New and stuff
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March 31, 2009 - 10:15 am
I was finally diagnosed as bipolar a week ago. I say finally because I've been treated for depression for about 10 years by my family doctor.
I realized that I needed to see a psychiatrist a few months ago. I'm a graduate student working on my master's in family therapy. I kept telling myself that my "symptoms" was me just overreacting and having that whole medical student syndrome.
I was doing a role play for my DSM-IV diagnosis class, where I was playing the part of the patient (my diagnosis was supposed to be schizophreniform disorder). While doing my role play, my professor picked up on my pressured speech and started asking questions to diagnose bipolar disorder. Problem was...I wasn't acting. It was just me.
Then my husband made a comment about how he was shocked that I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom after only sleeping 3 hours the night before. That's when I realized I couldn't ignore it.
I realized that I needed to see a psychiatrist a few months ago. I'm a graduate student working on my master's in family therapy. I kept telling myself that my "symptoms" was me just overreacting and having that whole medical student syndrome.
I was doing a role play for my DSM-IV diagnosis class, where I was playing the part of the patient (my diagnosis was supposed to be schizophreniform disorder). While doing my role play, my professor picked up on my pressured speech and started asking questions to diagnose bipolar disorder. Problem was...I wasn't acting. It was just me.
Then my husband made a comment about how he was shocked that I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom after only sleeping 3 hours the night before. That's when I realized I couldn't ignore it.
I was finally diagnosed as bipolar a week ago. I say finally because I've been treated for depression for about 10 years by my family doctor.
I realized that I needed to see a psychiatrist a few months ago. I'm a graduate student working on my master's in family therapy. I kept telling myself that my "symptoms" was me just overreacting and having that whole medical student syndrome.
I was doing a role play for my DSM-IV diagnosis class, where I was playing the part of the patient (my diagnosis was supposed to be schizophreniform disorder). While doing my role play, my professor picked up on my pressured speech and started asking questions to diagnose bipolar disorder. Problem was...I wasn't acting. It was just me.
Then my husband made a comment about how he was shocked that I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom after only sleeping 3 hours the night before. That's when I realized I couldn't ignore it.
I realized that I needed to see a psychiatrist a few months ago. I'm a graduate student working on my master's in family therapy. I kept telling myself that my "symptoms" was me just overreacting and having that whole medical student syndrome.
I was doing a role play for my DSM-IV diagnosis class, where I was playing the part of the patient (my diagnosis was supposed to be schizophreniform disorder). While doing my role play, my professor picked up on my pressured speech and started asking questions to diagnose bipolar disorder. Problem was...I wasn't acting. It was just me.
Then my husband made a comment about how he was shocked that I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom after only sleeping 3 hours the night before. That's when I realized I couldn't ignore it.
March 31, 2009 - 1:06 pm
Total Posts: 146
Joined: 01-04-2009
Joined: 01-04-2009
Abrownie: You are definitly posting in the right place. This is a good forum with very supportive people and many of us are voracious readers and post about helpful books/and or online information we have found.
What is the magic of the ten year number? I was also diagnosed with Bipolar II after ten years of a dx of Major Depression with General Anxiety Disorder. I don't know how far your classwork has gotten, but a lot of the current thinking and treatment of mood disorders is now based on a Mood Spectrum thought process instead of the more restrictive DSM classifications. A lot of psychiatrists will use the mood spectrum more than the DSM for suggesting treatments and meds. A lot depends on where you fall on it for what the best treatment and medications are for you.
Personally, even tho the Mood Spectrum is a new way of working with mood disorders, I am glad my treatment people use it. The DSM-IV is just too old and too many new things have been discovered. I think it is good for providing common language for research, but using criteria that old for patient treatment scares me, especially when I am the patient in question. A lot of progress has been made since that edition was written.
I am an early retired RN, I left nursing when my illness got to the point I was afraid I would make mistakes because of it. Even tho I worked in a small rural hospital, we participated in several research programs so being up to date in all kinds of medical treatment is important to me.
Anyway, keep posting, the Mood Tracker feature is also excellent. My talk therapist (tdoc) likes me to bring mine in. The journaling part is also good for remembering specific things to bring up. And I am glad you had a sharp professor because the right diagnosis is a start to getting good help.
What is the magic of the ten year number? I was also diagnosed with Bipolar II after ten years of a dx of Major Depression with General Anxiety Disorder. I don't know how far your classwork has gotten, but a lot of the current thinking and treatment of mood disorders is now based on a Mood Spectrum thought process instead of the more restrictive DSM classifications. A lot of psychiatrists will use the mood spectrum more than the DSM for suggesting treatments and meds. A lot depends on where you fall on it for what the best treatment and medications are for you.
Personally, even tho the Mood Spectrum is a new way of working with mood disorders, I am glad my treatment people use it. The DSM-IV is just too old and too many new things have been discovered. I think it is good for providing common language for research, but using criteria that old for patient treatment scares me, especially when I am the patient in question. A lot of progress has been made since that edition was written.
I am an early retired RN, I left nursing when my illness got to the point I was afraid I would make mistakes because of it. Even tho I worked in a small rural hospital, we participated in several research programs so being up to date in all kinds of medical treatment is important to me.
Anyway, keep posting, the Mood Tracker feature is also excellent. My talk therapist (tdoc) likes me to bring mine in. The journaling part is also good for remembering specific things to bring up. And I am glad you had a sharp professor because the right diagnosis is a start to getting good help.
Medications for March 2009
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Abrownie: You are definitly posting in the right place. This is a good forum with very supportive people and many of us are voracious readers and post about helpful books/and or online information we have found.
What is the magic of the ten year number? I was also diagnosed with Bipolar II after ten years of a dx of Major Depression with General Anxiety Disorder. I don't know how far your classwork has gotten, but a lot of the current thinking and treatment of mood disorders is now based on a Mood Spectrum thought process instead of the more restrictive DSM classifications. A lot of psychiatrists will use the mood spectrum more than the DSM for suggesting treatments and meds. A lot depends on where you fall on it for what the best treatment and medications are for you.
Personally, even tho the Mood Spectrum is a new way of working with mood disorders, I am glad my treatment people use it. The DSM-IV is just too old and too many new things have been discovered. I think it is good for providing common language for research, but using criteria that old for patient treatment scares me, especially when I am the patient in question. A lot of progress has been made since that edition was written.
I am an early retired RN, I left nursing when my illness got to the point I was afraid I would make mistakes because of it. Even tho I worked in a small rural hospital, we participated in several research programs so being up to date in all kinds of medical treatment is important to me.
Anyway, keep posting, the Mood Tracker feature is also excellent. My talk therapist (tdoc) likes me to bring mine in. The journaling part is also good for remembering specific things to bring up. And I am glad you had a sharp professor because the right diagnosis is a start to getting good help.
What is the magic of the ten year number? I was also diagnosed with Bipolar II after ten years of a dx of Major Depression with General Anxiety Disorder. I don't know how far your classwork has gotten, but a lot of the current thinking and treatment of mood disorders is now based on a Mood Spectrum thought process instead of the more restrictive DSM classifications. A lot of psychiatrists will use the mood spectrum more than the DSM for suggesting treatments and meds. A lot depends on where you fall on it for what the best treatment and medications are for you.
Personally, even tho the Mood Spectrum is a new way of working with mood disorders, I am glad my treatment people use it. The DSM-IV is just too old and too many new things have been discovered. I think it is good for providing common language for research, but using criteria that old for patient treatment scares me, especially when I am the patient in question. A lot of progress has been made since that edition was written.
I am an early retired RN, I left nursing when my illness got to the point I was afraid I would make mistakes because of it. Even tho I worked in a small rural hospital, we participated in several research programs so being up to date in all kinds of medical treatment is important to me.
Anyway, keep posting, the Mood Tracker feature is also excellent. My talk therapist (tdoc) likes me to bring mine in. The journaling part is also good for remembering specific things to bring up. And I am glad you had a sharp professor because the right diagnosis is a start to getting good help.
Medications for March 2009
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March 31, 2009 - 8:03 pm
Total Posts: 52
Joined: 03-31-2009
Joined: 03-31-2009
I know that the APA is supposed to be coming out with a new edition sometime in the next few years. I know we have a lot of debates surrounding the DSM, mostly because sometimes it feels like it only exists for the benefit of the insurance companies.
I am actually happy I found this website. When I was diagnosed last week, one of the first things I did was sift through my piles of powerpoint slides and presentations from the past year to find anything relevant to me, and one of the things that stuck out to me was keeping track of my moods.
I'll be honest, I was worried for a few days about how this would effect me as a therapist, but then I realized that I'm still the same person, I'm just now on the right meds. :-D
I am actually happy I found this website. When I was diagnosed last week, one of the first things I did was sift through my piles of powerpoint slides and presentations from the past year to find anything relevant to me, and one of the things that stuck out to me was keeping track of my moods.
I'll be honest, I was worried for a few days about how this would effect me as a therapist, but then I realized that I'm still the same person, I'm just now on the right meds. :-D
I know that the APA is supposed to be coming out with a new edition sometime in the next few years. I know we have a lot of debates surrounding the DSM, mostly because sometimes it feels like it only exists for the benefit of the insurance companies.
I am actually happy I found this website. When I was diagnosed last week, one of the first things I did was sift through my piles of powerpoint slides and presentations from the past year to find anything relevant to me, and one of the things that stuck out to me was keeping track of my moods.
I'll be honest, I was worried for a few days about how this would effect me as a therapist, but then I realized that I'm still the same person, I'm just now on the right meds. :-D
I am actually happy I found this website. When I was diagnosed last week, one of the first things I did was sift through my piles of powerpoint slides and presentations from the past year to find anything relevant to me, and one of the things that stuck out to me was keeping track of my moods.
I'll be honest, I was worried for a few days about how this would effect me as a therapist, but then I realized that I'm still the same person, I'm just now on the right meds. :-D
April 1, 2009 - 8:44 am
Total Posts: 133
Joined: 10-30-2007
Joined: 10-30-2007
abrownie,
I so feel your struggle! I was wrongly diagnosed with major depression during my masters/specialists study in counseling. So much of what I was dealing with didn't make sense to me. I was in therapy AND in a very intensive degree program that had lots of self-exploration. 2+2 did not equal 4 no matter how I did the equation.
I look at my journals now, from that that time period, and my bioplar disorder is written ALL OVER the pages of that journal. However, in the early 1990's there was no such thing as a bipolar spectrum. Either you were or you weren't. I certainly did not meet the strict criteria of the DSM, so I went wrongly diagnosed for nearly two decades. The good news is that I still made a fine therapist. I was blessed with a great deal of resiliency and my own personal therapy managed to give me enough coping skills to muddle through.
Peri-menopause changed all of that. OH MAN, did it change all of that. Perimenopause landed me right back in the office of a very gifted Pdoc who identified my bipolar spectrum in the very first session (after I had somehow.... somehow managed to complete a dissertation through a winter of desperate depression).
Now that I am properly medicated, my mood and my life (at the ripe ole age of 47) are more even than they have ever been. It has been a 20+ year odyssey for me. And I thank God for the right doc at the right time with the right information!
Brownie..... keep on, keepin' on.... Life is good.... life is do-able! Bipolar is both a gift and a challenge. If we can capture its creativity, but corral its difficulties, we are truly on the path to wellness!
Jules
I so feel your struggle! I was wrongly diagnosed with major depression during my masters/specialists study in counseling. So much of what I was dealing with didn't make sense to me. I was in therapy AND in a very intensive degree program that had lots of self-exploration. 2+2 did not equal 4 no matter how I did the equation.
I look at my journals now, from that that time period, and my bioplar disorder is written ALL OVER the pages of that journal. However, in the early 1990's there was no such thing as a bipolar spectrum. Either you were or you weren't. I certainly did not meet the strict criteria of the DSM, so I went wrongly diagnosed for nearly two decades. The good news is that I still made a fine therapist. I was blessed with a great deal of resiliency and my own personal therapy managed to give me enough coping skills to muddle through.
Peri-menopause changed all of that. OH MAN, did it change all of that. Perimenopause landed me right back in the office of a very gifted Pdoc who identified my bipolar spectrum in the very first session (after I had somehow.... somehow managed to complete a dissertation through a winter of desperate depression).
Now that I am properly medicated, my mood and my life (at the ripe ole age of 47) are more even than they have ever been. It has been a 20+ year odyssey for me. And I thank God for the right doc at the right time with the right information!
Brownie..... keep on, keepin' on.... Life is good.... life is do-able! Bipolar is both a gift and a challenge. If we can capture its creativity, but corral its difficulties, we are truly on the path to wellness!
Jules
abrownie,
I so feel your struggle! I was wrongly diagnosed with major depression during my masters/specialists study in counseling. So much of what I was dealing with didn't make sense to me. I was in therapy AND in a very intensive degree program that had lots of self-exploration. 2+2 did not equal 4 no matter how I did the equation.
I look at my journals now, from that that time period, and my bioplar disorder is written ALL OVER the pages of that journal. However, in the early 1990's there was no such thing as a bipolar spectrum. Either you were or you weren't. I certainly did not meet the strict criteria of the DSM, so I went wrongly diagnosed for nearly two decades. The good news is that I still made a fine therapist. I was blessed with a great deal of resiliency and my own personal therapy managed to give me enough coping skills to muddle through.
Peri-menopause changed all of that. OH MAN, did it change all of that. Perimenopause landed me right back in the office of a very gifted Pdoc who identified my bipolar spectrum in the very first session (after I had somehow.... somehow managed to complete a dissertation through a winter of desperate depression).
Now that I am properly medicated, my mood and my life (at the ripe ole age of 47) are more even than they have ever been. It has been a 20+ year odyssey for me. And I thank God for the right doc at the right time with the right information!
Brownie..... keep on, keepin' on.... Life is good.... life is do-able! Bipolar is both a gift and a challenge. If we can capture its creativity, but corral its difficulties, we are truly on the path to wellness!
Jules
I so feel your struggle! I was wrongly diagnosed with major depression during my masters/specialists study in counseling. So much of what I was dealing with didn't make sense to me. I was in therapy AND in a very intensive degree program that had lots of self-exploration. 2+2 did not equal 4 no matter how I did the equation.
I look at my journals now, from that that time period, and my bioplar disorder is written ALL OVER the pages of that journal. However, in the early 1990's there was no such thing as a bipolar spectrum. Either you were or you weren't. I certainly did not meet the strict criteria of the DSM, so I went wrongly diagnosed for nearly two decades. The good news is that I still made a fine therapist. I was blessed with a great deal of resiliency and my own personal therapy managed to give me enough coping skills to muddle through.
Peri-menopause changed all of that. OH MAN, did it change all of that. Perimenopause landed me right back in the office of a very gifted Pdoc who identified my bipolar spectrum in the very first session (after I had somehow.... somehow managed to complete a dissertation through a winter of desperate depression).
Now that I am properly medicated, my mood and my life (at the ripe ole age of 47) are more even than they have ever been. It has been a 20+ year odyssey for me. And I thank God for the right doc at the right time with the right information!
Brownie..... keep on, keepin' on.... Life is good.... life is do-able! Bipolar is both a gift and a challenge. If we can capture its creativity, but corral its difficulties, we are truly on the path to wellness!
Jules
Joined: 03-31-2009