Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder Can Be Tricky

When diagnosing bipolar disorder the medical professionals who are responsible sometimes have a hard time discovering that the patient does indeed have it. The reason lies in how the patient presents themselves to the doctor and when the patient seeks out help. Bipolar disorder patients have periods of extreme happiness and high points in their cycle will not seek medical help because they feel that they have no problems.

It is when they hit the opposite side of their cycle that they present their problems. The opposite side of bipolar disorder is depression and when a patient hits this low point, they are really low. The doctor often diagnoses for depression just because the patient only reports depression and not the cycle of feeling good and happy.

The Mood Disorder Questionnaire

The only way a doctor can actually diagnose is administer a MDQ or a mood disorder questionnaire to their patient. The questionnaire is interwoven with questions that ask about both cycles of the disorder. This way the patient can give information about their high cycle and the doctor can create a treatment plan. The MDQ is the only indicator for bipolar patients because the results cannot be obtained through blood test or other laboratory indicators.

The only negative thing about the MDQ is if the patient is depressed enough not to remember the high, they may skew the results through their inability to remember. In addition to the MDQ the doctor will ask for a complete medical history of the patient including the history of bipolar disorder in their family. There some evidence the bipolar is inherited and if your parents or grandparents had depression or had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, there is a good chance you might have it also.

The Importance Of Diagnosis

Why is diagnosing bipolar disorder important? If the bipolar disorder goes unchecked, your mood swings and uncontrolled behavior may damage relationships. Many patients that have bipolar disorder will hurt the relationships with their family or spouse. Many untreated disorder patients have suffered divorce and have lost jobs because the stress of dealing with the cycles of depression and mania are too much for the people around them to bear.

Untreated bipolar disorder could lead to the thoughts of or the act of suicide. You may think you are crazy and the only recourse is to take your own life. The mood swings may not allow you to function well at work. You may rush through a job during your manic cycle and make mistakes and you may not even finish a job if you are on your depressive cycle.

Whether you are self diagnosing bipolar disorder or you have a diagnosis from medical personnel, you need to stay on the medications that you are given and do not try to up the dosage or cut the dosage without your doctor's opinion. The balance of medications you are on is very delicate and a little either way can mess up the chemical balance and will send you toward either depression or mania.