I was diagnosed waaaay back in 2003 as bipolar 2. Once I got out of the initial hospital stay (9 months long), I promptly ceased all medication and therapy and have spent the last 19 years just struggling through on  my own out of fear that any sort of contact with the medical or psychiatry field would result in me being forced into inpatient care again and after 9 months of hell, I refused to do it again.

Well, this year has been awful and I finally decided I had to take the chance and get some help and try some meds, and had my first psych appt today. Surprised me when she said - after listening to me and my symptoms and experiences - that she thinks I might in fact be schizoaffective bipolar type, not BP2 after all. It mostly seemed to be based on the fact that I experience fairly frequent auditory hallucinations which she said isn't common in BP2.

I don't know what to make of this. I've never questioned my diagnosis and I don't know anything about this new version she thinks I might be, so I'm thrown for a loop here. Has anyone else had this happen, where your diagnosis shifted after years of being one thing? Also, any other schizoaffectives here who could clue me into what this diagnosis might mean? It's not for sure yet, this was just my first appt and was mostly intake questions etc, but she said the hallucinations pinged schizo right away for her, so...I dunno.