Are there any tell-tell signs that might indicate that I might be bipolar?

You sound like you’re hitting some of the marks. The best way to go now is to see a psychiatrist and be evaluated. Mental Illness simply cannot be diagnosed online. They’ll talk to you; get your history and possibly give you a long written test (fill in the bubble type). Here is a search for psychiatrists that you can narrow down by your area.

The conditions you have enumerated surely are typical signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. Are you currently under the care of a professional? If not, the best way to overcome the disorder is with their help and your faithful cooperation in the treatment. Click here for more info

There are also issues around sleep; when in a manic phase, often a person needs very little sleep. And vice versa.

I’ve had two adult female friends who were BP. When flying high, they both had an overwhelming need to shop. One friend stole her mother’s credit card, bought a jeep, cleaned out the high-end NYC department stores (Saks, Bendel’s) and stored everything in the jeep.

Then she left the jeep in a parking garage; she forgot which one and to this day, no one knows what happened to the car and the $3,000 worth of merchandise ( lot of money for 1977).

It is a complex diagnosis that requires a professional. Self-diagnosis of any condition is pretty useless, and long-distance diagnosis by strangers on the Internet is even worse. If you are worried, get evaluated, but quit driving yourself nuts by pursuing your own research.

mood lability.

What do you prescribe for that, @anartist?

Awesome, I too, also have the need to buy something to tide me down sometimes, and like I said, when I feel down, I wont use it or even look at it. I’m military, so you’d think I require tons of sleep, but on my up days I can get about 3 hours of sleep and function perfect the next day. Then again, on my down days, I can fall asleep at 9:30 and still wake up groggy and tired, like I was drunk all last night. Thinking I might need to get this checked out, because i’ve kinda thought I was autistic (more towards Asperger) for awhile, due to my insane ability to suck so hard at numbers (which I coined my own term, number dyslectic), but I’m good at everything else, especially english and science.

http://www.facingbipolar.com/types-of-depression.aspx?source=830&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=facingbipolar&utm_campaign=SQLFEB09&WT.mc_id=SQL0209GOOPSFAC

http://helpguide.org/mental/bipolar_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm

Here are some pretty decent links I found, hopefully they give you some useful info. When it comes down to it, if you are really, seriously concerned, the best thing for you to do at this point is consult a physician/professional and work from there.

Best of luck to you.

I want to mention an often overlooked physical manifestation of bipolar disorder on the off chance that it might help. White spots on the growth part of fingernails (not the nail bed/pink part). It is a separation of the layers of the nail that presents in circular pattern, or spots. I have not found anything on why it happens, nor do I know whether this condition is exclusive to bipolar disorder. I suspect it is also a symptom shared with hypothyroidism/thyroid disease. However, it is also listed is one of the symptoms of bipolar disorder.

Moegitto; Get thee to a doctor.

Do your feet stick to your head?

Mania: racing thoughts, feeling on top of the world; feeling smarter than everyone else; having a million ideas for projects, starting them all and completing none; little need for sleep; eating less or nothing; losing weight; manic activity such as spending money you don’t have, or picking arguments with strangers, shoplifting, thinking you are God, being paranoid, seeing things that aren’t there or hearing voices (similar to schizophrenia), and more.

Depression: inability to get out of bed; disorganization; suicidal thinking; believing no one cares about you and that no one should care about you; pushing people away by attacking anyone who offers a helping hand; desire to run away and be nobody with nothing, and more.

I’d say you have enough of these symptoms that a quick trip to the psychiatrist is in order. Unfortunately for you, you’re military and the military is not sympathetic to mental illness, and far too many soldiers have been booted out as a result.

Well, this is your life we’re talking about. 20% of people with bipolar disorder die as a result of the disorder. Mostly by their own hand. You’re military. You have easy access to all kinds of weapons. You may think you want to die when you are depressed, but you don’t. What you really want is to get away from the pain. So if the gun calls to you, tell it to fuck the hell off.

What I’m saying is that your life is worth more than your career. If you don’t have a life, you don’t have a career. Maybe the military is more sympathetic these days (don’t count on it), but you could be sentencing yourself to death if you do have the disorder and you don’t get treatment. So get to the doctor now. Now!

Thanks to everyone that replied with a honest reply. I have an appointment on the 3rd of May with one of the actual psych’s on my station. They said they want to run some tests to rule out the other stuff. I did a paper in which the maximum score to be considered “low risk” was 50 or 55, I scored 108. Hopefully they don’t do the military one-up and say there’s nothing wrong with me…