Is it possible to become bipolar

[the maze runner]

I never had any bipolar problems. These days I am I guess 'over reacting' to things. Like someone says somthing I don't like I flare up and then become sad and if something goes my way I become excited. I don't understand if this is something that can be induced by meds.

I am not even sure that my self diagnosis is correct or not. Like right now I am playing chess and listening to music and I feel like I am on top of the world. Soon a stray thought will come in and I will become despondent. Is this cyclothemia or am I reading too much into it. I am also not sticking to the Divalproex sodium that has been prescribed to me.

[DogMan]

I think that is mostly good? If you were currently in a mood disturbance then you might have 2 weeks up (which is often diagnosed when witnessed by a professional without person noticing) then weeks or months down 

[the maze runner]

Hi @DogMan Actually I have ups and downs very rapidly cycling and there is always an extrenal trigger and I believe bipolar folks usually cycle up and down without any apparent reason.

 

To be frank I think it's just normal. Besides the methylphenidate has given me enough of my mind back that I am able to work my job and I feel mostly happy.

Edited September 19, 2021 by the maze runner

[DogMan]

1 minute ago, the maze runner said:

Hi @DogMan Actually I have ups and downs very rapidly cycling and there is always an extrenal trigger and I believe bipolar folks usually cycle up and down without any apparent reason.

That sounds right 

 

Rapid shifts are something I get the day of a migraine coming 

[Cerberus]

On 9/19/2021 at 2:12 AM, the maze runner said:

I am not even sure that my self diagnosis is correct or not.

Nor should you be. We don't advocate self-diagnosis here on CB because accurate diagnosis of clinical conditions requires the training, experience, and extensive study for which one obtains a degree. Even a mental health professional does not self-diagnose, because it is clear that, viewing the condition as he or she does from the inside, an objective assessment is not possible.

No one here is qualified to diagnose you. The best we can do is for those with the diagnosis to tell you what their experience is like. Ideally, you then compare that with the experience you are having and take those observations with you to a professional to aid that person in a comprehensive diagnosis.

Even a professional diagnosis is not always on target the first time; a dx is only as good as the information the professional is given to work with. It may change as more information comes to light. Your best hope of an accurate diagnosis is to provide your pdoc or tdoc with all the information you can at the outset.

As to your overall question of whether a person can become bipolar, the cause of bipolar depression - or indeed, any flavor of clinical depression - is not well understood, so it would be difficult to say whether a factor exists to cause such a change, or whether that person is simply born with such a predisposition. What can be said is that a person can discover that he or she is bipolar because of the first onset of symptoms. Whether that person became bipolar, or was always that way and simply 'activated', is at this time unknown.

We would encourage you to take any concerns to your care provider if you begin to feel distress. If, however, your current meds  help you stay mostly happy as you say, it may be that the specific diagnosis isn't as important as sticking with what's working.