What can be misdiagnosed as bipolar?

As mentioned previously, the most common misdiagnosis for bipolar patients is unipolar depression. An incorrect diagnosis of unipolar depression carries the risk of inappropriate treatment with antidepressants, which can result in manic episodes and trigger rapid cycling.

What can mimic bipolar disorder?

Some non-psychiatric illnesses, such as thyroid disease, lupus, HIV, syphilis, and other infections, may have signs and symptoms that mimic those of bipolar disorder. This can pose further challenges in making a diagnosis and determining the treatment.

Could I have been misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder?

Surveys suggest that patients with bipolar disorder are often misdiagnosed on initial presentation, most often with major depressive disorder. These patients may receive ineffective treatment, which, in some cases, actually worsens outcome, either by inducing manic or mixed states or by increasing mood cycling.

What has similar symptoms to bipolar?

Cyclothymia, or cyclothymic disorder, causes mood changes – from feeling low to emotional highs. Cyclothymia has many similarities to bipolar disorder.

Why is bipolar misdiagnosed?

Patients with bipolar disorder are often misdiagnosed as having unipolar depression in many circumstances. The reason is related to clinicians or patients lacking knowledge about manic and hypomanic symptoms.

What It's Like When BPD Is Misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder

How do you rule out bipolar disorder?

To diagnose bipolar disorder, a doctor performs a physical exam, asks about your symptoms, and recommends blood testing to determine if another condition, such as hypothyroidism, is causing your symptoms. If the doctor does not find an underlying cause of your symptoms, he or she performs a psychological evaluation.

What is the most misdiagnosed mental illness?

BPD is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed mental health conditions. It's so misdiagnosed, in fact, that there isn't even an accurate prevalence rate for the condition. What we do have is an estimate of 2–6% of the population, which actually makes BPD very prevalent.

Can a brain scan show bipolar?

Diagnosing bipolar disorder

But, right now, brain scans are not used to diagnose bipolar disorder. To diagnose this condition, a psychologist or other mental health professional may do a physical exam or order lab tests. These can help rule out any other medical condition causing your symptoms.

Can anxiety be mistaken for bipolar?

Bipolar disorder and anxiety are two mental health conditions that can look and feel similar. Some people also experience anxiety and bipolar disorder together. The differences come in the triggers behind the overarching symptoms.

Can I be bipolar without mania?

Bipolar II disorder is a type of bipolar disorder in which people experience depressive episodes as well as hypomanic episodes (shifting back and forth), but never mania. People with bipolar II disorder tend to have longer and more frequent depressed episodes than people with bipolar I disorder.

What is most commonly misdiagnosed as bipolar?

Consequences of Misdiagnosis

As mentioned previously, the most common misdiagnosis for bipolar patients is unipolar depression. An incorrect diagnosis of unipolar depression carries the risk of inappropriate treatment with antidepressants, which can result in manic episodes and trigger rapid cycling.

Can trauma look like bipolar?

Bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represent two different mental health diagnoses. But they share enough symptoms that they can sometimes resemble each other, even to experienced mental health professionals. This symptom overlap can create complications when it comes to diagnosis and treatment.

What does undiagnosed bipolar look like?

The main sign of bipolar disorder is extreme mood swings that go from emotional highs to emotional lows. Manic episodes cause people to seem very energetic, euphoric, or irritable. During depressive episodes, your loved one may seem sad, upset, or tired all the time.

How can you tell the difference between bipolar and borderline personality disorder?

People with bipolar disorder tend to experience mania and depression while people with BPD experience intense emotional pain and feelings of emptiness, desperation, anger, hopelessness, and loneliness. Time: In BPD, mood changes are often more short-lived. They may last for only a few hours at a time.

What medical condition is often confused with mental illness?

By definition, delirium always has a medical cause. It usually evolves over hours to days. Labile affect, persecutory delusions, and loose associations may be prominent presenting symptoms, and easily can be mistaken for symptoms of a psychotic disorder.

What causes mania other than bipolar?

As a side effect of a physical illness or neurological condition. Some physical illnesses and neurological conditions can cause hypomania and mania, including lupus, encephalitis, dementia, brain injury, brain tumours and stroke.

Is overthinking a symptom of bipolar?

Racing thoughts are often one of the first symptoms to develop when someone with bipolar disorder is entering a hypomanic or manic episode. 4 It can be—but is not always—a debilitating experience.

What is dysphoric mania?

Dysphoric mania is when you have symptoms of depression and mania at the same time. It's sometimes called a "mixed state," "mixed mania," "mixed episode," or "mixed features." While experts used to think it was rare, they now realize it's common. About 40% of people with bipolar disorder have dysphoric mania at times.

Is there a chemical test for bipolar disorder?

"There is, at present, no routinely available biochemical diagnostic tests for bipolar disorder.

What does bipolar look like on MRI?

Bipolar patients tend to have gray matter reductions in frontal brain regions involved in self-control (orange colors), while sensory and visual regions are normal (gray colors).

What is bipolar vision?

eyes that change color or become black. widened or narrowed gaze, depending on the type of mania (Some say dysphoric mania, or a mood episode with mixed features of mania and depression, leads to a narrowed or squinting gaze.)

How often is bipolar depression misdiagnosed?

According to Drs. Tanvir Singh and Muhammad Rajput, 69% of people with bipolar disorder are initially misdiagnosed with another mental health disorder, most commonly unipolar depression. More than 30% of those remain misdiagnosed for 10 years or more and the average patient remains misdiagnosed for 5.7-7.5 years.

Is bipolar often misdiagnosed as ADHD?

Approximately 20 percent of people with ADHD also suffer from bipolar disorder, a serious mental illness characterized by depressive and manic episodes. Since both conditions share symptoms, but ADHD is more common, bipolar disorder is often missed or misdiagnosed.

How do I know if I am misdiagnosed?