Lived Experience Forum

[FrankyW84]

Hi All,

I havent been on here in like forever. I was diangosed 5 years ago with Bipolar II and Generalised Anxiety Disorder( the GAD was diagnosed when I was 20).

Over the journey I also got assessed a few years ago for ADHD at my psychiatrists insistence. It came back essentially as a no but "sub sydromal"(whatever that means)

I have since gotten a new psychologist who brought it up again and is convinced I have it. My boss also thinks I have ADHD.

I have my psychiatrist next week. What should I do?

[amber22]

Hey @FrankyW84 

I think it might be a good idea to bring it up with your psychiatrist and see what they think. What would you like to do? 

Sitting with you,

Amber22

[FrankyW84]

Hi @amber22,

Thank you so much for replying. I do want to bring it up. I guess its just confusing. My hypomania usually manifests as either hyperactivity or is more mixed with anger, frustration etc.

I just don't understand how they determine its bipolar II vs having adhd with major depression or ADHD with Bipolar II etc.

I also don't really get what sub syndrome means.

[tyme]

Hey @FrankyW84 ,

It's certainly worth asking your psych what sub syndrome means in the light of ADHD.

I am curious though about how you think a diagnosis of ADHD would impact you. Is it a positive thing? Negative? Neither?

Bipolar and ADHD can have similar traits, but the treatment is very different. It's important that you are treated for the right thing. Or, to throw a spanner in the works, what happens if it's both?

With ADHD, it's not that you can't focus. It's that you struggle to regulate your focus. I think this is where people have a misunderstanding. This means, they may hyperfocus on something for hours and not even remember to go to the toilet!

Whatever it is, it's best to speak to a professional about it. Write down the questions you have and see what comes of it.

I'd be interested to hear how you go.

We're here for you.

[FrankyW84]

Hi @tyme,

Thanks for replying. I guess its not really a positive or negative, more just want to be sure and therefore treated for the correct condition.

It could very well be both. I do hyperfocus, but not to the extreme and get distracted with things that dont interest me. There are other traits as well such as the hyperactivity etc.

I think I do struggle at times to regulate my focus but that could be anxiety too.

Psychiatrist is Wednesday and the whole thing could be a symptom of GAD too. Who knows.

[tyme]

Definitely worth a chat with the psych @FrankyW84 .

What I found with my mental health is that once they got the right diagnosis, I could seek the correct treatment. I was really liberating actually.

It was also an ah-ha moment were I could say, "Oh! So that explains things! What I've been going through has a name!"

Just a suggestion that writing down all your queries for you appointment would be good so that you don't walk out of there and say, "I forgot to ask...." And your next appointment? Who knows when it'll be!

[AuntJobiska]

Firstly, your new psychologist should not be convinced you have ADHD unless they've assessed and diagnosed you with ADHD... Until they do so, all they've got is a suspicion, and if they were skilled in the area they would be doing the assessment and diagnosis themselves! It's called scope of practice. It sounds like you have had someone skilled in ADHD assess you and they thought you didn't have it. The idea that your boss, who's not an expert in ADHD, let alone done a formal assessment of you, is capable of diagnosis is laughable... 

Sub-syndromal means that you have some symptoms but not enough to meet the criteria for the disorder, or that the symptoms you have are not severe enough to meet the diagnostic threshold. Does that make sense? Do you know how the DSM diagnostic system works? There's a list of diagnostic criteria, and if you meet some but not all, you'd be considered to be sub-syndromal. (That's not the only way drs make diagnoses, but it's the simplest.)

My sense is that things are not working for you, and you are wondering if an ADHD diagnosis would help. Diagnosis only helps if it leads to appropriate treatment. Personally, if I was you, I would be happy with the description of subsyndromal ADHD, and work with my psychologist on all the strategies that people with ADHD use to manage their symptoms, if you think it's a problem. There's a heap of psychological strategies, and if you think your ADHD features are getting in your way, start learning to use them! That's what your psychologist is for. If I had subsyndromal ADHD, and I thought it was getting in my way, that's what I would be doing. There are ADHD coaches around, try one of those if your psychologist is ignorant. It's a specialised field. You don't need the diagnosis to go and see one, subsyndromal symptoms is perfectly sufficient.

Think of bipolar 2 as subsyndromal symptoms of bipolar 1... Hypomania is subsyndromal mania. I don't know if that helps the concept make more sense. Bipolar 2 is a relatively recent invention.

Hope I've helped.

[Floyde]

Hello,

Just jumping on this thread to give my 2 cents worth.

I have been diagnosed with BP 2 and have been told by a few psychologists I may have ADHD. Psychiatrists have not said anything to me about it so far.

Unfortunately it is hard to diagnose ADHD in adults so I wouldn't suggest trusting a hasty diagnosis of this. Try to go through the right assessments as you don't want to be misdiagnosed.

If indeed you do, one very important thing to know is that ADHD meds are often very cruel for Bipolar disorder as stimulants often can trigger episodes.

Finding out your right diagnosis is really helpful in knowing how to come up with a treatment plan and implementing skills to better manage life with these illnesses.

Best of luck.

[FrankyW84]

So funny story, I now have been officially diagnosed as ADHD. At this stage my diagnosis is officially comorbid bipolar II and ADHD. I haven't been put on a stimulant but been put on a non stimulant ADHD medication. Pretty exhausted at the moment. Be interesting to see what happens but its possible that I have ADHD and depression. A lot of the times where I have completely spiralled have been rejection related which also suggests ADHD so I guess we shall see.