schizophrenia

I don't agree with the fact that there are different types of Bipolar i.e. 1,2 etc. I just have Bipolar and that's all there is too it. If you have a good doctor then they will or should review your medication every 3 months as mine does. It is very important that the right medication is found for people but because we are all different this can take several attempts because what suits one doesn't necessarily suit another. Once you are diagnosed you have to accept that you are always going to have Bipolar. I was first diagnosed in my forties and I am now 62. If you met me for the first time there is nothing that would give you a clue that I suffer from bipolar disorder.  You can live a normal life with the right medication. The person you shoud share your thoughts with is your doctor. It maybe that your medication needs changing, Don't be scared just get help.

Gwen has pretty much hit the nail on the head. There isn't a great deal that I can add to it. You need to talk this through with your doctor.

I'm with Gwen. It's  a spectrum. Assigning different names to things may help health care professionals differentiate between symptons though and this might, and I say might because I do not have data to prove anything, assist in treatment modality choice. .

I've had perception and communication issues for nearly 40 years. My current DSM code didn't even exist when it all started and it wasn't assigned for much of the time I've been under (very sporadic) treatment. I've only been depressed a couple of times in my life when I was medication free. I'm pretty much unipolar manic in addition to my main diagnosis or maybe ... In any case, unipolar mania has never been given its own code in the DSM.I just read that ICD-10 has included “recurrent mania NOS” into the “other bipolar affective disorders” categories. It took 115 years to get added to "other". It should not be surprising that the very exisitence of main Dx, schizoaffective disorder" as a unique and separable mental healt issue. is controversial. I don't really care all that much - intil this latest Rx I've never found anything that works any better than not taking medication so I've managed to leave a trail of destruction in my wake at times. It isn't what they call it, or where they place its description in a book that is important. What's important is what can be done to ease the life of the afflicted or people whose lifes are affected by them. 

I was diagnosed with schitzoaffective bipolar and depressive types 2 years ago but have had this for15 years with many diagnoses before my last one. Im 37 years old and i hadnt had a full blown manic episode until today. I had 4 seperate ones in the last 12 hours