earwicker7
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2007
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Quote:
Dude, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings... having a bi-polar person in the family (there's a lot of genetics involved) and presenting with the symptoms you have, if I were your therapist I'd be worried that you might be Bi-Polar Type 2
.
I wouldn't take my word as gospel by any means; I'm not even close to being a practicing therapist. However, I do have a degree in psychology and I know the symptoms pretty well from personal experience in being misdiagnosed as unipolar. People with unipolar depression are less likely to suffer from major insomnia (although it's not unheard of by any means); it's a classic tip off that Type 2 may be involved (and something my first four therapists neglected to recognize
).
When you say "bad" insomnia, are you talking about not getting to sleep for a couple of hours or barely sleeping for three or four days straight? If it's the latter, I'd consider getting a second opinion on the depression diagnosis. Unipolar depression is extremely over-diagnosed when the therapist isn't on their toes and constantly asking probing questions. The major danger is that anti-depressants by themselves (without mood stabilizers) can seriously exacerbate bi-polar symptoms; they only "boost" your mood, which tends to increase the severity of hypomanic episodes. Imagine your mood is a sine wave; you want your mood to be in the "zero" range or close to it. Bi-Polar Type 2 sufferers present with periods that are usually too far in the "negative" (depressed) area and occasionally too far in the "positive" (hypomanic) area. Unfortunately, since the hypomania typically isn't overwhelming (requiring hospitalization), people usually only present during depressed periods (many people enjoy the hypomania) which often results in misdiagnosis as unipolar given our HMO run "get it done in three visits" culture. Anti-depressants boost your mood so that you're typically in the zero range, which is good; however, this boost also occurs during hypomanic episodes, which pushes you way too far into the positive area, making your hypomania closer to full blown mania. What a bi-polar sufferer needs is a mood stabilizer, which is analogous to audio compression... it decreases both the manic "peaks" and depressed valleys.
Anyways, this is just a gut feeling, and I might be dead wrong. But it's something to think about. If I'm (unfortunately) correct, there is a silver lining... Type 2 is considered one of the easiest mental disorders to keep under control. Lamictal (a mood stabilizer) and Seroquel (an anti-psychotic) will often turn around people's lives; I was utterly miserable when I was misdiagnosed as unipolar and on anti-depressants. My life right now is pretty damn good; not perfect, but I'm generally pretty happy.
Hope this helps instead of bumming you out
.
Originally Posted by AudioPhewl /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do suffer with mental health issues. I've been diagnosed with depression, for some 3 years now. Sad part is I feel exactly how I've felt the rest of my life. I've been on the waiting list to see a psychiatrist through the NHS for the last 10 months, and I'm still months away from doing so. I also suffer badly with insomnia, and infrequent episodes of panic attacks. |
Dude, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings... having a bi-polar person in the family (there's a lot of genetics involved) and presenting with the symptoms you have, if I were your therapist I'd be worried that you might be Bi-Polar Type 2
I wouldn't take my word as gospel by any means; I'm not even close to being a practicing therapist. However, I do have a degree in psychology and I know the symptoms pretty well from personal experience in being misdiagnosed as unipolar. People with unipolar depression are less likely to suffer from major insomnia (although it's not unheard of by any means); it's a classic tip off that Type 2 may be involved (and something my first four therapists neglected to recognize
When you say "bad" insomnia, are you talking about not getting to sleep for a couple of hours or barely sleeping for three or four days straight? If it's the latter, I'd consider getting a second opinion on the depression diagnosis. Unipolar depression is extremely over-diagnosed when the therapist isn't on their toes and constantly asking probing questions. The major danger is that anti-depressants by themselves (without mood stabilizers) can seriously exacerbate bi-polar symptoms; they only "boost" your mood, which tends to increase the severity of hypomanic episodes. Imagine your mood is a sine wave; you want your mood to be in the "zero" range or close to it. Bi-Polar Type 2 sufferers present with periods that are usually too far in the "negative" (depressed) area and occasionally too far in the "positive" (hypomanic) area. Unfortunately, since the hypomania typically isn't overwhelming (requiring hospitalization), people usually only present during depressed periods (many people enjoy the hypomania) which often results in misdiagnosis as unipolar given our HMO run "get it done in three visits" culture. Anti-depressants boost your mood so that you're typically in the zero range, which is good; however, this boost also occurs during hypomanic episodes, which pushes you way too far into the positive area, making your hypomania closer to full blown mania. What a bi-polar sufferer needs is a mood stabilizer, which is analogous to audio compression... it decreases both the manic "peaks" and depressed valleys.
Anyways, this is just a gut feeling, and I might be dead wrong. But it's something to think about. If I'm (unfortunately) correct, there is a silver lining... Type 2 is considered one of the easiest mental disorders to keep under control. Lamictal (a mood stabilizer) and Seroquel (an anti-psychotic) will often turn around people's lives; I was utterly miserable when I was misdiagnosed as unipolar and on anti-depressants. My life right now is pretty damn good; not perfect, but I'm generally pretty happy.
Hope this helps instead of bumming you out