I've never really been one to doubt science or the expertise of a doctor but I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated these days.
About a year ago, I went to see a doctor because I was suffering from really bad mood swings. While I've always been told that I'm overly dramatic, it got to a point where I really was suffering from it. Not having any cereal left made me cry. Someone not calling me back when they said they would had me locking myself in my room. And an argument...let's not even go there. At the time I was working full-time and going to school parttime. I wouldn't get up for class in the morning. In fact when I did get up, I wouldn't even remember turning off my alarm and somehow, I would still be exhausted.
When I went to a doctor, I had to fill out a bunch of quiz-type papers asking me questions about my daily routine. One confirmed something I had pretty much known for years: I have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). For me, this was never really a "disorder". I was just quirky because of it. The other papers however confirmed a fear: I was clinically depressed. They decided it was more important to treat the depression first, so I was put on different medications, reacting differently to each one. I took myself off all treatments but a few months later, I crashed again. This time, I was perscribed a medication that is for ADHD but has an antidepressant in it. By this time, I started doing a little research of my own to see exactly what I was up against. So let's review...
ADHD which means I can't keep still, bounce all over the place and don't really pay attention to well. Depression, which means that I'm very down on life, sad a lot of the time. So when you add the two together, you get the symptoms of bipolar disorder. So now I'm wondering: What is really "wrong" with me? Are they even treating the right thing? It's ridiculous to think that I've spent the last year going back and forth with different treatment options and in reality, they don't even know exactly what's wrong!
I can totally relate. I don't know if this will help or increase you frusteration/confusion, but I was diagnosed with clinical depression about seven years ago. And I was just diagnosed with bi-polar a couple weeks ago.
Unfortunately, there is no test for mental illnesses, no blood work or definite symptoms. They vary by person and the effect of treatments also depend on the individual. [If it might help to read a little about my history, feel free to read my entry "Am I Crazy?"]
If you are concerned make sure you address it with a professional, preferrably a psychiatrist. And continue to press the point until it is addressed directly. Don't let him/her brush it off.
Based on my personal experience and of friends of mine, mania symptoms and those of ADHD can seem similar, but vary greatly in the specifics. So it's best to discuss your concerns thoroughly with a professional.
If you want to talk to someone who [unfortunately] has history, feel free to contact me.
Good luck.
Thanks for the insight! I think that my next step is going to be to, as you said, speak with a psychiatrist. Thus far the only person I've talked to is my regular family practioner and all they do is lend a momentary sympathetic ear and then write a perscription. I realize that they hear me but I don't know that they actually LISTEN. It's pretty bad that it's taken my own research to come to any logical conclusions.
As a physician with a special interest in ADHD and Bipolar, I can certainly understand why you are frustrated. Although there are some overlapping criteria for ADHD and Bipolar, they are totally separate conditions.
About 40-50 % of the time ADHD is just by itself--no associated conditions. However, 50 - 60 % of the time it co-exists (we say its co-morbid with) with one or more other conditions. Some of those co-existing conditions are Learning Disability, Depression, Bipolar, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, OCD, Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Substance Abuse.
In other words, if you have ADHD, you have a higher chance to have one of these other conditions than someone without ADHD.
Basically, a person with ADHD is hyperactive, impulsive and inattentive. He/she is basically happy--not angry and irritable. Mood is happy, playful and child is always "on the go"
A person with Bipolar could be Bipolar I (full blown manic episodes, consisting of several days in a row of not sleeping, feeling like they are on top of the world, but making many foolish decisions). These manic episodes alternate with days or weeks of depression. This person might seem to be "hyperactive" during the manic phase, but nothing like the ADHD person.
A bipolar person could also be Bipolar II( marked mood swings, up and down for no reason, a lot of anger, irritablility, very strong reactions to seemingly unimportant happenings, sometimes rage).
A person having both ADHD and bipolar is hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive with a lot of very strong feeling--anger, rage, mood swings, irritablilty. As you see, this is a different picture from ADHD alone.
Regarding Depression vs Bipolar:
Depression: Mood down, sad much of the time, very irritable, difficulty having fun, early awakening, cry easily. Mood doesn't really swing back and forth, but rather down most of the time. Can "fake" being ok with people they don't know well.
Bipolar: Significant mood swings for no reason--up and down. A lot of anger, frustration, quick temper, react to little things that should not matter. The younger a person is when they have depression, the more likely it is bipolar. Also, it is hereditary (though maybe not diagnosed in the relative). Therefore a young child with depression & a family history of bipolar, has an extremely high chance of being bipolar.
One last thing. A bipolar person treated with an ordinary antidepressant will often get worseo--moods will swing back and forth more often. They may need an anti-depressant, but need a mood stabilizer first. Some mood stabilizers are Risperdal, Trileptal, Geodon, Abilify, Lithium, Depakote, Seroquel, and several others.
Sorry this was so long, but it's important.
Dr Jerry Is Online
Jerry Rodgers, M.D.
http://www.ADHDStrategies.com
Amazing stuff. WHY IS IT that it is okay....even ENCOURAGED for kids to take SPEED...especially at such a young age...when in the 70s or 1980s (the JUST SAY NO era), kids would have had their butts thown in jail for taking these illicit and harmful drugs.
Bi-Polar is a LABEL conceived by drug companies to sell billions of dollars worth of drugs. Prescriptions of bi-polar drugs have increased by 400% over the past decade. Is your generation REALLY THAT different to the generations of the 70s. 80s, & 90s? I think NOT. So why the drugging?
Ladies, Premenstrual Mood Disorder (PMDD) was CREATED JUST FOR YOU! Actually, PMDD was created for Eli Lilly's benefit. Lilly, you see, was about to lose their patent on the drug PROZAC, so they coercerced the FDA into granting a new license to use PROZAC under the name SARAFEM.
ADHD is a LABEL...and even Dr Jerry lists on HIS site that the following people would have been called ATTENTION-DEFICIT today. Of the prestigious list below...it seems that ALL of these individuals did just fine without their drugs!!!!
Albert Einstein
Wolfgang A. Mozart
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Louis Pasteur
Alexander Graham Bell
Michelangelo
Hans Christian Anderson
Ernest Hemmingway
Henry Ford
Galileo
Wright Brothers
Benjamin Franklin
Winston Churchill
Thomas Jefferson
Leonardo Da Vinci
You are the Generation who is being sold down the RIVER by big Pharma. DON'T SUCCUMB to the pressure...don't allow them to apply a LABEL to you! Practice meditation, pray, run, dance...do vitamins, eat foods without dyes and chemicals, do WHATEVER, but realize that long-term use of these drugs -- and the deadly MOOD STABILIZERS friendly Dr. Jerry recommends -- will damage your health -- and could kill you.
Please THINK...you have your entire life ahead of you.....do not WASTE it...just to make the drug companies rich.
Thanks for your input! It's always interesting to get different points of view. While I do see your point, and agree that there are too many drugs shoved down the throats of our kids, I am not completely an example of a person that was just told to take some medication. I am the one that noticed the strangeness of my actions and behaviors. I became deeply aware of my mood swings, the emotional highs and lows. I am the one that began dissatisfied with my performance in school and althought I tried, I found myself fighting to pay attention.
Maybe there is an alternative to medications but until I find it, I'm going to continue trying to find a medication that works for me!
. . .and you should have every right to seek out a drug as you choose. . .with one caveat -- you must receive FULL and COMPLETE information on the effects and side effects of EVERY drug before you take ANY. This is called "Informed Choice," but from interviewing many parents and teens — who have used everything from Zoloft to Prozac to Ritalin — I have heard the same heartbreaking story duplicated over and over.
"My daughter (12) was on Zoloft," and within 5 weeks she hung herself." OR "My daughter was on Prozac for 52 days — and she hung herself." Or 'my son had a heart attack from Ritalin."
DO NOT ACCEPT PAT ANSWERS ABOUT THESE DRUGS. Realize that they are dangerous the FIRST time you put them in your mouth...PLEASE. There are severe problems withdrawing from Paxil, Effexor is a mess. . .so please be careful!!!
We need to 'return to spirit,' to get quiet in this world of noise...if but for a few minutes a day. . .but these drugs are not the way to do it....in my humble opinion....as one who has researched these drugs pretty comprehensively.
I wish you peace. . . .
I was on Zoloft for years with no negative side affects. However, when I was little, I never knew what I was taking medication for. Just before kindergarten, I was diagnosed with ADHD, and spent most of my elementary school years trying different medications for it, not that I had a clue what was going on - just that I had to take medicine every day, some only once, some more than once. I didn't realize it until about 6th grade, when I was reading a pamphlet on ADHD and recognized the symptoms and examples of treatment. Around fifth grade or so, I was put on Zoloft. No big deal, just another pill to take. Two years later, I saw a commercial for Zoloft and realized what it was for. Around the middle of high school, I was switched to Abilify. I took this to mean my mom and doctor though the Zoloft wasn't working as well as it used to - that's why my ADHD medications got switched so much. Three years later, a friend told me that she was on Abilify for bipolar. Guess what - I must be, too! Apparently, my mom didn't think it was all that important that I know what's wrong with my brain, even though I'm the one who has to live in it.
I've noticed that ADHD syndromes are being noticed more often at children who have PTSD could it trigger this ?
plavix generic
I have come to hate labels. I oftentimes think that the more medications prescribed to "fix" the problems, the more messed up a person can become. There are many natural ways to fix chemical imbalances in the brain that don't have the nasty side effects that medications have - ESPECIALLY the medications for bipolar disorder.
I know this was posted in 2006, but if you are still around, send me a private message. As an ADHD child and depressed teenager, I was labeled and treated for bipolar. Now I am a proud "non-compliant" bipolar since I flat out refuse to take the medications.