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Bipolar/PTSD misdiagnosis
I was diagnosed bipolar in 2004. I've had a constant battle trying to find meds that work for me, never being on the same cocktail longer than three months. A month ago, I met with a new psychiatrist. He recognized that my "onset" of symptoms occurred the night that my husband cheated on me. When I found out I locked myself in the bathroom, went bonkers, and haven't been the same sense. My dr suggested that I was a consumer of PTSD, not bipolar. Apparently, their symptoms are similar and can be misdiagnosed.
I got off all my meds last month and feel very, very stable. Has anyone heard of PTSD/Bipolar misdiagnosis??
I got off all my meds last month and feel very, very stable. Has anyone heard of PTSD/Bipolar misdiagnosis??
Sorry, I meant right hand row to find the PTSD forum. I forgot to say I m very glad you feel very, very stable while off medications and determined by your present psychiatrist not to have bipolar disorder.
Also, I meant where a cloud doesn't hang over you. It wasn't a Freudian slip when I said "hand over you." It was typing with 1 finger on a touchscreen, not wearing my glasses, and not proofreading well enough:)
Also, I meant where a cloud doesn't hang over you. It wasn't a Freudian slip when I said "hand over you." It was typing with 1 finger on a touchscreen, not wearing my glasses, and not proofreading well enough:)
If you click on Forums above, and look under P, PTSD is the very last on the list on the left hand row.
I have both PTSD and bipolar disorder. There are some medications that help. One did help me and it is an old cardiac medication in very low dose that helped cut down on my flight and fight response especially after PTSD nightmares that kept me from sleeping. However, it doesn't cure PTSD.
There are several therapies that can help make PTSD less crippling and troublesome. I went through a combination. Some of them came from programs that deal with PTSD in sexual assault survivors programs and war veterans, The rapid eye movement one did not work for me, but for others, it has. For myself, I had to finish the memories of the events that happened to me to myself. I would finish the interrupted nightmares, which were mostly variations of the traumatic events. Usually, with PTSD, we don't like to relive memories because it makes us physically and mentally sick, so we don't face it at all costs and try to forget or push it out of our minds. It is one of the reasons why a lot of us turn to alcohol and drug abuse. It is best to go over it with someone who is skilled in keeping you focused, safe and supported through that process who you can trust, which is hard to achieve when you are paranoid and the trauma is so heinous to you or when shame or blame is involved.
It takes several times to go over the memories or nightmares over and over again. The point is to take away the power of the memory and make it more familiar that there is no longer an incredible feeling of anxiety and dread. An example of it is watching a replay over and over again of a news report image thatz is disturbing to you, but since it get played so many times, the emotional impact is not as disturbing as the first time you see it. People don't have to understand what I went through, and nobody will, but the general idea of it. For me, that is enough,
Some of us cannot speak about what happened to us, even to the therapist or doctor who is treating us or to each other. When I just brush on it others cannot handle it, and I can see them trying to mentally shut down. I do most of the memory review by myself, but when I feel like talking about the effects of it, to my doctor or therapist. I worked on it for years, and I only take medication when I am going through a triggering situation that makes me fell and think like it is the same kind of situation that made the PTSD in the first place, that only happens rarely.
A lot of PTSD type of therapy is repetitious. PTSD doesn't really go away, but you can make it so that it doesn't affect your life so much or be a storm cloud thT continuously hands over you. The worst thing that you can do is pretend it never happened or block it from your mind.
Strange to say, there are quite a few psychiatrist and therapists who aren't very good or don't want to deal with PTSD. There are also doctors (even psychiatrists),therapists and other helth care professionls who aren't very skilled with bipolar disorder. Some just treat you with a generalized knowledge of it like the way people treat flu symptoms and don't go further than that. It could be because it is a lot of work, time and effort, and because it involves situations people don't really want to know about it. It's like any field of work, there are varying degrees of dedication, interest, knowledge, experience, and quality. Unfortunately, availability comes into play.
Btw, the PTSD nightmares are different from most nightmares, They feel real,and tend to be very vivid. When I wake up from them, I still feel like I am in it and that I am going through it. There were a lot of times I didn't see that I woke up in my bedroom but the environment in my dream. I could not go back to sleep and I always felt terrorize. It was hours or a day before it's effects wore off. Eventually and mostly, I could tell the difference between what was bipolar and what was PTSD, but that took awhile for me to get to that point by paying attention. My psychiatrist also helped me along to recognize what was what or we both figured out what was what. If the PTSD treatment technique or med worked, that also clinched whether I was going through PTSD or bipolar disorder frame of mind. Also, they can feed into each other.
I wish you well. I hope your psychiatrist and therapist actually treats you or the PTSD instead of just saying you have it (treating ot like a footnote)or letting you talk about it for a few minutes.
I have both PTSD and bipolar disorder. There are some medications that help. One did help me and it is an old cardiac medication in very low dose that helped cut down on my flight and fight response especially after PTSD nightmares that kept me from sleeping. However, it doesn't cure PTSD.
There are several therapies that can help make PTSD less crippling and troublesome. I went through a combination. Some of them came from programs that deal with PTSD in sexual assault survivors programs and war veterans, The rapid eye movement one did not work for me, but for others, it has. For myself, I had to finish the memories of the events that happened to me to myself. I would finish the interrupted nightmares, which were mostly variations of the traumatic events. Usually, with PTSD, we don't like to relive memories because it makes us physically and mentally sick, so we don't face it at all costs and try to forget or push it out of our minds. It is one of the reasons why a lot of us turn to alcohol and drug abuse. It is best to go over it with someone who is skilled in keeping you focused, safe and supported through that process who you can trust, which is hard to achieve when you are paranoid and the trauma is so heinous to you or when shame or blame is involved.
It takes several times to go over the memories or nightmares over and over again. The point is to take away the power of the memory and make it more familiar that there is no longer an incredible feeling of anxiety and dread. An example of it is watching a replay over and over again of a news report image thatz is disturbing to you, but since it get played so many times, the emotional impact is not as disturbing as the first time you see it. People don't have to understand what I went through, and nobody will, but the general idea of it. For me, that is enough,
Some of us cannot speak about what happened to us, even to the therapist or doctor who is treating us or to each other. When I just brush on it others cannot handle it, and I can see them trying to mentally shut down. I do most of the memory review by myself, but when I feel like talking about the effects of it, to my doctor or therapist. I worked on it for years, and I only take medication when I am going through a triggering situation that makes me fell and think like it is the same kind of situation that made the PTSD in the first place, that only happens rarely.
A lot of PTSD type of therapy is repetitious. PTSD doesn't really go away, but you can make it so that it doesn't affect your life so much or be a storm cloud thT continuously hands over you. The worst thing that you can do is pretend it never happened or block it from your mind.
Strange to say, there are quite a few psychiatrist and therapists who aren't very good or don't want to deal with PTSD. There are also doctors (even psychiatrists),therapists and other helth care professionls who aren't very skilled with bipolar disorder. Some just treat you with a generalized knowledge of it like the way people treat flu symptoms and don't go further than that. It could be because it is a lot of work, time and effort, and because it involves situations people don't really want to know about it. It's like any field of work, there are varying degrees of dedication, interest, knowledge, experience, and quality. Unfortunately, availability comes into play.
Btw, the PTSD nightmares are different from most nightmares, They feel real,and tend to be very vivid. When I wake up from them, I still feel like I am in it and that I am going through it. There were a lot of times I didn't see that I woke up in my bedroom but the environment in my dream. I could not go back to sleep and I always felt terrorize. It was hours or a day before it's effects wore off. Eventually and mostly, I could tell the difference between what was bipolar and what was PTSD, but that took awhile for me to get to that point by paying attention. My psychiatrist also helped me along to recognize what was what or we both figured out what was what. If the PTSD treatment technique or med worked, that also clinched whether I was going through PTSD or bipolar disorder frame of mind. Also, they can feed into each other.
I wish you well. I hope your psychiatrist and therapist actually treats you or the PTSD instead of just saying you have it (treating ot like a footnote)or letting you talk about it for a few minutes.
Thank you so much for responding! Are you saying that medication works for PTSD as well? Also, how do I find the forum?
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!
Yes this can happen. The follow up and treatment for PTSD is somewhat different than that of bipolar and aside from medication and talk therapy
cognitive behavioral therapy has especially shown to be of help. However only a psychiatrist would understand this in full so it would be worthwhile to discuss their ideas for a treatment and follow up plan at the next appt. There is also a forum specific for this issue and it might be worthwhile to post about this concern there as well.
cognitive behavioral therapy has especially shown to be of help. However only a psychiatrist would understand this in full so it would be worthwhile to discuss their ideas for a treatment and follow up plan at the next appt. There is also a forum specific for this issue and it might be worthwhile to post about this concern there as well.
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