Mood swings are taking over my life. What could this be?

[LillyG]

Hi everyone.

I’m a 20 year old woman and i’ve Been experiencing mood swings regularly for 2+ years. (I can’t remember exactly how long) I have no diagnosis as of yet in relation to these mood swings. I swing from a low grade depression to hypomania multiple times per day. Occasionally a deeper depression or a full blown manic episode but these a much more rare. I also have severe anxiety which is diagnosed (GAD)

What I experience every day is completely exhausting. I lost my social life almost completely, I don’t work because I can’t handle it. I only study part time but am on the edge of not being able to cope with that either.

Daily stresses often trigger mood swings. A small stress in my day could send me into a depression. Often by night I’ll switch to a hypomania and could stay up all night being creative and energised. I may change half a dozen times or so a day! My mood swings don’t seem to hold much of a pattern except that I’m often hypomamic at night. I sometimes feel stable in between these highs and lows for a short time and sometimes I feel manic and depressed at the same time. It’s all a complete mess!

My episodes seem to be getting more intense on average as the years go on. I’m exhausted. Sometimes I self medicate to be able to chill out or I do other risky things.

Doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists I have spoken to just keep telling me I have anxiety but don’t seem to consider these swings as anything seperate. I was prescribed anti-depressants multiple times in the past and each time they made me hypomanic/manic.

Does anyone know if these swings may fit a specific diagnosis? Does anyone go through a similar thing? I’ll be more than happy to explain/clarify if needed. Any help/support would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!

[james1]

Hello LillyG,

Welcome to the forums and I hope you can find what you are looking for here.

There are many people who experience mood swings. Some of these would fit a diagnostic criteria while others would fit more into a 'normal' pattern of having highs and lows, brought upon by various stresses of life.

Unfortunately, we can't really say what you have, but whatever it is - whether it fits a diagnosis or doesn't - it certainly sounds difficult to manage.

While I understand that you have had many doctors give you an opinion which you didn't agree with, I think if you want something conclusive doctors are the only ones who can give you a medical opinion and/or medication. Sometimes they get it wrong and I've even had a psychiatrist tell me that because I was training for a fun run, I wasn't depressed. So I understand how it can be really frustrating to be told something you know to be untrue.

Do you mind if I ask why you do not think it is anxiety and whether you tried telling your doctors this?

James

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi LillyG,

Welcome to the forums! Thank you for being here.

I'm sorry that you're going through this, and it doesn't sound like your doctors/psychologists and psychiatrists have really been much help!

Even though you said you've got anxiety it sounds like what you're describing is really extreme mood swings; going from depression to hypomania in a day. I'm kind of frustrated for you that you haven't really had that validation of how crazy this is for you to live with.

As you know we can't really talk about diagnosis's here, but one thing I really want to suggest is documenting it. Somehow everything is being dismissed when you chat to your support team, but having something in writing can be a great way for them to get a big picture of what things are like for you.

This is what I'm kind of thinking -

https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/weekly-mood-chart.pdf

This way you can write down what sort of mood you're in, what you're doing and if you feel like maybe there is a pattern or a trigger to it. Given that there's a time breakdown, it gives you (and them) an opportunity to see how your mood changes. I genuinely think this may help take it more seriously.

Hope this helps 🙂

[LillyG]

Hi James,

I agree that a doctor would be the best person to get a diagnosis from. Maybe i'm a hypochondriac but i don't feel the doctors i've seen so far have quite understood or even listened completely to my whole mental health story. Can a doctor really know me after a 10 minute chat? I'm not so sure i believe it's possible.

I do believe very strongly that my anxiety contributes greatly to the cause of my mood swings and many of my problems in life. So you could at least partly deduce that the anxiety causes the mood swings but then again i think my mood swings contribute maybe just as much to the anxiety i have.. It runs both ways. Though only the anxiety is spoken about and the mood swings brushed aside when speaking to doctors.

It's just a hint i have but since years of having professionals singularly treating me for my anxiety has only resulted in me getting worse, maybe there is something else that needs to be tackled. If my mood swings feed my anxiety and my anxiety feeds my mood swings, wouldn't it make sense to treat both?

Anyway. I guess this post is just me having a rant! haha. But thank you so much for taking the time to respond James.

[LillyG]

Hi romantic thief,

What a great idea! Interestingly enough documenting my mood is something i very recently decided was something i should work hard to do. I have tried in the past but lacked the discipline. Now that my situation is worse i think it's more important to really try to get this diary happening. So i'll try again. I agree that i think it may be an awesome bit of info to show future mental health professionals.

It will be interesting to see what patterns exist once i've documented myself for a while. So i'll definitely give it a go! Thanks for the support. It really means a lot to me.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi LillyG,

Great to hear back from you!

I'm really glad that my post was helpful to you! 🙂

Ah yes, I agree that it can be tricky to get into the habit of doing! Perhaps electronically would be more your style? Or setting reminders to tell you that it's time? I'm sure that if you get started it will only get easier.

With your post with James I think it's a bit of a catch 22 - I'm wondering that maybe if these doctors are diagnosing you with anxiety purely because it's all they are seeing. Sometimes people with mood disorders can present very differently; so when someone presents with anxiety it can be easy to 'dismiss the rest'. It feels a bit like a catch 22 because it gives you anxiety and creates anxiety at the same time!

Can I ask what your doctors/psychiatrists/psychologists have said in the past? Have you ever challenged them directly or asked more questions? Don't be afraid to do that! I know I have thrown lots of questions at my teams; it's great to get an idea of where they are coming from and why they think what they do.

Oh, and feel free to rant! This is totally a space for you to do that.

[quirkywords]

Lily,

I also welcome you to the forum.

James and romantic have oven you helpful advice soI won't repeat it.

Rearding recording your moods in a chart there are many ideas of how to do this on the internet.

Some people do a daily one ,some a weekly one some are very simple some are more detailed.If this is something you will show a doctor maybe even an hourly one would be needed or a 4 hourly one and you can decide what you want to record- how you are feeling and being as specific as possible is helpful. Also writing down what happened before the change in moods maybe useful. Also it may hel you with seenin a pattern

This is just an idea and you will record your moods in a way that suits you and will help ypu.

It will be interesting to see what you learn from recording your moods.

Quirky

[james1]

Hello LillyG,

Nice to hear back from you. It sounds like there's a good plan to try writing down your moods and use them to show your health professionals.

Certainly anxiety and mood swings are not mutually exclusive and having both but only being treated for one can make things worse. The biggest thing I learnt from my experience with health professionals is that you sometimes need to push if you feel uncomfortable for whatever reason. Let them know and if their answer does not satisfy you, let them know that as well.

It's really good to hear you are so determined to get your health on track!

James

[white knight]

Hi Lilly,

You have had quite a response! No wonder, anything to do with mood swings and you strike a cord with many of us.

I'm on mood stabilizers (mid dose) and anti depressants (small dose). They work hand in hand with each other. So it is important to get my dosages just right and adjusted occasionally for what ever reason. But I can honestly say life has done a complete turn around for the better since 2009 when correctly diagnosed.

I was incorrectly diagnosed in 2003 by another psych. Bipolar1 and ADHD instead of Bipolar2, depression, anxiety and dysthymia in 2009. For 6 years I carried out highly stressful work and long distance driving whilst on the wrong meds. It was hell. This is a good reason to get a second and even third opinion. These professionals are still human and make mistakes. There has been a lot of good advice about this by others above.

Here is a few threads you can read that might also help.

Topic: how I eliminated anxiety- beyondblue

Topic: medication is a whirlpool- beyondblue

I hope all goes well and please repost in those posts or here if that's what you feel like.

TonyWK