Posted by Ritch on December 8, 2002, at 9:31:30
In reply to AD's cause bipolar?, posted by Krysti on December 7, 2002, at 23:48:47
> You know, I've been wondering for a while about this. Has anyone else?
>
> I know I probably had some form of bipolar or cyclothymia before I went on AD's, but I had never become fully manic until I went on Paxil. It just seems from all the posts that I've read that some people didn't experience hpyomania or mania until after some sort of treatment from AD's. Before then, they had only experienced depression/anxiety.
>
> Just wondering, would I ever have become manic if I hadn't went on the Paxil?
>
> Has anyone else wondered this? I know meds help from my own experience, but do they also cause worse things? Maybe it doesn't even matter because I had to do something about the anxiety. After six years of dealing with it without any medication, it definitely wasn't going away by itself. Now that I'm on medication it has, so that's good. But, just wondering if I would have ever been diagnosed with Bipolar I if I hadn't gone on any meds.
>
> KrystiKrysti, I doubt if an AD could *cause* bipolar disorder (given that it is highly genetic), an AD however often may trigger manic or hypomanic episodes, however. According to the DSM with regard to manic or hypomanic episodes there still exists the qualifier: "The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism)." So, technically speaking it would appear that you are cyclothymic or BP-II instead (based on your experience with mood episodes in the past not triggered by meds or other illness), and that AD's can trigger full blown mania (a BP-I presentation).
poster:Ritch
thread:130976
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021203/msgs/130996.html