Bipolar unfit?

B

Beans13!#

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Has anyone been through a MEB/PEB for *bipolar depressive* (that's what the psychiatrist diagnosed me as)?

I have just began the IDES process for compartment syndrome (PCM stated he will be putting in my p3 for my compartment syndrome in the next qeek). The medication I was put on for bipolar triggers a MEB with any long term use according to EBH. How likely is this to be added as a referred condition/be found unfit?
 
Hey, my MEB was also sent through for Bipolar Disorder, and the medication I'm taking (Lithium) also triggers the MEB. However, when I did my C&P exam, the psych said that he believes I have Major Depression Disorder. So, i am also concerned because the diagnosis has changed but I'm still nondeployable on this medication. I'm awaiting my fit/unfit duty status.
 
Well let me know how it goes. The Dr said he doubts MDD because my depressive episodes aren't long enough.
 
travisbrunet said:
Hey, my MEB was also sent through for Bipolar Disorder, and the medication I'm taking (Lithium) also triggers the MEB. However, when I did my C&P exam, the psych said that he believes I have Major Depression Disorder. So, i am also concerned because the diagnosis has changed but I'm still nondeployable on this medication. I'm awaiting my fit/unfit duty status.
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I just didn't want them to say pre-existing on the bipolar
 
See my timeline thread in my post history. I was diagnosed with bipolar 2 and put on lithium. A bipolar diagnosis is not compatible with military service, and will trigger a medical separation or retirement. In my case, it didn't really manifest until I had a rather traumatic bone tumor surgery. You can see all in my post history. Bipolar is considered a lifelong condition, and so it might be difficult to get it service connected unless you can point to a specific event, such as that TBI. If you've been in the military for more than 7 years (I think), they automatically assume any condition you had prior to service has been aggravated by service. I hired the Mr. Perry to ensure i didn't get screwed over by the AF, and while expensive, it was worth every penny because instead of screwing me over, the AF/VA/DoD is actually taking great care of me.
 
T
TallTree said:
See my timeline thread in my post history. I was diagnosed with bipolar 2 and put on lithium. A bipolar diagnosis is not compatible with military service, and will trigger a medical separation or retirement. In my case, it didn't really manifest until I had a rather traumatic bone tumor surgery. You can see all in my post history. Bipolar is considered a lifelong condition, and so it might be difficult to get it service connected unless you can point to a specific event, such as that TBI. If you've been in the military for more than 7 years (I think), they automatically assume any condition you had prior to service has been aggravated by service. I hired the Mr. Perry to ensure i didn't get screwed over by the AF, and while expensive, it was worth every penny because instead of screwing me over, the AF/VA/DoD is actually taking great care of me.
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Thank you for the reply. Did being put on lithium make any difference in whether you were found fit or unfit?
 
No. A diagnosis of bipolar alone, with or without treatment, is enough to be unfit. I was put on lithium at the time, which also is not compatible with service, so that was another unfit situation. For reference, I've never been hospitalized, never been suicidal, and was a pilot and hadn't flown for 6 months cause of my mental health. Since I was an officer/pilot with more than 10 years of service as an O-4, there's some other stipulations that since I was so far in my career, I couldn't retrain into a non-flying role, but that was irrelevant because the the bipolar diagnosis.
 
So how would one go about linking bipolar flaring up to a tbi or other in-service condition? Is that an addendum that EBH doctor could do or is that something the PEB just looks at? And one may have to take it to a formal board?
 
That I’m not sure about, but I can tell you what I told my psychiatrist and therapist. It didn’t matter for me to link it to any specific event because I had been in for more than 7 years, so it was presumed to have been aggravated by my service. I was brutally and embarrassingly honest about everything, including past episodes which I believed were hypomanic. I also described some very long and awful depressive episodes. But I never sought treatment before because nothing permanently had ever happened from my hypomania (and I could afford the outbursts), and I treated the depression by running.

Well then I got a pain in my knee, which prevented me from running, and the AF misdiagnosed it as tendinitis which allowed the tumor to grow unchecked until it was so large that the surgery was so invasive and traumatic (not mentally, but physically) that it didn’t heal correctly and I’m limited to about an hour on my feet before I get a debilitating pain. I’ll never be able to run again.

Without being able to run, I was no longer able to manage the depression, which grew even deeper because now I had a lifelong disability that ruined my long term family plans, and I blamed the Air Force for it because of the misdiagnosis. I was very clear about that connection: that the Air Force’s medical incompetence caused this transitive event; that this traumatic event triggered a more severe manifestation of an underlying bipolar disorder.

Bipolar incidence is 80% genetic, and I have extensive family history of bipolar disorder, so its not surprising that I was already primed for it.
 
Beans13!# said:
To add all bipolar symtoms showed after mild to moderate tbi.
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To be diagnosed with bipolar disorder you must have either manic or hypomanic episodes AND major depressive episodes. The catch is that major depressive episodes can not be diagnosed if the episodes are better attributable to a medical condition (like TBI). However, many people with TBI or other major injury/illness develop depressive symptoms.

You might want to find a mental health professional who has substantial experience working with patients diagnosed with TBI. 1) So you get the right treatment 2) potentially establishing that the MH condition, if any, is secondary to the TBI. Thus making both unfitting.
 
chaplaincharlie said:
To be diagnosed with bipolar disorder you must have either manic or hypomanic episodes AND major depressive episodes. The catch is that major depressive episodes can not be diagnosed if the episodes are better attributable to a medical condition (like TBI). However, many people with TBI or other major injury/illness develop depressive symptoms.

You might want to find a mental health professional who has substantial experience working with patients diagnosed with TBI. 1) So you get the right treatment 2) potentially establishing that the MH condition, if any, is secondary to the TBI. Thus making both unfitting.
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What do you mean by "The catch is that major depressive episodes can not be diagnosed if the episodes are better attributable to a medical condition (like TBI)" can I not be diagnosed with bipolar if my tbi is the root cause of the depressive episodes?
 
maybe, but have you had manic or hypomanic episodes? I had a few, like trying to start a business selling cacti online where I drove to every Home Depot in the area, bought dozens of their cacti, spent thousands on a cacti orchard in my backyard, business plan, website, etc… I’ve also done some very stupid things where I drove 6 hours to a city I’d never been in, stayed up for days drinking and frequenting gay clubs, putting myself in dangerous situations like driving around with someone I’d just met at the bar while completely intoxicated… also developing a persecutory delusions that I was being targeted by investigators and spent thousands on new phones, home networking gear, always on VPNs that routes through Iceland and Switzerland and ruining my social life with my family and friends… I’ve had a handful of those kinds of experiences that exhibit classical symptoms of hypomania. Not full blown mania but still on the spectrum.
 
TallTree said:
maybe, but have you had manic or hypomanic episodes? I had a few, like trying to start a business selling cacti online where I drove to every Home Depot in the area, bought dozens of their cacti, spent thousands on a cacti orchard in my backyard, business plan, website, etc… I’ve also done some very stupid things where I drove 6 hours to a city I’d never been in, stayed up for days drinking and frequenting gay clubs, putting myself in dangerous situations like driving around with someone I’d just met at the bar while completely intoxicated… also developing a persecutory delusions that I was being targeted by investigators and spent thousands on new phones, home networking gear, always on VPNs that routes through Iceland and Switzerland and ruining my social life with my family and friends… I’ve had a handful of those kinds of experiences that exhibit classical symptoms of hypomania. Not full blown mania but still on the spectrum.
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No, when speaking to the psychiatrist he labeled it bipolar depressive. And justified it by saying I "never go full manic I get a week of extreme energy doing every small to large task on my mind, staying up all night for multiple days doing house projects or work, then back down into a depressive state for 4 weeks or so. Could be because the condition is just manifesting.
I'm just going off what the psychiatrist said after I explained my symtoms. This is all very new to me
 
Beans13!# said:
No, when speaking to the psychiatrist he labeled it bipolar depressive. And justified it by saying I "never go full manic I get a week of extreme energy doing every small to large task on my mind, staying up all night for multiple days doing house projects or work, then back down into a depressive state for 4 weeks or so. Could be because the condition is just manifesting.
I'm just going off what the psychiatrist said after I explained my symtoms. This is all very new to me
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Psychiatrist basically said any manic I experience isn't long enough or far enough above base line so he labeled it "bipolar depressive". And said not BPD since symptoms only began 8-10 months ago directly after TBI occurred
 
I’m not a psych, but those also sound like classic hypomania episodes, maybe with a dash of OCD. During one episode, I too went through my kitchen pulled out everything, threw it all away, bought all new matching everything, then found myself out in my yard at 2am with a bottle of vodka, a headlamp, and doing random yard work and landscaping.

However, have you had any of those symptoms before your TBI? That might be the key difference your psych is using.
 
Prior to tbi I had mild to moderate anxiety a depressive week every so often (1 week out of 3 months or so) very mild compared to the symptoms that came on roughly 1-2 months post tbi.
 
Beans13!# said:
What do you mean by "The catch is that major depressive episodes can not be diagnosed if the episodes are better attributable to a medical condition (like TBI)" can I not be diagnosed with bipolar if my tbi is the root cause of the depressive episodes?
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What I'm saying is your diagnosis is more difficult due to the similarities between TBI and certain M H diagnosed. Get a second opinion from someone with extra training and experience with TBI.
 
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Joshua Kors

About Joshua Joshua Kors is an investigative reporter for The Nation, where he covers military and veterans’ issues. He is the winner of the National Magazine Award, George Polk Award, Casey Medal, the National Press Club’s Hume Award and the Military Reporters and Editors Award. He was also a...
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This is a story, a few years old, but I think very important to anyone having mental health issues to be aware of.
 
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