I’m really confused about my own mood swings because they’re always all over the place. My psychiatrist told me that I was bipolar after I told her that there are times where I talk excessively, and am more energetic. I told her that these episodes only last a couple of hours, and she told me that I’m rapid-cycling bipolar. I’ve been taking antidepressants and mood stabilizers to help treat my bipolar, but they haven’t really worked that much with me on my depression. The only thing they’ve really done is stop the ‘hypomanic’ episodes that I’ve been having. Today, however, I woke up about two hours earlier than I usually do and I was full of energy—I started to bake right after waking up. Soon after, this burst of energy started to go away and left me feeling decent, but a bit irritated. I’m almost always irritated too. This was the first abnormal burst of energy I’ve had in about a month (while on the SSRIs). 

I’m currently in DBT therapy because I’m bad at coping and I’ve made suicide attempts. Negative stimuli often throws my mood off into being depressed or suicidal as my first instinct. I was recently tested for autism; the results came back and stated that I had mild autism, and moderate MDD—which I think could definitely play a role in my mood swings. I, however, do not have the extreme fear of abandonment part of borderline, but I have almost everything else. I seem to fit in the criteria for both cyclothymia and borderline disorders but I’m just not sure where I belong... it’s making me so confused. I’m only 17, so I don’t think borderline could be an option until I turn 18, which is in a few months. It just seems like the possibility of me having BPD is overlooked. Does anybody relate to this or possibly know what’s going on?