i’m extremely confused as to whether it’s possible to have both asperger’s syndrome and bipolar disorder. am confused cuz i’m caught in the middle of it. if i could gain some sort of objective detachment, i would think that part of my confusion is that i know that some aspects of bipolar mimic those of autism. mood swings, for instance, how being autistic it’s so incredible and freeing and intense to get absorbed in something to focus on. then when the focus is taken away your world falls apart. and you fall apart, quailing, until you find something else to focus on, find another calm. autism, the world is always coming at you, battering you, and you naturally are going to experience mood swings as a result of that.
if i spend a week researching all about the evolution of combat stress disorder and read 6 books in 5 days, is that manic, or is that autistic obsession? if i completely lose it, break down, because it’s all too much, is that a mixed episode, or have i simply reached my tolerance threshold?
i find it confusing that i was diagnosed 10 years ago with bipolar disorder, and the neuroleptic drugs i was given i had very bad reactions to, spinning out of control, aggressive reactions, nervous system going haywire, all twitching and falling apart. and i find that others on the autism spectrum have had the same reaction to the same drugs.
i have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow to see if maybe he’ll refer me to a… “specialist.” though i’m not sure that anyone with a degree in psychiatry is going to necessarily be a specialist i’m going to trust. what i would like is to go into any appointment with a psychiatrist (sigh, i had sworn i was never going to see another psychiatrist again) and approach as a clean slate. i don’t want to say “i think i have this” or “i was previously diagnosed with this.” i want to say nothing, i want the person to ask questions, to come up with something completely new on their own, untainted by my own confusion. i would really like something definitive and true.
It IS possible to have both. But misdiagnoses are also possible, especially because adult shrinks dont know what theyre talking about in regards to adult autism. It’s a joy, huh?
I got diagnosed with cyclothymia way before asperger’s syndrome. I think mine is both, because I don’t think aspies get quite *this* hyper (even if it is just hypomania).
BTW, I linked you too.
Dang, Ma’am, I dunno. What you tell us seems to be somewhat more “severe” in degree, but not in kind, from what all kinds of people have to put up with.
The fact that you felt it coming, kept most of yer wits about you, and were able to ride yer bike to get help, means to me that you are legally sane, but somewhat strange, which I think describes me, too.
It is possible to be diagnosed with many things simultaneously, seperatly or in chronological order, but that does not mean that any of them actually have any ecological validity as constructs.
The fact that various disorders come into being and but out again as the constructs are revised should tell you something.
I would find it hard these days to allow myself to diagnosed with a construct that I do not believe in, yet what one finds is that if you live long enough you will surely have been diagnosed with something or other according to notions which have since been revised out of existance.
It is not about the characteristics of one disorder mimicing another it is about the shaky foundations of the nosologies which were originally envisaged as tight entities with no overlap. The increasing degree of overlap considering so much more is known about neurological substrates of perception, cognition and behaviour, are unravelling all those neat categories.
Obsession (whatever you define that as) is obsession, it is just the same as in the world of physical medicine inflamation, something that is characteristic of more than one condition, because it involves a similar process.
My mood swings, because moods to swing, they are dependent upon a complex relationship between everything else that is happening physiologically, situationally and dispositionally.
Tommorrow my brain will not be the same structure exactly as it is today, nor was it yesterday, and if I have a drink tonight, well that’s gonna change it. If I take a neuroleptic, that will as well, and if the sun don’t shine tommorow or my trains are not on time, that will probably change it to an even greater degree.
The time is going to come in these days of zero tolerance, and growing categorisation of behaviour into notions of disorder, that no-one will escape either a diagnosis or a criminal record.
When that happens Governments and Pyschiatrists alike will have to look again at the constructs they have made, that have like any house built upon sand, began to fall in on themselves and become untenable, let alone untenantable.
I really hate how anyone who has experiences different from the norm is almost always dosed with some kind of drug to “fix” it. You shouldn’t have to take any chemical that makes you feel bad. :(
my father has just been told he hasn’t gor shchizophrenia after 30 years of injections and electric shocks into his brain in the early years. he lost his job and his family. a 12 year old boy i also know is know being told he hasn’t got autism after being labelled for 7 years. is true that every single person will have a psychiatric condition that fits them, even psychiatrists! sometimes its best just to get on with your life and make do unless the going gets really tough. its not the person its societies attitude to the behaviour. my son has autism and cant go to a mainstream school because they wont muffl the sound of the bell or dim the light a little in the skylight because its unfair on the other children. says it all!!