BP2 vs PTSD and GAD

[hereandnow5 0]

Hi to anyone listening; this is my first time posting. Thanks for having me.

 

I'm wondering about a new diagnosis put on me: Bi Polar 2. Wondering how that differs from GAD, and the "wound up" part of PTSD. Wondering if there are any resouces online to help sort it out.

 

Background: I started seeing a new pdoc, and she started me on Prozac. By the 2nd week I was in the hospital shaking and wanting to kill myself. Thank god for a temporary script of Ativan. I have told about a dozen people about this, and 3 of them have told me they had the same reaction to Prozac and other SSRIs. In retrospect, my first experience with Celexa two years ago was really negative too, but attributed to other causes, probably incorrectly.

 

When I followed up with my pdoc, she figured I have BP2, i.e. bi-polar, but less extreme. She'll be doing more assessment, but she started me on Lamictal. And I'm back on the Seroquel - not just for sleep but for during the day too.

 

As I reflect on my life, I've had plenty of good times. And there was a period where I working some really long hours, which may have been dangerious. This is because in recent years, when I was off work...I would crash into depression instead of getting to enjoy my weekend plans. Unfortunately, the ratio of good productive times to fatigued depression times is tilting towards the latter. The explanation from my therapist is that my nervous system is worn out from the years of anxiety.

 

As I reflect on those good times, I've always been extremely "wound up". I was kind of "manic" in the colloquial sense, if not necessarily the clinical sense. I didn't know how to calm down until I started Somatic Experience Therapy a few years ago. Unfortunately, "calming down" is something my nervous system resists, and apparently that's true for a lot of people with PTSD. So my success at calming down is slow and strife-ridden.

 

I've been attributing my wound up productive times as part of PTSD - apparently many of us are "adrenaline junkies". But I've done a little reading about BP2, and apparently hypomania isn't the full-blown mania of risky behavior, and more just getting over-committed, which is something I definitely do. It's a horrible cycle with the crash.

 

My next assessment with my pdoc is in almost a month, and I'm just really curious NOW. Are there resources online to help figure out if my wound up nature and "productive" times are really "mania" or just a function of PTSD? I'm curious as that might impact my treatment. My scare with SSRIs has naturally made me more cautious and vigilant around an accurate diagnosis...which is hard to get in the few minutes you get with a pdoc. :-)

 

Thanks much,

David