Is this happiness of Bipolar disorder?

An hour of feeling like myself, calm, confident, and on top of everything, followed by severe anxiety/depression/nervousnes which lasts anywhere from 5 minutes to the rest of the day. I tried Effexor, which made me want to kill myself one minute, then made everything ok the next. I constantly change my interests: One hour I know FOR SURE I want to go into Psychology, then the next hour the word psychology sounds stupid, and Marketing is the cool thing to do. If I say something another person might not like, I constantly go back and forth in my brain saying "it's ok, what you said was fine", followed by an extreme pondering of how it wasn't fine, "I can't believe I said that". Some days I am completely interested in things, and other days I can't believe I ever even considered what I had once thought. I just tried a DL-Phenylalnine supplement to increase dopamine levels, and within an hour I was emailing/applying/texting people about how badly I wanted to start my marketing career.

I can't figure out whether or not my normal mood is "calmness" or "depression". I haven't been happy in so long. When I start to FEEL good, like today, I truly wonder if I'm being manic, or, just being myself.


I'm 20, Male, diagnosed with depression and anxiety when I was 17

One of the key symptoms of bi-bolar is you either feel extremely high or extremely low. There isn't much of a middle ground. You know how when someone asks you How are you? My mom has bi-polar and she can never answer that question with the standard..ok..I'm good. She's either great or horrible. You may want to see a doctor. If the one who prescribed you Effexor isn't listening to you, try a new doctor.

Please look up the symptoms of bi-polor disorder and be careful about accepting any diagnosis. Dr's often have favorites. During the 80's everyone was ADD. 90's Bi-polor, today it is autistic...

you sound like you can be honest with yourself, so just see if the symptoms fit. It they do go to the Dr. and ask if you have anything else as a possible disorder, don't say what you think it is, just talk about the above concerns in your details.

http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/bipola...

mabye or it may be your depression getting worse, but it does sound like you are a little vared in everything, or it may be a reaction to a kind of medacation

It does sound a lot like mania. You do know you can be hypomanic -- a combination of depressed and manic.

i had severe depression and i was diagnosed when i was 8. i was suicidal. my dad is bipolar and my uncle is schizophrenic. Medicine only helps to a certain degree. u cant rely on medication to do the trick. r u seeing a therapist? i know therapy helps me a ton, and hey im only 13! Medicine is only the base to make you happy but u have to make yourself happy. and everyone makes mistakes. if you say something u shouldnt have then, well, everyone does that!
take a deep breath. a lot of people have what you have and trust me, u will get thro it and u will be ok. my parents divorced when i was 9, a year after being diagnosed. i almost attempted suicide. but i got thro it. hardships happen in life, u just have to be prepared. dont worry. ure not alone.

I have bipolar and what you are describing does not sound like hypomania (subthreshold mania), which is a lot more than happy. I think you are experiencing something more like a normal mood. It sounds like it's just been a while since you've felt it.

Still, your funny reactions to antidepressants make me think that if your period out of depression does not last, you should see a psychiatrist instead of a regular doc. I'd look for one that specializes in mood disorders. If your problem is depression, you'll have a doc with a better idea on what meds will work for you. If you react to them in a bipolar way, then you'll have a doc who knows what to do.

Hey pal, hang in there. I got my BP diagnosis in college, at the age of 18 or 19. The doc put me on Depakote, which, at the time, was a relatively new prescription for manic depressives (its original use was as an anti-convulsant for epileptics). Anyway, I didn't like the drugs. I was totally placid, but I felt like I couldn't have an emotion. I didn't cry for a year (uncommon for a moody f*cker like me at that age). At any rate, I'm 30 now, and I can honestly say that things have gotten steadily better. I don't think you necessarily quit being bipolar; you just figure out how to manage it. It's okay to be indecisive, and dude, it's totally okay to be wrong from time to time. Everybody makes mistakes. None of us has perfect judgment all the time. I'm not trying to blow sunshine up your rear end, I'm just saying: try to take it a little easy on yourself. It can be easy to beat yourself up, I know. Also (and this is just one of the conclusions I've come to in the last decade or so): don't use the BP as a crutch. We live in a society obsessed with labels (humans, after all, are natural taxonomists). Also, we're too goddam quick to throw prescription drugs at our problems. Just be you, dude. And remember: you're a whole lot of things besides bipolar. Maybe you're a Psych AND a Marketing guy. Tons of people don't know what the hell they want at twenty. You're ok. My best advice would be to talk to people you trust, people who aren't judgemental, people who feel good to be around - people who "recharge" you (and whom you recharge). I really believe that Time levels us out, brother. Until then, do what you can to manage the highs and lows, and every once in a while, revel in them! This is it! This is life! Enjoy as much of it as you can. Cheers.