
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group
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anyone misdx as bipolar first?

arlene17
I have been dx as bipolar, and I know that I have abuse issues. Have any of you been dx as bipolar and then dx as ptsd only, and you dx changed and the bipolar dx dropped from you treatment?
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My Pdoc told me that PTSD looks A LOT like Bipolar...and reading about it...it truly does mimic a lot of the same signs and symptoms...and thus PTSD is treated with a lot of Bipolar Meds too.
I knew I didn't have Bipolar...just a gut feeling...and I had asked my previous Pdoc and Family Doc if I was Bipolar...all with a big NO...and failed to look any further. I didn't think about PTSD...had no clue this would come to haunt me in my adult years.
I had Neuro-Psych testing which showed I am NOT Bipolar...and my Pdoc said through therapy, it would be figured out if I was bipolar or just plain PTSD.
For me...Just PTSD.
But, I actually got a Bipolar Book to read, and boy...I could relate to a lot of that...mood variability is present in both PTSD and Bipolar.
With PTSD...you treat the symptoms you have, so if your moods are variable...you treat with a mood stabilizer...I'm on Lamictal..and it helped with my depression too.
My pdoc KNOWS BETTER. He won't put it on there, although I said "Just do it! Make me sound extra crazy! I don't care anymore! Social Security is so damn stupid! As long as I don't get drugs that make things worse, I don't care anymore!" Obviously, pissy about the SSA (Social Security Administration), but he wouldn't budge while the psychologist in the ER at the local hospital labeled me as bipolar. [rolling eyes]
I'll take it. I just want my money. Then I'll go get REAL treatment at a REAL inpatient place that Medicare will cover!
i am definitely bipolar. true manic episodes, true depressive episodes.
and i also do have ptsd. flashbacks, nightmares, the whole shebang.
it is possible to have both. i do.
I have noticed alot lately bipolar is being talked about alot. One lady on Dr. Phil said she had it. A model tried to kill herself. She ended up killing 3 men. She says she is bipolar. My brother randomly told me his friend was bipolar and even a lady at church brought it up. It seems people are either really learning about this illness or they are jumping on the bandwagon.
glad to know i am not the only one.
like i said above, and like basketcase, i do have both. they are totally separate. i was diagnosed bp at age 15. i never ever had ptsd until i was 21. my symptoms are very different... i actually just wrote a really long journal entry about how the 2 disorders are totally different to me.
because people who aren't bipolar are being diagnosed as such, it really makes my illness seem illegitimate. i know what true bipolar disorder type I looks and feels like. i know the madness of mania and the pain of the long, deep depressions.
i don't like it that people are being misdiagnosed, because then others assume that i too have "jumped on the bandwagon."
bipolar is a serious illness, and those of us who do have it suffer and fight daily... just like those of us who have ptsd.
So true...although the order of manifestation of my 2 separate conditions is opposite of yours, I too experienced one with unique symptoms well before the other. To me, there is no mistaking the two. Bipolar mania is unlike anything else I have ever experienced as a symptom of PTSD, it is challenging to deal with both, but I don't feel confused about which symptoms are which. The only time I think that the two work together is during a mixed episode. The fear, hyper vigilance & panic compound with mania & depression for me all at the same time & it is most unsettling when this happens. It's like heavy mental turbulence!
then the two disorders mush up together in a big crazy mess.
Your journal on your bipolar was an intriguing example of bipolar mania.
That is far higher than the mood variability I had.
It CAN happen both in one person. Bipolar as a chemical imbalance, and can have some genetic roots...and the mood swings are usually very identifiable.
Then if one has a traumatic history...PTSD can entagle itself in one also.
I think the big web maybe with diagnosing PTSD, is the possibility of the lesser form of Bipolar...Bipolar 2...which I had actually never heard of until April. I didn't know there was a lesser form of Bipolar out there. But, Bipolar I should be readily recognizable from PTSD...esp after reading your journal about mania.