Posted by Tony P on June 13, 2010, at 14:59:54
In reply to Re: Is It Depression or Bipolar? » Emily Elizabeth, posted by herpills on June 8, 2010, at 19:41:25
I had a pdoc who tended to see almost all depression in terms of "bipolar spectrum" (including mine). I responded fairly well to high doses of Lamictal - 400 mg/day - but I could never quite see myself in the bipolar picture. My mood swings were drastic, but extremely rapid (days or even hours), and almost always were clearly related to an outside event or something I did like staying up all night.
According to a short article I just read, this kind of lability is a principal characteristic of "atyical" depression, which turns out to be much commoner than previously thought.
So I'm now very sceptical of the trend on some pdocs part to see everyone with dysthymia or mood swings as BP.
poster:Tony P
thread:949965
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100604/msgs/950944.html