Bipolar diagnosis and use of antidepressants with bipolar?

[BluMac81]

So I have two questions. The psychiatrist at the hospital said I am most likely bipolar, my outpatient psychiatrist says that I am not, and that I just have depression. What I experience, however, does follow along the lines of bipolar, as typically I swing every 48 hours, almost like clockwork, and the mania side of things is rather pleasant, but I tend to push myself to do to much and become overwhelmed, become irritable, overconfident, and tend to talk a mile a minute. The depressive stage I become extremely sleepy, have pessimistic views, irritability, tend to isolate.... you know, you just want to crawl back under the covers and just 'not exist in this world' for the day. I often try to incite a 'manic' state as it helps me get things done, by drinking lots and lots of caffine, but that never works, heart pumps fast, that's about it, still feel like napping lol.

Now the second questions is, is it bad for someone with bipolar disorder to take only antidepressants? I say this because my episodes of mania are more so hypomania, and I've never acted on compulsive feelings during this state (as I am still self-aware), thus I figure, keep the mania, lose the depression. Not totally informed on how bipolar works so just wondering.

 

[Daniel E.]

is it bad for someone with bipolar disorder to take only antidepressants?

Not necessarily, at least for some stretches of time.

keep the mania, lose the depression.

At least for some people with bipolar disorder, one potential issue then would be post-manic crashes (what goes up, must come down).

The psychiatrist at the hospital said I am most likely bipolar, my outpatient psychiatrist says that I am not, and that I just have depression.

It can take a while to get a diagnosis or to rule it out. But, as your symptoms change, you may need to call your doctor more often than you have in the past for med adjustments.

And seeing a therapist can help, too, of course, with treating symptoms, such as by helping you manage stress:

What Is The Connection Between Stress And Bipolar Disorder?
What Is The Connection Between Stress And Depression?

 

[Banned]

Also, if you are bipolar, and are swinging every 48 hours, that's rapid cycling which is especially dangerous. You may find it useful to use moodtracker.com to track your moods for six to eight weeks. Then take it in to your psychiatrist so he can see what is going on. I find it more objective that just relying on memory. If I relied just on my selective memory I'd say I'm depressed 100% of the time, but by using this tool I can see that I'm actually not. I can also see cycles, ie. in August and September I was cycling about every week, which is also defined as rapid cycling. Now it's not so bad. I don't know if I'm bipolar or not yet, but this will help my future psychiatrist see what's been going on for several months.

If you are in fact bipolar, your psychiatrist would likely move you to a mood stabilizer to even out the highs and lows. It's not good to be manic or hypomanic, especially every 48 hours, as people in that state tend to make some pretty bad decisions, take on too much, etc. However, you're not alone...many bipolars, once diagnosed, express a fear of losing that state because a) it feels so good and b) it can sometimes be when so much creativity comes out and they feel much more productive.

However, as Daniel says, what goes up, must come down and post-manic/hypomanic crashes are especially dangerous.

You really need to keep in touch with a psychiatrist and track things. We lose perspective when we are either high or low.