I have just read all of your posts and I would greatly appreciate your input on this. I have been back on treatment for about 6 months now( I have been on and off of treatment for about 10 yrs because I get frustrated with meds not helping me). I told my new Dr. I have been diagnosed with Bipolar 2 but I believe I have ADD or both. She has had me on antidepressants such as Cymbolta and stimulants, such as Ritalin&Adderall. Ritalin seemed to help at first, but I needed to increase the dose a few times and then it just stopped working.

Adderall made things much worst, I started cycling a couple of weeks after I started it and it made it more intense and seemed to last longer - I finally agreed with my Dr. that I must have BP 2 and she put me on Lamictal. I said what about the ADD symptoms- the inattentiveness, can't concentrate, wondering thoughts, always seems like I can't "grasp" a concept( I take online college courses due to my inability to focus w/ people moving around me ,such as in a class setting) and she said it is controversal that a person can have both ADD and BP - and I shouldn't take stimulants with mood stabilizers! But a lot of you do - has anyone else's Dr. told you that?

Justhope - you seem very aware of your moods and symptoms - I really need to keep a journal, taking the Adderall and feeling the way that I did when I was cycling is what really made me aware of my mood. I also have a bad memory, I am highly disorganized(but I want to be organized) and I lose my trane of thought a lot - that is another reason I think I am ADD, but my Dr. thinks this is from the BP 2 - any input or advise???

Well there are plenty of us here with experience in the maintence of both bipolar and ADHD, and your doctor has a misconception. In fact there are published legitimate clinical trials online that contradict that and if you google tham you would find a few. I personally encourage you to find those articles and print them out and show them to your doctor.

Another thing that may help is a mood chart to help track your moods as well as a journal.

A question in regards to your distractablity would be, does it occur without you cycling? I ask only because mood congruent issues would mean it is related to bipolar disorder versus both bipolar disorder and ADHD or just ADHD.

I encourage you to ask the moderator for this section, Crazy~Feet for some feedback she seems to have long term stability as well, all feedback you can get will probably help.