Misdiagnosed with Bi-Polar

In 2009, I was misdiagnosed with Bi-Polar by my family physician. She gave me a questionnaire and because I checked "yes" for the majority of the questions, she gave me the label of "Bi-polar".

Some of the questions were:

"Do you experience many moments of highs and lows?" "Do you have difficulty sleeping?"

"Display anger/aggression toward others if challenged?"

"Long periods of hopelessness or feeling sad?" "Loss of interests?" "Problems with memory and forgetting things?"

I will share with you the real issues that a questionnaire could never get, and why it's a bad idea to mis-label a diagnosis.

Environment:

What my doctor missed, and in my experience basically every Psychiatrist as well, is to ask about the client's current situation and environment. Had my doctor asked me anything at all about my current situation, she may have fished out that I was in a toxic and unstable relationship. I was constantly enduring stress and chaos, which caused mood swings, lack of sleep, fluctuations in eating habits, etc. I was reactive to the abuses. I was losing sleep constantly stressed about money, and my boyfriend's bad behaviors. I was ignoring my intuition and lacking self-worth, which were causing mental & emotional confusion and overwhelm. I would go through mood swings, where I was stressed, angry, reactive, or trying to stay positive and masking my situation with a fake smile & faux happiness. So, of course my symptoms resembled Bi-polar disorder.

Other medical factors:

Growing up, I was such a happy child, regardless of the confusion that I faced in an unstable home. So, it was such a shock to my system once I hit "ladyhood" at age 11, and I felt this overwhelming amount of sadness. I would cry out of the blew for no reason. I thought it was due to the sudden changes, but it never went away. I told doctors and psychiatrists for years that I felt my depression was related to my hormones. Unfortunately, I was never taken seriously.

Believe it or not, it was TikTok where I discovered something called PMDD. So, two years ago, I learned about how those who have PMDD have amplified symptoms during their menstrual cycles.

During the menstrual cycle, it can be uncomfortable, but your mood is actually more manageable, and during your ovulation stage, you feel amazing and productive. Then, your mental health takes a total dump into depression and major anxiety. It makes you feel chaotic, overwhelmed, hopeless and of low energy for approximately 18 days. Basically, the majority of the month, you'll feel low and down. It only allows a small window of happiness, high energy and feelings of capability for approximately 5-7 days. Once, I thoroughly researched this, it made complete sense. I started to keep track & document each week and how it naturally affected me. It was mind blowing!

So, I started looking into trying natural supplements that focused on hormonal balance. I tried a couple different ones. Now, I am an affiliate for Semaine Health. I have a 20% off discount code: FSF+85. Not trying to necessarily sell to anyone, but if you discover that you also have PMDD, and would like to give something a try, why not save some money on the trial, right?! I would never suggest something if I hadn't tried it on myself first - for quite some time. It has helped my symptoms significantly. Not to say that I don't still have some effects from it, it just lessens the severity of the swings.

I have also tried Primal Queen! Which I am not an affiliate for, I just found that it has helped as well! They use beef organs, which sounds wild, but I must say I can tell a huge difference being on them! Read up on them yourself and go with whatever is best aligned with you! Check it out here: Primal Queen - Female Focused Beef Organ Superfoods For Women

Full disclosure as well, I have not tried Semaine and Primal Queen together, so these are my opinions and reviews on separate trials. Also, my Gynecologist was against me using natural supplements, so consult in your doctor, however, use one that will listen and support natural remedies! The ones that don't support it want you to use pharmaceuticals because they get kickbacks from it. Go to a doctor that puts their patients over their pay!

Labeling gone wrong

When, I received this misdiagnosis, I told a few close people that I was bipolar. The sad truth is there a stigma around certain mental health disorders, and Bi-Polar being one of them. I was suddenly viewed as "crazy". Even years later, after I explained to them that I was misdiagnosed, some people refused to let it go. They continued to bring it up as a way to hurt me or make me succumb to my mistakened label and the stigma that it held. It was easier for them to say that I was "crazy" rather than empathize that I was going through a really difficult time and situations.

Conclusion:

Basically, my suggestion is to get a second opinion - or a few. Nothing worse than getting misdiagnosed or just thrown pills to deal with the challenges rather than have someone help walk you through it. Anti-depressants may help with the symptoms, but if you have real stressors in your life, then it can become only a bandage to cover over the real problems you may be afraid to face. Do your own extensive research and eliminate other causing factors.

Start by evaluating your body, environment & the root causes of your stress, as they could be a major factor to your mood swings and symptoms. You may want to start documenting your environment, your diet, menstrual cycle, amount of time in the sun, exercise, relationship dynamics, etc. Journaling will be very helpful for this! This can help you keep track of moods and reflect a timeline of when your symptoms are better or worse. Then, you may begin to gain awareness of certain triggers and then move onto researching how to help with them. If you're still struggling with this, I help clients all of the time with managing their stress and piecing together their triggers. Link below for more info.

Also, don't just accept a diagnosis as whole. Many get diagnoses and begin limiting themselves based on the learned symptoms and that "label". Everyone has areas of difficulty. For example, I suck at math, but maybe you're good at math! You may struggle with coping with your emotions, but maybe I struggle with time management. It doesn't have to be as pervasive as we think it is. Instead, use the diagnosis as a tool to understand your struggles, but always challenge to beat them, not be them. You don't want to live life saying, "Well, I can't do that because I have..x,y,z". You need to strive through life saying, "It's difficult for me to do this, but I have learned how to work through it (or work with it)."

Finally, Be your own advocate! I had to when I developed Fibromyalgia 9 years ago. I used natural supplements and disregarded prescriptions that made me feel worse to put myself in remission. You can read more about that experience in my previous blog: https://www.foreversoonfulfilled.com/post/what-sickness-can-do

Jenn Everson

Transformation Coach & NLP Practitioner

Owner, Forever Soon Fulfilled

www.foreversoonfulfilled.com

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