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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in HealthMental Health · 10 years ago

Could I have Bipolar disorder?

I'm 17 (soon 18) and for the last 6 months or so my mood has been totally out of hand.. Typically in the mornings I feel fine, maybe a little grumpy but nothing unusual, but 4/7 evenings I seem to be entering a deep, unsettling depressed state which makes me angry or extremely upset at everyone and everything. Mostly it's a body-image related thing, I hate how I look, so much, I hate other women, it feels like they're mocking me that I can't look like they do just being there. I feel like everything is impossible - I'll never know what I want to be or never be able to become it, my boyfriend will leave me, I'll never be beautiful or incredibly intelligent, it makes me think life just isn't worth living. And the jealousy I've been feeling isn't natural, I've had shouting and crying arguments at my boyfriend because he played a game where his character had a relationship with a perfect hot character, but it was just pixels! But I felt so truly betrayed, as if he'd cheated on me, utterly miserable. But by the next day I can't feel a trace of the emotions of the night before, I don't care at all.

I'll starve myself for an evening then eat normally/unhealthily the day after because of my mood. I can feel truly horrible - low as dirt, but then just.. average, fine, sometimes ecstatic with happiness, but this is rare these days. It's like everything unfair for a night, but the next day I am "human like anyone else" and can accept it or at least put it out of my mind, whilst some evenings make me want to rip at my own skin.. I can't place it.. I currently have double hormones due to my contraception (recently triple), but I don't know if it's that. It makes me anxious and then if I argue with my boyfriend because of my mood swings I go to only feeling more depressed because I've let him down or blamed him.

I just really want to feel like everything's going ok again, like I'm not a failure at everything. I feel tired all the time because I have extreme sleeping patterns - 5:30am and I've not slept yet - and when I sleep I'm often having nightmares, I suppose from my subconscious. I've looked into bipolar disorder before and it sounds fairly fitting, I was in a way abused by two former boyfriends (one took advantage of me when I was 11, the other used me at 15) which might have helped start all this.. But why now? And what can I do to just return to normal? Thanks for all your patience..

Update:

Might also be worth mentioning in relation to the creativity correlation with the disorder: I'm currently studying photography and graphic design, I've always been good creatively with words and images, but never a drawer.

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  • Anonymous
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    What you have is rapid mood swings which is more likely due to hormones so it is probably your birth control or maybe it sounds liek you could be developing Borderline Personality Disorder but what you describe is NOT Bipolar. Bipolar moods last for many weeks or months... not just part of a day.

    Everyone has moods like those of Bipolar Disorder....... because everyone has mood swings, momentary loss of judgment, likes to go shopping, likes sex, feels down sometimes, gets angry now and then and is hyper on occasion. The difference is that all of these symptoms in Bipolar are so intense that they interfere with your ability to function. Think of a pole (biPOLEr) with 0 at the center (0 being normal) and 10 at one end (manic) and -10 at the other (deep depression). Most people have swings but stay within 3 to -3. I have fairly severe Bipolar 1 but since my psychosis is mild I go from -9 to 9.... Also depression that comes and goes is not bipolar but just recurring depression, you have to have mania for it to be Bipolar..... you have to go to both ends of the pole.

    Rapidly changing emotions or becoming angry or sad easily is not all there is to Bipolar. That is just having emotions. People with Bipolar Disorder do not just change emotions quickly, they go through periods of depression followed by periods of mania or elevated mood. Mood affects everything about you.... your energy level, self esteem, sleep patterns, appetite, sexuality, emotional response, judgment, etc..... not just your emotions. And while rapid cycling is possible, it is rare. The average person with Bipolar only cycles two or three times a year and the moods last for weeks or months. It is considered rapid cycling if they cycle 4 or more times in a year.

    While everyone with Bipolar has a different set of symptoms and a different severity of symptoms, this is what Bipolar is like for me:

    Depression - too tired to get out of bed, shower, even to brush my teeth. Cry all the time, sleep 16 hours a day. Feelings of self loathing and guilt that drive me to think of suicide but I'm to tired to even think about how to go about killing myself. It makes you feel small and worthless and completely insignificant. It makes you think about how big the world is and how meaningless you are in it..... and it refuses to let you have any good thoughts or see any good things.... when you look in the mirror all you see is pain, you don't even see yourself, you don't taste your favorite foods anymore, see that flowers are blooming, whether or not the sun is out, you become so inward that you hardly even notice your surroundings..... You don't even feel love for people anymore.... positive thoughts are just not possible...... it is a deep dark hole with no way out and no light for hope.... and most of all it makes you feel sooooo alone. And even if there were someone who cared about you they would be better off if you killed yourself....... because all you will ever be is a burden....... this can last from a couple of weeks to a couple of years.

    Mania - Way too happy! PARTY GIRL! love drink and drugs. Talk really fast and pressured because my thoughts are going faster than my mouth can keep up with. Hypersexual - like I sleep with strangers and guys I just met on the internet or I masturbate 10 times a day. I once became bisexual because there were twice as many people to sleep with. down load porn and spend tons of money on sex toys. Spending sprees..... I once spent my mortgage money on african violets, yep, $1500 on African violets (then I got depressed and let them all die). Quit my job because I wanted my vacation pay for lottery tickets and I was so convinced I would win that I started shopping and writing bad checks because I'd be rich as soon as the numbers were drawn. Decided that I could replace the furnace in my home by myself... I mean how hard can it be..... Only sleep 2 or maybe 3 hours a night for months on end and never feel tired. In the end I was unemployed, $30,000 in debt, and had almost lost my home, which needed a new furnace because I had removed the old one.. or parts of it anyway. This can last for months.

    I also have mixed states when I am depressed and manic at the same time which are truly the worst... By body and mind are depressed but there is this undercurrent of energy running all the time..... I'm highly emotional but the emotions tend to be negative (guilt and anger) I have intrusive thoughts and urges to mutilate myself (like wanting to stick my hands in the garbage disposal or cooking them on the BBQ), and I also have psychotic episodes where I hallucinate. This is when I am most suseptible to suicide because I am depressed, wanting to hurt myself, and I have the mental energy to plan and carry it out

  • 10 years ago

    As a person with a mental disorder myself, my best advice for you would be for you to see a psychiatrist...if indeed you need medication, make sure you do research on whatever is prescribed to you before taking it....if it's not something you are comfortable with taking then tell your pych how you feel about it and have him give you something else...remember that you have control of your body and not your doctor....I hope this helps some. :)

  • Justin
    Lv 5
    10 years ago

    this is what you do: contact your doctor and ask your doctor to refer you to a clinical psychologist. (yes doctors can diagnose you, but mental disorders are a tricky thing, best talk to somebody that's studied to understand mental disorders).

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    Yes u are bipolar it's okay just go to tharapy

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  • 10 years ago

    Your a teenage girl. Enough said....

    Source(s): I dated alot of them
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