Hello K9sedona. I'm glad that you are safe. What follows is just some info on bipolar, I am in no way trying to say that you have it. That's your doctors job.
Trying to decide whether or not someone has bipolar or not can be a little tricky to say the least. Because there are so many different forms of bipolar it is sometimes difficult to describe. You may know all of the below, but in case that you don't, I'll give you a bit of a primer on the various types of bipolar and what subtypes there may be and what can affect bipolar. The Mayo Clinic has one of the best primers around on bipolar, it causes etc. :
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bipolar-disorder/basics/definition/con-20027544 It is worth the read, even if for no other reason just to convince yourself that you do or do not have bipolar and to be able to talk more knowledgably with your doctors.
There are 4 official types of bipolar: Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, Cyclothymia and Bipolar NOS (NOS, means, Not Otherwise Specified ,which just means that a person has some of the symptoms of bipolar but not them all.
Cyclothymia is characterized by numerous mood swings, with periods of hypomanic symptoms that do not meet criteria for a major hypomanic episode, alternating with periods of mild or moderate symptoms of depression that do not meet criteria for a major depressive episode.
It's been my experience that many of the 4 different types have blended together at some point in my life.
To add to the confusion there are mixed states,where you have some depressive symptoms and some mania symptoms. For example you may be extremely tired all the time (depressive symptom) but you can't go to sleep because your mind is racing all of the time (mania symptom). There is also rapid and ultra rapid cycling and ultradian cycling. Rapid cycling means that you have 4 or more mood swings in a year, ultra rapid means that your mood may swing from day to day and ultradian means you can have mood cycles from hr to hr or even from minute to minute.
Many people have underlying bipolar that never surfaces or becomes a problem unless something aggravates the condition.
What can aggravate an otherwise dormant bipolar. Substance abuse, lousy living conditions(really broke, lousy home life or marriage, a lot of stress at work etc)
However one of the known big factors that can cause really rapid mood swings are some antidepressants. About 30% of the people with bipolar will react badly if they also take antidepressants(that is the antidepressant may make them manic or rapid cycle). For people like myself, antidepressants are just poison. The only one that I can even tolerate for a short time is wellbutrin and after about 6 wks it leaves me heading manic. The rest immediately make me manic or make me really rapid cycle.
As well bipolar can be a progressive illness, that is it can start out very slowly and get worse over time. Unfortunately many doctors peg a person with one illness and never look again or review the persons file to see if depression was the original diagnosis and now it should be bipolar. It still takes an unbelievable 5-6 yrs to get a correct diagnosis of bipolar correct.
However what ever is wrong with you I hope that the doctors can find a simple and effective remedy. Get Well Soon. Take Care. paul m