Posted by Jack Smith on March 10, 2003, at 16:32:03
In reply to Re: Bipolar II is not a real diagnosis? » Jack Smith, posted by Ron Hill on March 10, 2003, at 14:29:02
> I'm curious. If BP II is not a real diagnosis, what dx would you give a person like me who cycles between hypomanic, normal, and depressive mood states without medication, is pushed into full-blown mania when treated with AD mono-therapy, but who responds favorably to a mood stabilizer? I (and others) call it BP II.
>
> -- RonI am not a doctor but this is what I would say--you have a mild form of Bipolar disorder and maybe BP II is a good way of expressing this. But, I tend to think that BP II has become a sort of over-diagnosed thing for people who have not fully responded to AD's. A Pdoc dx'd me with it because I felt better some days and worse others but when I felt better, I was nowhere close to hypomanic or manic. I told him this and he said that you don't need either to be BP II. Now, I am sure there are better pdocs but this seems to be a common thing with people I have talked to--If you feel good some days on AD's and then depression still breaks through once in a while, you are BP II and let's break out the mood stabilizers.
In fairness, I should have said that I think BP II is real but perhaps over-diagnosed. I guess I am guilty of overgeneralizing based on my own personal experiences.
JACK
poster:Jack Smith
thread:207699
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030310/msgs/207798.html