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Angnix
Velociraptor
Joined: Nov 02, 2007
Age: 26
Posts: 456
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 Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:23 am Post subject: AS vs. Bipolar in adults |
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Hmmm... this is messed up. I obviously suspect I'm Aspie, seriously people tell me this sometimes, but I've been dxed Childhood Biploar... and well yes, I have at least Major Depression, and some points in my life could have been hypomania and when I had a total psychological breakdown it was considered a Bipolar mixed state.
Anyway, all the articles I read are about kids, and kids with AS and Bipolar look similar often, but how do the adults
compare? What do comorbids look like?
Whatever the case, it says in kids the two disorders are treated the same often, so maybe I should stop obcessing over this? Ehh, I just want to make sure I'm on the right messageboard...
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Strange mix of bird/Sonic obsession... I like the Flickies! |
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zeldapsychology
Velociraptor
Joined: May 05, 2008
Age: 22
Posts: 479
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:08 am Post subject: |
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Oh.  I was diagnosed Bipolar although I'm 99.99% sure I have AS (my sister found the disorder and thought it sounded like me and my mom agrees+Google and finding WP members.) Sadly the Psychiatrist said AS is diagnosed in children and this is a place that gives pills and since there aren't pills for AS he can't do anything and he still believes I'm Bipolar. Oh well I HAVE MY DIAGNOSIS who cares what he says!!! |
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adverb
Sea Gull
Joined: Dec 08, 2007
Posts: 242
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:13 am Post subject: Re: AS vs. Bipolar in adults |
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dsm iv tr page 382 - if you've had one or more manic or mixed episodes, you're bipolar 1. and the episodes have to not be better accounted for by a Substance-Induced Mood Disorder, or a Mood Disorder Due to a General Medical Condition, or a psychotic disorder. "Often individuals have also had one or more Major Depressive Episodes.". lots more good information in there, that's just from the first paragraph of many pages. it's worth reading the section on pervasive developmental disorders, and the bit about what exactly constitutes a manic or mixed state, and the descriptions of the other bipolar disorders as well. your local library should have a copy.
i've read somewhere that the incidence of mood disorders is significantly higher among people with pdds like Asperger's than among the general population, but they're totally separate things. and bipolar is treated with a few types of medication, there's no treatment, and no need for treatment, for AS.
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What will happen in the morning when the world it gets so crowded that you can't look out the window in the morning?
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Danielismyname
Troglodyte descended
Joined: Apr 03, 2007
Posts: 5926
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:29 am Post subject: |
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Asperger's and Autism are more like OCD + Social Anxiety and Schizophrenia in appearance in adults (apart from the delusions in the latter), than Bipolar.
Funnily enough, I first thought I had Schizophrenia when I started noticing my Autism symptoms, but I just didn't and don't have the delusions and hallucinations. I read that adults with Autism are usually misdiagnosed with Schizophrenia, and adults with Asperger's usually are hit with a slew of anxiety disorder labels (some can be right, i.e., comorbids, or they can be misdiagnoses). |
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kit000003
Deinonychus
Joined: Feb 04, 2008
Age: 23
Posts: 395
Location: Pensacola, FL
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:34 am Post subject: |
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There is another point to bring up with bipolar vs AS, Bipolar is hormonal/physically activated. They can actually do a range of tests to discover whether you are actually bipolar. It is why medication works, if the hormones get balanced the behavior can be corrected.
But bipolar people tend to not like the medication, it is like a downer, or they are doing so well that they think they no longer need the meds. So they go off of it and the hormones go crazy again, usually worse because they've been held in check.
The treatments for the two conditions aren't the same, one goes for meds and the other usually doesn't. Bipolar is controllable through medication, AS can be contained through behavior modification (OT, ST), but it takes work, and isn't fun, bipolar 1 cannot be fully contained through behavior mod.
Either way, you can still come and post here; mood disorders, Aspie, Autie, even NT's post here time to time, it's all good. It may even help you decide for sure which one you really have to post in both boards, because you are really the only person that can tell that. |
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NeantHumain
Phoenix
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Joined: Jun 25, 2004
Posts: 3717
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:52 am Post subject: |
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Bipolar disorder and Asperger's syndrome are really two very different things. Bipolar disorder is a disorder of mood: episodes of depressed mood, relatively normal moods, and episodes of elevated mood. Sometimes the moods are mixed, as you know from being diagnosed as such. During a depressed mood, someone with bipolar may have little energy, preferring to sleep and do little; have very little motivation; have an extremely pessimistic view of life; and hold himself or herself in especially low self-esteem. During a hypomanic or manic episode, the affected individual will have a highly excited, energetic mood with possible irritability, hypersocial, impulsive, and coming up with larger-than-life schemes. At psychotic levels, the mania will result in declarations of being some god or such, little to no desire for sleep, and a hyper-fast train of thought that may come out as talking fast and incoherently. Mixed episodes combine the high energy of mania or hypomania with the negative tone of mood of depression; suicide is most likely to be carried out in a mixed episode.
Asperger's syndrome focuses on the need for routine and familiarity, obsessive interests, and poor social pragmatics; it really doesn't have anything to do with mood. |
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MR
Deinonychus
Joined: Jun 25, 2008
Age: 39
Posts: 392
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Classic bipolar is very, very, distinct from any thing else. Lengthy periods of depression alternating with lengthy periods of mania or hypomania. The thing is, childhood bipolar isn't that classic picture, and can look a lot more like the behavior we can have with emotional reactions to stress or trauma (which can include the trauma of being aspie in an NT world). But, just to make the picture less simple, some adults have "mixed states" or short cycling, which aren't so easy to distinguish. |
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Age1600
Bonita-Azul
Joined: Apr 23, 2007
Age: 23
Posts: 1936
Location: New Jersey
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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Doctor once told my mother when she suspected I had a form of bipolar due to my mood swings that---> mood swings with bipolar as a child last minutes to hours, and as an adult the mood swings last from days to weeks to even months. Autism mood swings in child last seconds to maybe minutes, and into adulthood last minutes to maybe couple hours.
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Dxed Classic Autism(moderate to severe as a child, now moderate to high functioning as an adult) & Dxed Tourette Syndrome... 
I'm one ticcing, stimming chica from the Jersey Shore 
Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated  |
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Angnix
Velociraptor
Joined: Nov 02, 2007
Age: 26
Posts: 456
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:52 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm... well it was just one article. I think though maybe it focused on kids having similar explosive episodes, I had severe ones. Anyway based on what you guys said, I'm probably comorbid both because I have mood, social probs, obsessive interests, and I forgot to mention my anxiety disorder too. But I also forgot to mention this but I'm paranoid without other signs of shiz?
I'm a mess...
Oh, and normally my mood states last a long time now, but well I juat got out of the hosp. cause I was under stress, and suddenly my mood shifted every hour or so, people triggered Severe panic attacks which isn't normal for me, and I was swinging back and forth with my mood to acting more Aspie to more NT... I was crazy I tell you!
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Strange mix of bird/Sonic obsession... I like the Flickies!
Last edited by Angnix on Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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zeldapsychology
Velociraptor
Joined: May 05, 2008
Age: 22
Posts: 479
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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No your not! We all have are issues.  WP has helped me understand my behavior better I wouldn't give anything in the world for that. Screw an official diagnosis I HAVE WP!!!! |
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Zhaozhou
Sea Gull
Joined: Dec 21, 2006
Posts: 216
Location: Italy
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Just a note: people with Bipolar Disorder seems to have social difficulties themselves too. So, if your psychiatrist doesn't really know AS, but understand you don't socialize well, you might end up diagnosed with BD or schizoaffective disorder. |
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makuranososhi
Purple Monkey Dishwasher
Joined: May 13, 2008
Posts: 2256
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:31 am Post subject: |
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I'm diagnosed BPD-II; most of my experience would be defined as mixed state reactions... angry depression frustrated compressed. My periods of change are quick (hours, generally; sometimes less), can be frequent or rare, and are almost exclusively related to change... change in schedule, events, situation, understanding - any change. I think the moods come from the frustration built up plus the additional struggle against old coping mechanisms that I didn't understand existed to begin with.
M.
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He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
From my heart and from my hand, why don't people understand my intentions...?
Why choose a lesser evil? Vote Cthulhu 2008! |
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Sublyme
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Apr 24, 2008
Age: 27
Posts: 195
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:26 am Post subject: |
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I'm not an aspie, but rather a high functioning autie (diagnosed in childhood). I was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder as a teenager. As child I had mood swings that were more do to changes in routine, loud noises, etc. The were basically just meltdowns. I still have those regardless of what mood state I'm in.
The mood swings of bipolar disorder are very different than my normal meltdowns and normal shits in moods and autie symptoms. My manic episodes last for months and so do my depressions. I get little "funks" in between which I don't really think are actually depressions, but rather more of the autie in me coming out when I get overstimulated, and least for a few days to a couple weeks. These do not occur at all during mania or hypomania.
I don't even refer to my bipolar disorder as a mood disorder. I consider it a brain speed disorder. When I'm hypomanic my brain is going a bit to fast, but I can still understand my thoughts for the most part and people can understand my speech. This leads to enhanced productivity, enhanced creativity and heightened social skills. Life is usually perfect, but I'm quick to anger, so be nice to me, because I could snap at any moment. I'm not pulling my hair out in clumps screaming at my brain to shut up like I am when I'm manic. When I'm manic, I can have five or six trains of thought going at once. Some in pictures, some in words, some in patterns and colors, some in music. It's very noisy in my head and very distracting, I can't even make my self a sandwich, get dressed, or drive to work. I can go without sleep for several days at a time. Usually I only spend a few days to a week in full blown mania, before I crash.
Depression is the opposite. My brain becomes very slow. Even thinking requires effort. Speech is even harder. Sleeping is the only interest I have. I have no emotions. I can't feel a damn thing. I am frustrated because I find speaking difficult. I'm frustrated that I can't think, can't pay attention to anything, I'm just sort of a lump of flesh with a pulse. I really have no desire to go on living, but then again I'm too lazy to do anything about it.
I'm not always euphoric and grandiose when I'm manic. I can be very irritable, angry, even hostile. Think of it being stuck in a meltdown you can't snap out of. You become paranoid even terrified. So really I can't say the high of mania is always a good one. This is a mixed state, also known as black mania. It's very different from my normal depressions. Sleeping is not possible. I can hurt others or I can hurt myself. This state requires medical attention.
When I'm not having an episode I still have my autie characteristics, which means I can still have meltdowns and I need to avoid over-stimulation and sensory overload. I still like to sleep under my weighted blanket and I need to stick to my rigid routines. A euphoric hypomania is a brief escape from that, and during that time I come as close as I come to passing for an NT. |
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