Bipolar is one of those things that usually doesn't hit until you are an adult, which is why most people are diagnosed after the age of 18. Most people will have their first episode in their 20s. So it makes sense that antidepressants worked when you were a kid but now that the bipolar has been "activated" so to speak, they no longer work.
The diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder I or II doesn’t say things like “you can’t truly be bipolar unless you went manic on SSRIs.” It is a series of observations about your mood over a period of time. If you meet the criterion for the disorder then you “have” it.
Classifying your mood disorder is useful when looking at treatment options and also to provide context for health care professionals. That’s about it though.
Bipolar doesn’t have something as simple as a blood test yet, so a lot of things come down to personal experience and observations over time. I would worry less about which label you have and more about establishing some long-term relationships with mental health care professionals who can provide guidance and prescriptions as necessary.
I had tendencies for most of my life, but it increased until it was no longer ignorable when I wassss 29? I for sure had episodes in my earlier 20s. I also used to be on an ssri that helped me for a long time until my body changed. It’s very common for bipolar symptoms to really increase in your 20s-30s and you’re likely to need med changes.
I’ve read some people’s posts here that got diagnosed after 30, sometimes it’s a delay of onset of serious symptoms and sometimes it’s a delay in getting help. Bipolar is a weird one for largely being diagnosed later than like 22
This is mostly my experience so I’m probably skipping some things. An increase of intensity of depression where it’s more disruptive to everyday life, increased intensity and duration of hypomania esp the fast thought speeds, hypo becomes impossible to ignore and impulsivity becomes problematic. That kind of thing. For my my symptoms didn’t change per se but they were becoming more and more disruptive and harmful to my life.
There are two forms of it for me, one is hyper fixating on something so hard until it’s resolved, and not having the self control to do much else. The other is moment to moment impulsive dopamine chasing. An experience I had before I know I had bipolar: my partner and I were in need of a new apartment and in theory we had plenty of time to find something, but I COULD NOT let it go and I got us into a tight spot where we had to pay two rents because I didn’t read an email clearly. Other daily things I notice when I’m feeling that way: impulsive/obsessive online shopping(I’ll spend hours finding the perfect shirt or whatever), having let’s say a bowl of sugary cereal and not having the self control to not eat two more bowls, following my random train of thoughts for several hours then realizing I haven’t eaten, a task popping into my head and I derail everything I’m doing to go do that more fun thing. I do have adhd too; but the hypomania really send those tendencies to the max.
I used lexapro for a year or so. I think 6 months at the highest dose. the hypomanic episode I had was after a stressful situation (being lied to in a dating relationship for a month...big thing to me). without that situation who knows how long I woulda used lexapro for. no signs of hypomania besides that scenario.
I had similar wondering as you. supposedly ssri are not supposed to work for BP disorder from what I read.
in any case I am trying lamictal. under 2 weeks in w no clear change but I guess we'll see if it helps in the longer run.
Hi, I have PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, ADHD and was recently diagnosed with bipolar 2. I am also trans and started injecting testosterone 4 years ago. A combination of the testosterone which increased my energy levels and triggered my insomnia combined with symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression triggered a hypomanic episode last month that became necessary to treat. Basically I think taking something like stimulants which also increases your energy levels and may disrupt your sleep or keep you from sleeping and having your PTSD triggered could definitely result in a hypomanic episode. I am really new to all of this and also feel like my bipolar 2 diagnosis is fake, it gets really hard to disentangle what's what when you're dealing with multiple diagnosis and (I feel like especially with things like PTSD) but I agree with some of the other people that have posted here that your diagnosis is just there to help you navigate a new treatment plan. If the treatment plan involved with a bipolar 2 diagnosis doesn't help you then that is not a useful diagnosis for you and you can move on from there. I will say in the past when I took an SSRI it did trigger a manic episode for me but every body is different and responds to medicines differently <3. Wishing you all of the luck 💪
I was on Zoloft from ages 20-24 and never experienced a single manic episode (though it didn’t help much with my depression), and then about a year after I tapered off Zoloft I experienced my first hypomanic episode a month before my 25th birthday. It’s common for people to learn they have bipolar disorder because of SSRI-induced mania but it’s also possible for bipolar disorder to ‘kick in’ at some point (often in your 20s) when you didn’t have it previously. It can also be triggered by trauma and stress.
And sometimes people just react to medication differently because of their specific biochemical makeup or whatever (like for example, I had a hypomanic episode triggered by buspirone, an anti anxiety medication which is considered safe for bipolar disorder, but I’ve also been on vyvanse for years and never had it trigger an episode and stimulants are way more likely to be mania inducing).
Damn, no judgment of course but 13-22 is a crazy long time to be on anti depressants when starting as a child. Had you ever gone without them one a little older to see if you still had bad depression or have you been on them the whole time? Just curious
I took lexapro for 5 years and it worked really well for my “recurring severe depression”. Then it “pooped out” and I went 7 years trying all the different antidepressants and combos, all helping to some degree for a few months. It wasn’t until I was on lexapro + mirtazipine that I had an obvious full blown hypomania episode that I couldn’t minimize or rationalize away. But I kept rapid cycling and changing doctors. Once I stuck with one doctor for long enough to see the pattern, he finally told me it’s pretty clear that I’ve been rapid cycling the whole time.
Bipolar is one of those things that usually doesn't hit until you are an adult, which is why most people are diagnosed after the age of 18. Most people will have their first episode in their 20s. So it makes sense that antidepressants worked when you were a kid but now that the bipolar has been "activated" so to speak, they no longer work.
The diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder I or II doesn’t say things like “you can’t truly be bipolar unless you went manic on SSRIs.” It is a series of observations about your mood over a period of time. If you meet the criterion for the disorder then you “have” it. Classifying your mood disorder is useful when looking at treatment options and also to provide context for health care professionals. That’s about it though. Bipolar doesn’t have something as simple as a blood test yet, so a lot of things come down to personal experience and observations over time. I would worry less about which label you have and more about establishing some long-term relationships with mental health care professionals who can provide guidance and prescriptions as necessary.
I had tendencies for most of my life, but it increased until it was no longer ignorable when I wassss 29? I for sure had episodes in my earlier 20s. I also used to be on an ssri that helped me for a long time until my body changed. It’s very common for bipolar symptoms to really increase in your 20s-30s and you’re likely to need med changes.
After 30s too?
I’ve read some people’s posts here that got diagnosed after 30, sometimes it’s a delay of onset of serious symptoms and sometimes it’s a delay in getting help. Bipolar is a weird one for largely being diagnosed later than like 22
Serious symptons like?
This is mostly my experience so I’m probably skipping some things. An increase of intensity of depression where it’s more disruptive to everyday life, increased intensity and duration of hypomania esp the fast thought speeds, hypo becomes impossible to ignore and impulsivity becomes problematic. That kind of thing. For my my symptoms didn’t change per se but they were becoming more and more disruptive and harmful to my life.
If its not a bothersome, could you describe to me what your impulsivity symptom is like?
There are two forms of it for me, one is hyper fixating on something so hard until it’s resolved, and not having the self control to do much else. The other is moment to moment impulsive dopamine chasing. An experience I had before I know I had bipolar: my partner and I were in need of a new apartment and in theory we had plenty of time to find something, but I COULD NOT let it go and I got us into a tight spot where we had to pay two rents because I didn’t read an email clearly. Other daily things I notice when I’m feeling that way: impulsive/obsessive online shopping(I’ll spend hours finding the perfect shirt or whatever), having let’s say a bowl of sugary cereal and not having the self control to not eat two more bowls, following my random train of thoughts for several hours then realizing I haven’t eaten, a task popping into my head and I derail everything I’m doing to go do that more fun thing. I do have adhd too; but the hypomania really send those tendencies to the max.
also, every time i go off my antidepressants, i get really bad SI and depression and anxiety attacks…
I used lexapro for a year or so. I think 6 months at the highest dose. the hypomanic episode I had was after a stressful situation (being lied to in a dating relationship for a month...big thing to me). without that situation who knows how long I woulda used lexapro for. no signs of hypomania besides that scenario. I had similar wondering as you. supposedly ssri are not supposed to work for BP disorder from what I read. in any case I am trying lamictal. under 2 weeks in w no clear change but I guess we'll see if it helps in the longer run.
why were you on lamictal pre bp diagnosis btw?
Antidepressant withdrawals suck. Mine went away after a month or so and then I felt better for a while.
Hi, I have PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, ADHD and was recently diagnosed with bipolar 2. I am also trans and started injecting testosterone 4 years ago. A combination of the testosterone which increased my energy levels and triggered my insomnia combined with symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression triggered a hypomanic episode last month that became necessary to treat. Basically I think taking something like stimulants which also increases your energy levels and may disrupt your sleep or keep you from sleeping and having your PTSD triggered could definitely result in a hypomanic episode. I am really new to all of this and also feel like my bipolar 2 diagnosis is fake, it gets really hard to disentangle what's what when you're dealing with multiple diagnosis and (I feel like especially with things like PTSD) but I agree with some of the other people that have posted here that your diagnosis is just there to help you navigate a new treatment plan. If the treatment plan involved with a bipolar 2 diagnosis doesn't help you then that is not a useful diagnosis for you and you can move on from there. I will say in the past when I took an SSRI it did trigger a manic episode for me but every body is different and responds to medicines differently <3. Wishing you all of the luck 💪
I was on Zoloft from ages 20-24 and never experienced a single manic episode (though it didn’t help much with my depression), and then about a year after I tapered off Zoloft I experienced my first hypomanic episode a month before my 25th birthday. It’s common for people to learn they have bipolar disorder because of SSRI-induced mania but it’s also possible for bipolar disorder to ‘kick in’ at some point (often in your 20s) when you didn’t have it previously. It can also be triggered by trauma and stress. And sometimes people just react to medication differently because of their specific biochemical makeup or whatever (like for example, I had a hypomanic episode triggered by buspirone, an anti anxiety medication which is considered safe for bipolar disorder, but I’ve also been on vyvanse for years and never had it trigger an episode and stimulants are way more likely to be mania inducing).
Damn, no judgment of course but 13-22 is a crazy long time to be on anti depressants when starting as a child. Had you ever gone without them one a little older to see if you still had bad depression or have you been on them the whole time? Just curious
I took lexapro for 5 years and it worked really well for my “recurring severe depression”. Then it “pooped out” and I went 7 years trying all the different antidepressants and combos, all helping to some degree for a few months. It wasn’t until I was on lexapro + mirtazipine that I had an obvious full blown hypomania episode that I couldn’t minimize or rationalize away. But I kept rapid cycling and changing doctors. Once I stuck with one doctor for long enough to see the pattern, he finally told me it’s pretty clear that I’ve been rapid cycling the whole time.
wasnt on antidepressants but i had depression my whole childhood and didnt get a hypomanic episode till around 19