She would go through manic episodes where she couldn't stop speaking to quickly about everything, kind of euphoric but much more than that. She would then crash into the basement and sob and want to kill herself. She would go through these periods of cycling very rapidly. Like within minutes she'd be up and down. My mom didn't drink and she wasn't on any drugs. There are bipolars that only cycle to the euphoric then back to 'normal', there are bipolars who cycle downwards and then to normal... there are bipolars who cycle more slowly. It's a tough diagnosis to make. I would say it took years for a very good psychiatrist to make a diagnosis. My Mom is medicated but she can still cycle. I don't know if everyone is misdiagnosed but it a hellish mental illness. It was hell to watch. There are also two different types of bipolar. If someone believes the diagnosis to be a mistake they should be reevaluated. That's my two cents.

you also have to understand that the mental health community is currently undergoing something of a re-evaluation of these terms & how they really apply to people. its somewhat of a controversial re-thinking, in fact. essentially, some are seeing these basic issues (i.e. - mood disorder, attention defecit, degree of socialization, etc.) as spectrums, rather than absolute diagnoses. so they say there is a mood disorder spectrum - on which you find the classic BP1 (manic-depressive) rapid cycler (which sounds like Anne's mom) on one end, & stability ("normalcy" - a despised term in the BP community) on the other. in between you can find BP2 (characterized by depressive episodes interspersed with highly functioning hypomanic episodes), cyclothymia, etc. i believe unipolar clinical depression is toward the narmal end too.

add to this that those who propose the conept of a bipolar spectrum also believe that one can shift throughout their life from one to another - not rapidly, mind you - but over one's lifetime it is now thought that a person's brain chemistry can change. as such, their dx may change as well. its not to say that previously they had been misdiagnosed - its just to say that they have changed.

for me i was nuts when i first got sober. To this day I thank god I didnt go to a doc to get stabalized but instead did the steps. I have seen too many aa members encourage others to go get on med instead of doing the steps to see if what they have is from the spiritual malady. I think that is wrong these ppl arent docs and they are giving med advice and could be doing more harm by sayin that. In aa all we have is the steps and our exp to give and we should not as a fellowship be recomendint to anyone about going to a doctor to get on meds as a solution to somethin that may be handled by the 12 steps. like our bb says we never straighten out mentally or physically till we straighten out spiritually. In my own exp after being a month sober no steps i was homicidal and suicidal. I was given a sponsor who imed took me thru the steps and as soon as he did my homicidal and suicidal thoughts left. The solution out of the bb worked. Now i could say here that hey im unique and god loves me more than you but thats just not true. The steps work when worked and all who do them know this too be true. Those that dont cant see what we have exp thus they doubt that this works. I dont give med advice.

I agree that this label of "bi-polar" is overused and it seems that everyone is bi-polar these days.What is wrong with feeling happy or sad or any other feeling that humans are supposed to feel?
I do not believe that sobriety,in and of itself,is not a cure-all in every situation.Some have a chemical imbalance in their brains that just not drinking does not fix.In my unprofessional opinion some people DO need medication to help them with themselves,and on the other hand,some people would highly benefit and "even out" with the sustained practice of spiritual practices,and learning new ways of thinking,as drinking is not the problem,the thinking is.

they just said on the news that zoloft is not approved for bi polar and docs are not suppose to precribe them this was just on cnn

If one wonders why we drunks might seem that way, take a look at the criteria used for diagnosis. One or two of these could easily describe every drunk I know.

There are different types of bipolar; Having at least at least one of the symptoms can mean either Bipolar (1) or (2), (out of four different types)
--depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day,appears tearful.
---markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day
---significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.
--Insomnia or Hypersomnia nearly every day
---psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day
---fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
---feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day
---diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness
---recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying),
---recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide.