How Did You Discover That You Have Bipolar Disorder?

I have been diagnosed with bipolar II, adhd, and generalized anxiety disorder.  I was just recently diagnosed with bipolar II in January 2011 at the age of 47 yrs.  Before that I was initially treated for dysthymia, a low grade chronic type of depression.  I was on Paxil for quite a few years after that diagnosis.  However throughout the years I continued to struggle and knew there had to be something else that was contributing to my being unwell.  Eventually my family doctor referred me to a psychiatrist and I was then diagnosed as having adhd and had a trial of Dexedrine and then was eventually put on Concerta.  At first my mind seemed crystal clear; it was as though the fog had finally lifted.  Unfortunately the Concerta ended up making things worse in the end as I then went into a manic phase.  That was misconstrued by my psychiatrist as my having severe anxiety and I was then diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.  I suffered a few panic attacks as well and by that time I was beginning to be quite frustrated with the problems that I was experiencing.

It wasn’t until I saw a new psychiatrist that I was finally given the correct diagnosis of bipolar II.  My psychiatrist believes that my bipolar II is my “primary diagnosis”, and the adhd, and generalized anxiety disorder being “secondary diagnoses”.  That being said my psychiatrist began treating the bipolar II first with a trial of Seroquel.  This medication helped with getting my mania under control but then some depression began to surface.  I was then tried on Welbutrin and that along with the Seroquel seemed to balance my moods fairly well.  Upon my last visit to my psychiatrist a few weeks ago he explained that my bipolar II and anxiety seem to be under fairly good control.  However he now saw some adhd symptoms surfacing.  I knew that I was still fairly hyper which I mistook for mania and that I still was not settled down enough.  So I am now on a low dose of Concerta to control those symptoms.

I am gradually starting to feel better and am hoping that this will be the end of all of the medication trials I have had to endure throughout the past.  I am now in the process of recovering from a severe manic episode from last summer.  It definitely took its toll, but I am a survivor and I will continue to manage my symptoms as best as I can.  I have been a volunteer researcher/writer for www.askabipolar.com and this has been very therapeutic in my journey to recovery.  So for those of you who are feeling that having bipolar disorder is hopeless, I am living proof that there eventually is some “light at the end of the tunnel”.

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