I had experienced depression for a while and so for a long time I was diagnosed with major depression but I had a manic episode and that was my wake up call. psychology has always been a major interest of mine so I was really familiar with bipolar disorder and it’s symptoms so once I hit that manic state I knew off the bat

i had recurring depressive episodes since i was 8 and when i was 15 i had a manic episode for the 1st time but i had no idea what was going on. and then a year later my doctor told me that i was bipolar and then it clicked

It runs in my family, they knew before I had. My mother is severely bipolar and when I told her that I have ups and downs for months she told me to talk to a professional about it.

I was diagnosed with major depression also and was prescribed zoloft within days I was getting into verbal confrontations left and right and I broke a bunch of dishes out of anger one night. My mom dragged me into my med providers office and had me taken off of zoloft immediately. It was noted in my file, but the shrink wouldn't diagnose an adolescent with bipolar. I got an accurate diagnosis at 19 from a new med provider aftery first hospitalization and full blown manic episode. I came to realize I had symptoms throughout my childhood.

When I was 12 I was diagnosed with double depression (didn't know what that was at the time) and insomnia after struggling with symptoms for at least 2 years before that. So I went thru cycles like that until college, mostly what I now know we're mixed episodes. In college the ups and downs got really intense and I almost had to quit. After I left college, I had the most severe manic episode that I had ever had, was awake for 96 hours. It was bad and it landed me in the hospital for a week or so. The psychiatrist there connected all the pieces and helped me identify what symptoms I had experienced in my life and finally put a name to it when I was 22. Now I'm 30 and have the right cocktail of meds and symptoms are manageable and not as intense.

I used to be diagnosed with GAD and MDD, but had Bad manic episodes around age 12; climbed even on the roof of an RTC and other wild things. I was diagnosed with BD2 at 12, and confirmed multiple times by specialists since. Lots of just clear symptoms. Most lessened after starting Lamictal so that was kinda the nail in the coffin

I had a friend with bipolar who started to notice things that seemed similar to her when I was going through it

i was diagnosed with depression + anxiety as a teenager. i always felt like there was something else going on because depression and anxiety didnt really explain the fierce ups and downs i had. my parents forbade me from taking any medications, so i didnt start anti depressants until i turned 18. i started zoloft in college. not long after that i had a manic episode w/ psychosis, was taken to er by my roommate but i left against medical advice (i hate hospitals). a week later i had to see a psychiatrist because i was going to be kicked out of college for reasons and they diagnosed me w/ bipolar 1. started the right medications and things slowly got better