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Can Antidepressants Mask Bipolar Disorder?


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#1 kmrekl217

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Posted 18 March 2018 - 09:46 PM

I know that no one here is a psychiatrist, but I wondered about something.

 

When I tried to go off Cymbalta, I experienced mood lability sometimes. It was in the form of uncontrollable laughter that would then devolve into tears.

 

I worried about the fact that I was on antidepressants since I was sixteen perhaps masking bipolar disorder? Could that happen?

 

During the withdrawal period, I did not experience hypersexuality, grandiosity, pressured speech, decreased need for sleep, flight of ideas, etc.

 

 


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#2 sk8rmama24

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Posted 18 March 2018 - 10:32 PM

Legal disclaimer...I am not a psychiatrist...but I have seen one for awhile and had questioned if I had a bipolar disorder at one point myself.

 

Discontinuation of Cymbalta can cause extreme mood swings, which might not necessarily be part of a bipolar disorder.  Antidepressant use in people with a bipolar disorder could probably cause manic behavior or hypomanic behavior if not also used with a mood stabilizing medication.  Bipolar depression seems to be prescribed a different set of antidepressant medication to treat a depressed episode.  But just having a manic or hypomanic reaction to antidepressants doesn't always indicate a bipolar component.  I experienced hypomania on Prozac, but I do not have bipolar.  If it is a medication induced mania or hypomania, it could probably go either way with a bipolar diagnosis.  Chances are if you have been on antidepressants for a long time, and are only having symptoms coming off of the Cymbalta, my opinion would be there is probably not a bipolar component.  Any time you come off an antidepressant, there is usually a risk of mood lability while your body readjusts.

 

 

I know that no one here is a psychiatrist, but I wondered about something.

 

When I tried to go off Cymbalta, I experienced mood lability sometimes. It was in the form of uncontrollable laughter that would then devolve into tears.

 

I worried about the fact that I was on antidepressants since I was sixteen perhaps masking bipolar disorder? Could that happen?

 

During the withdrawal period, I did not experience hypersexuality, grandiosity, pressured speech, decreased need for sleep, flight of ideas, etc.


#3 fishinghat

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Posted 19 March 2018 - 08:31 AM

Hi Kmrek, good to hear from you. All I can add is that many of our members have been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety only to find out it was bipolar I or II. I have read several journal articles as well on the misdiagnosis of bipolar and how common it is.





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