Anyone have bipolar and adhd

[Pibolar]

Hi, does anyone have bipolar and ADHD? If so, how did you or a practitioner differentiate between the two?

No, but...I do know that ADHD is often misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder. Is that a possibility?

thanks for responding. I don’t know. I don’t think so as I present classic signs of bipolar that are definitely episodic. But I/they could be wrong as I also present with classic ADHD symptoms even in between episodes. I’ve been on bipolar meds which have helped with moods etc but haven’t helped with the inattention/executive function side of things.

Hello! I have bipolar, but I also believe I’m also neurodivergent (and I’ve known this for years… even before my bipolar became more of an obvious thing).
I have a very clear episodic pattern to my bipolar that can be months long and feels quite classic, but I also have a completely constant set of symptoms (since forever!) around massive sensory sensitivity, short-term memory and disorganisation, and also some other as autistic traits like taking things literally etc and others, which don’t really feel like the bipolar.
I’ve chatted to my bipolar psychiatrist about pursuing diagnoses and they were encouraging - so they can definitely co-exist - but I’m aware it could take years :)
I feel like managing / respecting my neurodivergent traits could lessen the brain-load and also help me therefore with my bipolar….

I’m sorry that doesn’t actually give you info about how a practitioner differentiates though! My bipolar psychiatrist couldn’t diagnose me - I have to go through the regular pathway.

@movingshapes Thanks for posting. I’ve only recently been diagnosed (knew something wasn’t right for years) I actually went in for an ADHD assessment and came out with bipolar, a ‘working diagnosis’ anyway.
my psychiatrist said it’s not impossible but very hard to do as the symptoms overlap a great deal and I don’t have any history/proof from when i was younger.

definitely agree about managing the nd symptoms to ease the bipolar…. I feel my depressive episodes are mostly due to feeling useless and unable to adult because my life is in such chaos, which is down to the ‘ADHD’ symptoms. It’s catch 22. They have to treat the bipolar first because otherwise ADHD meds could bring on or make mania worse. This in itself is taking a long time, especially as I’m having to change meds.