Anybody that has finally got their BPD diagnosis knows that is has probably taken a long time just to get to that stage. The problem with BPD is that the symptoms cross over with quite a few other illnesses so pinpointing your illness to BPD can be tricky. I was given different diagnoses before finally getting the diagnosis of BPD 8 years ago.
Not only can this be problematic for the sufferer but it follows on that BPD is, more than likely, not the only condition you from. Again, this is due to the fact that there is such a cross over of symptoms between various illnesses. Also, just even having BPD means that you are also more prone to develop other illnesses than people without BPD.
These include mood disorders, major depressive disorder, bipolar and dysthymia. We are also prone to develop substance abuse, anxiety or panic disorders, PTSD, eating disorders, ADHD and some other personality disorders. (Source: Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified by Robert O. Friedel). When I first read this, none of this surprised me at all. When I first went to see my GP in my early 20s to ask for help and described my symptoms, my GP treated me for depression and I crossed over between major depressive disorder (clinical/chronic depression) and dysthymia. Suffering from chronic depression means you must have experienced five or more of the following symptoms for at least two weeks:
1. You are depressed most of the day, nearly every day. You feel sad or empty and burst into tears for no apparent reason.
2. You’ve lost interest or no longer find enjoyment in activities that usually bring you pleasure.
3. You’re not dieting but you’ve lost a significant amount of weight. This can work the other way also and you’ve gained a lot of weight. The general consensus is about 5% of your body weight either way in a month.
4. You either can’t sleep or sleep too much. Even when you do sleep, it’s not restful and you can have disturbing dreams and/or nightmares.
5. Physical and mental agitation.
6. Feelings of fatigue or low energy levels nearly every day.
7. Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt.
8. Significant difficulty thinking or concentrating or being indecisive to the point that it interferes with your ability to function on a daily basis.
9. Recurrent thoughts of death and dying, recurrent thoughts of suicide, a specific plan for suicide or have attempted suicide.
(Source: Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified by Robert O. Friedel)
Dysthymia is similar to the above but there are fewer of them and slightly less severe. However, to be diagnosed with Dysthymia you will have experienced your symptoms for a much longer time and the general consensus is a minimum of the last two years and you cannot have been without these symptoms for more than two months at a time. The symptoms have to have interfered with your ability to function normally. The symptoms can’t be due to any sort of substance abuse and are completely separate to being chronically depressed. During the period of depression, you will have experienced two or more of the following:
1. Poor appetite or overeating.
2. Insomnia or excessive sleeping.
3. Low energy or fatigue.
4. Poor concentration or difficulty making decisions.
5. Feelings of hopelessness.
(Source: Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified by Robert O. Friedel)
Just describing these two conditions makes you realise how complicated the accurate diagnosis of mental health illnesses can be. It also goes some way to explaining how easy it is for any medial professional to assume a diagnosis of a particular mental health illness when it could so easily be something else.
This is the biggest problem with BPD. As we know, I have a side order of Bipolar and a fat chunk of depression alongside mine. As much as my symptoms overlap, I am getting better at distinguishing between the BPD traits, the chronic depression traits and when I move into the Bipolar symptoms. The BPD inability to regulate strong emotions can lead into the symptoms of chronic depression and/or dysthymia.
Bipolar occurs in approximately 10% of those with BPD. Oh goodie, I’m one of the 10%. The best way I can describe Bipolar is that it is essentially chronic depression with some added manic episodes. The manic episodes are brief, usually just a few days and I can achieve so much. It is usually during these manic episodes that I go through the house like a tornado and get all of the housework done in a few hours. I’ll go through all of my paperwork and make sure that my bills are paid and I have even been known, on occasion, to get all of the ironing done! Unfortunately, once the manic episode passes it feels like an even bigger slump back into what is “normal life” of chronic depression.
Quite frankly it’s a juggling act and it has taken a lot of research and reading on my part to be able to differentiate between the symptoms of BPD, depression and Bipolar. The good news is that because I’m not addicted to any substances, at least I can review the information available with a clear(ish) head. The bad news is that for a medical professional, I then don’t tick some of the boxes because any sort of substance abuse usually leads onto the symptoms of depression and Bipolar. Therefore, if you treat the substance abuse and solve that problem, the symptoms can drastically lessen or disappear too. That doesn’t work in my case!
It’s a minefield, both for medical professionals to try to correctly diagnose a patient and for the patient trying to gain a better understanding of their condition(s). My advice: don’t read too much too quickly. Take your time. Read the basics first. These are available on the Mind website, Rethink Depression and many others out there. (mind.org and rethink.org) Just get an idea at first of what you are dealing with, then move on to the more detailed texts that are available. The other biggest piece of advice I can give on this: don’t panic. It is confusing and the chances are you aren’t going to tick all of the boxes for one condition. Don’t think that there is even more wrong with you because you’re not ticking all of the boxes. Just as our symptoms cross over several conditions, so do we. More than that, there’s treatment available for them all. Just be honest with your medical professional about what you are experiencing.
Living The BPD Life 