How young were you when you first had symptoms?

Jade,
I was in my twenties when I was dx with depression. That was in the late 70's. Now I am telling my age. Only ten years ago was I dx with bipolar. If I had been treated for bipolar2 years ago I would have saved myself and my family a lot of grief. I was being treated with tricyclic meds which kept me in a vicious cycle of mood swings, and then debilitating depression. All of which could have been avoided by my taking a mood stabilizer. Oh well.. that is how far the medical community has come. At least now they are treating people sooner for this diorder. But sometimes I think they are quick to make that dx. That' my 2cents.

Be Well,

Judy

I can't recall a time when I didn't feel "different". My first suicide attempt was on my 19th birthday, I didn't get the BP dx until I was 29. (I am 36 now.)

I've been depressed for as long as I can remember, but my first definite manic episode wasn't until I was 18. It may have even been sooner, but I also struggled with anorexia from 13 to 15, and then I developed PTSD when I was 16, so those issues may have covered up the bp. My mother swears that I was manic when I was anorexic, so my first manic episode may have been as early as 13. However, I wasn't diagnosed as bp until I was 21.

I have an uncle who was diagnosed in his late twenties to early thirties, and his son was diagnosed in his mid-twenties. I would say that most people are diagnosed in their twenties, but symptoms may occur long before that. I think it takes until your twenties for the manic episodes to be pronounced enough for a diagnosis. It does seem that teenagers and young adults are getting diagnosed earlier and earlier. I have an ex-boyfriend who was 16 when they first started him on Lithium. Overall though, I think it would be hard to tell the difference between ADHD or depression and bp in younger people. In teenagers, I'd imagine that most doctors would attribute mood swings to changing hormones.

I've been very depressed since I was only about five or six years old. I attempted suicide I was 16. I wasn't diagnosed until 23 years later!

Welcome, Empty Reflections! -- That delay in diagnosis is, sadly, all too common: thank goodness the medical profession moved forwards, though, in the end. -- For all the ignorance that remains, things really have come on a lot. Great to meet you, and hope that you'll be comfortable here and find good support. -- Feel free to post whenever you want, in response to others or in a thread of your own (just click on "New topic" at the top-ish left of the page). :)

This thread is really revealing. I wonder what results we would find if we thought about what year the diagnosis was made? -- Would we find that there was a kind of "breakthrough" decade or something, in which the results of the medical world latching on about bipolar start to filter into diagnoses? Hm, just gave me pause for thought... .

Well, as many of you know, I'm just a unipolar depression gal. I can remember depressive tendencies (often exhibited in terms of food as well) from the age of 7 at least. I had to go to a child psychologist at 15 because of an eating disorder, but it never occurred to anyone that this was a symptom of my depression rather than the root problem (which it wasn't -- as is often the case with eating disorders). It wasn;t until I was suicidal at uni (20 years old) that I was given an anti-depressant. Sadly, I had a massive reaction to it (worst part was a kind of hyper-vision, in which I felt like leaves and stuff were attacking me), so I hid in my room and lasted about a week on this med. When I went back to the doc and said I wouldn't take that med any more and told him about the effects, I was in a terrible state, but he was happy to let me stop that med and not go on anything else... . I still hadn't been "diagnosed" as such. That year was about my worst. A couple of years later, I had a fantastic year, at the end of which a couple of bad things triggered it again and I slumped hugely again. This time my (new) doc put me on different anti-depressants (that actually worked this time) and got me in counselling (which didn't work, because the problems weren't the *cause* -- in fact, partly created by my odd reactions! -- and nor was my childhood, which, as usual the counsellor kept pushing for). I've been on and off anti-depressants since to good effect, and I know my depression well (and my anxiety, which leads into it), but I've never actually been formally diagnosed! Doesn't make me doubt that I have depression -- just seems to be the way with treatment of depression in the UK (treat rather than diagnose).

My ex was diagnosed with bipolar at 32 years -- after, from what I can tell, many many years of showing signs of the condition (some very obvious!). He's said that that's how he's always been (and hence doesn't see the diagnosis as right, just thinks it's him...).

Best to all,

Rosie x

Hi Loony (lol -- funny name) --

Welcome to HW! -- It's a great lil' group, and I hope you'll enjoy being here and find much support.

You have made such an important step in accepting the diagnosis -- and I hope that meeting lots of great people here will help you see that it is by no means a life-sentence: yes, there are people here with real difficulties, but there are also people who have found the meds to really help them and are thriving -- and all (whether in difficult and good times) are wonderful examples of how having bp doesn't mean "beyond hope" or that you lose your humanity and humour. :) :)

Do feel free to start your own thread if you want to talk about your diagnosis or meds -- or anything that you'd like support with. -- Just go to the "New Topic" button at the top(ish) left of the webpage.

Very pleased to meet you, and hope we'll see more of you :)

Rosie x