so for weeks now ive been going back to my psych every week trying to find a medication that works for me...i tried 2 different SNRI's after my effexor stopped working and they each had horrible side effects...she now put me on an SSRI and ive been on it for about 2 weeks see no good stuff about it and instead has given me like joint tightening and my knees hurt a lot but she doesnt know if its the cipralex or the coming off effexor so shes lowered my effexor dose to see if thats what was causing it but for the past couple of weeks the whole notion of me possibly being bipolar has come up because of my reactions to the different medications and all the other feelings ive told her about..i dont know i dont know how to really tell what i would fit in to...i dont know if my moods or how i behave have anything to do with bipolar or it just happens to be what i'm like...i guess i just need some help trying to sort it all out

Yeah it's definitely hard trying to figure out what diagnosis best fits you, and communicating your symptoms accurately to the psychiatrist. I'm in the process myself of possibly getting diagnosed for BPII rapid cycling. I'm actually seeing my psychiatrist today, and what he's had me do for the past month is chart my moods and factors like sleep, alcohol, anxiety, irritability, etc to get a more accurate picture.

I thought I knew myself pretty well, but found some interesting patterns I hadn't picked up on before, so if you haven't done something like that it's probably a good idea. I found the chart he gave me wasn't detailed enough though, when for me I sometimes shift moods more than once a day, so I made my own in excel. PM me if you want a copy of that.

Good luck figuring stuff out!