Cyclothymia Support Group

I feel i have had cyclothymia for most of my life and have been diagnosed with it.

However i later developed a stronger form of bipolar at the age of 17-18.

During the hypermanic episode duration of 6 months i could not feel my cyclothymia fluctuating however once in my major depressive psychosis i felt the fluctuations of mania through it and the depression drag me down too.

I wondered if anyone else has had this as when i told my psych doc he didn't believe me!!!

I am unsure whether this means i have two forms of bipolar or one big one?! any guidance would be much appreciated, i just want to understand myself as in bipolar self help groups in the UK i am the only one like myself.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean when you say you didn't feel your cyclothymia fluctuating through your hypomania. When I was younger, certainly between the ages of around 20 - 24, I experienced greater extremes of mood and more rapid swings. At the time I was probably swinging back and forth between depression and hypomania, but with hindsight it's very easy to see long periods that were predominantly one or the other.

I've had mixed episodes, where I am depressed and agitated to the point of being very destructive, and have had some mania with psychosis, but no depression with psychosis.

I'm also not sure if you can have two different types of bipolar... my feeling is probably not, mainly because bipolar can vary in terms of severity and symptoms experienced. Diagnosis should be made on the basis of a full history, but treatment tailored and altered depending on how the symptoms present. I wouldn't worry too much about finding someone who presents in the same way as you - in my experience you can share some aspects of the condition with others, but no one presents in exactly the same way or deals with bipolar in the same way.