Bi polar disorder help!?

Savannah, all of these answers have ideas you should consider. I am just wondering how old you are if that young girl in your profile picture is you.?? If you are so young try not to worry so much about labelling your symptoms as a major illness when they may just be signs of pressure, hormones or other stress reactions and they may be temporary. Great for you to know about what is happening to your mind and body but it boarders on unhealthy if you are searching for the symptoms to be a particular illness. As a precaution, you might want to master all the natural methods of handling stress now especially if you have that predisposition to worrying too much. Handling stress well is a skill we all need to have and if you are in your teens it will be so great to be able to stay calm and cool while you go through year 12 studies!. When we are young our body and mind is quite alot different from the adult version and usually much more energised so that emotional reactions seem more intense and significant. It can be a little bit of a roller-coaster in the teens, you are lucky you have a lovely mum to talk to about it. You will be ok. Don't worry too much about it. Best of luck.

You need a psychiatrist to evaluate you for bipolar disorder, and treat you if you do have it. A regular MD isn't qualified to do either of those things. If you already have a psychiatrist, and he won't do an evaluation, then get a second opinion from a different psychiatrist. All you have to do is ask for one, assuming you're seeing the right kind of doctor.

For the record, manic depression is just the old term for bipolar disorder. They're the same thing.

Depending on where you live you can see a psychiatrist directly as they are the ones who diagnose bipolar much more than doctors. I would not trust a doctor as having the know how to properly treat bipolar disorder. I would also keep track of your moods as this will be really helpful in your evaluation. Medhelp has a mood tracker and moodchart.org is another simpler one. Chances are if you have bipolar it would be type 2.

And as a side note language is important. You are not bipolar and you can't be bipolar. You can have bipolar. You would not say "I may be cancer" and it doesn't make any more sense with bipolar. It is important to recognize this as a part of you but not all of you, and certainly not what defines you as a person in the most important senses. It is something to be treated and managed to the best of your ability. Stigma is huge with mental illness and it is so important not to stigmatize yourself.

Get another opinion from another doctor.

But i do find it hard to believe that you have bipolar as people with bipolar are almost always the last ones to know about their illness.

A word of advice... don't research bipolar as finding out more and more about a disorder can cloud your judgement in terms of how you feel and how you think you feel. It is entirely possible to trick yourself into believing you have a disorder if you know enough about the condition, much like a hypochondriac would.

Hope things work out for you:)

Find a different doctor! If he/she doesn't listen to you then they are the right doctor for you. You and your family know you best, so If you feel like something isnt normal with yourself you are probably right.