Wrong Diagnosis?

Hello.

So.. My mother lives with depression, and my brother has recently been diagnosed with bipolar. I was diagnosed with depression back in 2009 though I'm still not on the right medication and in fact I think it's far more likely that I have bipolar. I have recently been talking to my brother about similarities, and we suffer all the same symptoms, and I can't relate as well to my mothers condition though I understand it all the same.

I told the doctors about a year ago that I think I have bipolar and not depression, though they told me I was overreacting and she just said outright, you don't have bipolar. Since then I've been to the crisis team in my local hospital numerous times, I am not getting any better. I understand that doctors know what they are talking about, but I can't help but feel I know myself more than they do, and I'm convinced the diagnosis is wrong!

I'm far from being in a state of denial, though I used to be, now I just want to be able to change my life and manage it properly but I feel I need the right diagnosis and the right medication because I don't feel I can do it alone. I feel sick, and that noone is listening to me or taking me seriously. I'm an intelligent person, very intuitive, which seems to be going against me through all this, because I can't be that depressed if I can think so highly of myself right? Bollox. Just because I'm fighting to think realistically and I'm doing everything I can to not lose myself, somehow that means I'm not that depressed. I just want to scream and hide away all at the same time. But I do have those highs too, I'm raping myself of money, my mind races and I have days where even I can admit to acting like a weirdo, though at the time I just feel happy! I'm commiting to things I can't do and end up letting people down which adds to the depression. I'm highly irritable constantly. I just want someone to help me because I feel like I can't get anyone to understand what I'm going through, and I need their support.

I would get a second opinion to make sure.

What meds do they have you on?

How often do you become manic and for ho long? Maybe a mood stabilizer would help you.

I hope you feel better soon.

Hugs, Karen

Just a thought...maybe keep a sort of symptom diary for a while. Sort of a journal of your moods and what's going on that triggers changes, etc. Then share it with your docs. The more info you can provide to them about what's happening, the better able they will be to detect patterns and pick out things that will aid in your diagnosis. But, as someone else mentioned, the docs may be seeing things in you that you aren't aware of. Did the docs sit down and explain to you why they gave you the diagnosis they did? If not, I'd ask them to explain how they came to that conclusion.

I hope you are able to find the answers you are looking for.