Bipoar Due To A General Medical Condition?

[c&p man]

theriapist was telling me that he thinks that i suffer from bipolar disorder from my medical condition from service ? is this ratable has anyone heard of this... i know depression due to a general medical condition,but bipolar?

[12R3G]

9432 Bipolar disorder -- it's a "Mood Disorder" in the ratings tables. Bipolar disorder is also known as manic-depressive illness.

[LarryJ]

Well, bi-polar is a disease in and of itself, so whether it could be caused by your problems in service would, I guess, depend upon what those problems were.

Bi-polar is unlike depression........depression can easily be caused by "outside" influences (such as the chronic pain I suffer from my SC'd conditions). Bi-polar disorder has it's own definite symptoms, not necessarily capable of being "caused" by some other disorder.

I'm trying to make sense here but feel I'm failing. You need to talk more about this with your therapist, even get them to put this theory in writing, then file a claim and see who salutes when you run it up the pole.

[john999]

I don't think you should go with trying to prove bi-polar due to a medical condition. Bi-polar is considered one of those things you often inherit where there is a genetic imbalance in chemicals in the brain. Tons has been written about bi-polar running in families. What you want is depression due to a general medical condition, not bi-polar. Now a medical condition could aggravate a bi-polar condition, but it would not cause it I don't think. I agree with what Larry is saying. Better to not submit such evidence because the VA will jump on that and say your bi-polar condition is the cause of all your problems, and unless your bi-polar is service connected that will hurt you bad.

[purple]

just adding this as a thought to keep in mind:

when the VA "docs" (i use the term loosely) first dx'd me with bi-polar many years ago, they told me it was due to all of the trauma i've been through; as there is no BP in any of my family on either side as far back as i could go.

then after a few years they realized i didn't have BP at all....that i actually have PTSD. i was told and have read many, many articles that BP is often confused with PTSD and thus the PTSD is mis-dx'd as BP!! the symptoms are very similar. the treatment quite different.

make sure of your dx....if you can, get a 2nd opinion from a real psych-doc.

[ausgmblr]

When it comes to the brain I had one Neuro. tell me "that if the brain were the moon the ship would still be at the launching pad". U'r right about 2'nd. opinions.

on any thing VA Dr's tell u especially.

ausgmblr

[carlie]

Ditto on John999's post.

carlie