[Valary]

I have been diagnosed as Bipolar and I take Seroquel (100 mg. at the moment) and it worked the first night but now I'm up back to my old self it seems but anyway I think I might be schizophrenic cause it feels like some of my symptoms lean more toward being schizophrenic so are there any similarities between the two and what are some things of schizophrenic symptoms should I look for?

[Amber H]

Bipolar symptoms are very up then suddenly very down.
Schizophrenia is cause by the dopamine in your brain
not functioning correctly. symptoms are hearing voices,fear
paranoia .

[buffy fan]

People generally say that Bipolar is a MOOD disorder, whereas Schizophrenia is mainly a THINKING/PERCEIVING disorder. Schizophrenics see or hear or perceive realities that are not really real, or, in other ways have severely disorganized thinking. Bipolar sufferers mainly just have extremes of moods that interfere with living. Anyway, I'm not a psychiatrist, but that is what I've always heard. If a treatment is not helping, the thing to do is to talk to your doctors about it and if they won't listen or respond to your concerns, to get looking for another doctor. The point is to get better. Sometimes doctors are cruelly indifferent to how you are actually feeling and functioning. So, to a degree, you must take charge of your treatment. Keep talking and get things working. You and only you really know how you are feeling.

[Melissa L]

These are two entirely different diagnosis. Bipolar means mood swings from being euphoric to extreme then falling into a withdrawn, depressed mood. Without medication the mood swings re-occur. Schizo. differs because of the dream world one tends to live in, sort of like out of touch with reality to the point of identity loss, visual and auditory misconceptions, yet at times seem able to function in a somewhat normal way. There are medications to help both diagnosis with bipolar being easier to stabilize but medication needs to be continued perhaps with some dosage adjustments or change for stabilization to continue.

[skimboarder2]

Excellent question! In-fact, many doctors believe that psychotic bap & sch are, in-fact, 1 condition, though the current accepted belief is that they are 2 different conditions that exist side by side on a bi-polar spectrum continuum. There is a DNA connection, as psychotic BP & sch tend to both show up in tr he same families & both have an increased susceptibility when the person is born in the winter. Additionally, psychotic bipolar & sch are often treated w the same medications such that some doctors don't even put value in differentiating which 1 it is, or even call it bap because there is less social stigma. FYI, there are more instances of psychosis from bipolar than from schizo!

The diagnostic differential between bipolar psychotic features & psychotic features caused by all other mental disorders is that bap psychotic features are typically mood-congruent & psychotic features from all other mental disorders are typically "mood A- congruent" aka NOT congruent.

Rather than me repeating any more data, I'll sum up by saying there is a whole lot of BS out there about bp from people who don't understand it, many of whom are psychologists & drs. The current accepted authority is the DSM (dignostic & statistical Manual for mental disordes) which is published by the APA (American Psychological Associaton) & though they can be wrong from time to time, they are the closest thing we have to being correct at this point in time and althouh it can be difficult to read, it and other APA published docs are the ONLY BP docs that I recommend.

P.S. BP is usually about self esteem, EX: Irritability via "I can't do anything right" v. irritability via "Don't you F--- disagree w me! I know! (dysphoric mania) & the more understood euphoric mania.

good-luck !

[alanis20_2000]

having both of them myself i know for a fact that they have one thing in common and that is hallucinations, visual, auditory, smells and taste. i was taking 800 Mg's daily which is the limit that can be taken daily but it stopped working for me and i am now on ability and feeling better than i have ever felt in in VA very long time. always let your doctor know how you are feeling and if you think your medicines have stopped working or are not working as good as you think that they should. i found out that sequelElasn't working for me when i started thinking about committing suicide for the fourth time in my life. if you are experiencing hallucinations at any time, ,even occassionally you need to letl your doctor knkow so that he/she can deal with it before it gets out of hand and you don't wind up in a psych ward for a week like i just did. now i go 5 days a week for out patient treatment and in two more weeks i will start going for private therapy tp help me deal with problems in my life that could lead me back to stinkin-thinkin. please i hope that you are seeing a psychiatrist on aregular basis as well as a private therapist. i wish you all the best.