How do they know?
Lets see if I can stay connected long enough to be able to actually publish this once I'm done. Our internet connection has been fucked up for awhile now. First they were telling us it was our modem, then it was our router...always something of ours. But once they gave us one of their modems and we removed the connection to the router and went straight into the computer, we were still having problems. So who fucking knows what the hell is wrong. Personally I think it's the wire connecting the modem to the cable outlet. Tomorrow we're going to buy new cables and see if that fixes the problem.
I bought a book while on vacation, one about bipolar. I haven't read it yet cuz I have the attention span of a gnat, but I plan to at least page through it once I'm able to stop yawning long enough to keep my eyes fully open for more than 10 minutes. I bought it because I keep seeing ads for some med where it gives a lot of the same symptoms that apply to borderline and because my pdoc insists on using the bipolar diagnosis.
So now I'm curious to know, how do they determine if you have bipolar vs borderline? I think the means by which a mental health diagnosis is given is just too subjective. What happens if you get diagnosed with one, yet the other is what you're really suffering from? The causes are different and the treatments are different. I do plan to ask both my T and my pdoc next week when I see them how they came to their diagnoses. What evidence there is that I fit either or both.
I'm not sure what I'm doing here. Trying to deny either diagnosis, trying to pick which one is more acceptable to have, trying to figure out if I'm doomed and really have both, I don't know. I'm just fucking miserable right now from vacation, not sleeping, not eating, not having any medications that are helpful, probably pms'ing...a whole slew of crap.
1 Comments:
Hi Sid
Glad to see you back from vacation.
I think the main difference between bipolar and BPD is that with bipolar, the ups and downs lasts longer, like you'll have up days or weeks, and down days or weeks. With BPD the moods cycle more rapidly, so that you could be depressed one minute and manic/happy/excited (whatever word you want to use) the next minute.
There are other criteria of course, for BPD, which I'm sure you are familiar with. But I do agree that is subjective. Fairly subjective anyway. Depending on how much you fit the "DSM criteria".
I wouldn't get all hung up about labels, though. The classification of various mental health illnesses in DSM is simply to help the mental health professionals share a "common speak" and to help them decide on treatment.
Whether you are bipolar or not, BPD or not, I think a lot of your symptoms will benefit from DBT. Infact it's been mentioned a lot of times in my DBT group that DBT skills training should really be a part of school curriculum to help people in general life. It helps me keep my "BPD symptoms" in check a lot of times. (But yes, not always).
Take care Sid.
Polar B
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