Just out of curiosity... is no antipsychotics and no mood stabilizer's for treatment possible? or do I just not have bp2?
I was diagnosed with bipolar 2 in late 2023 but had a bad experience with that psychiatrist (rapid med changes, not listening to concerns, and one combo caused severe suicidal ideation which left me traumatized from wanting to continue with medications). I stopped meds cold turkey in fall 2024. For a year I did okay with only mild depressive symptoms which made me doubt the diagnosis. In October 2025 I had a possible hypomanic episode, started therapy, and by March of 2026 sought out a new psychiatrist. I didn't disclose my prior bp2 diagnosis to her. Her assessment ruled out GAD, OCD, and BPD, found high MDD, some ADHD symptoms but not enough for a full diagnosis, and scored my mood disorder risk too low to be a concern to have to rule out trying certain meds. She's since prescribed Wellbutrin, then Effexor, and now 10mg Vyvanse with the only issue at the moment being that the Vyvanse has been making me sleepy throughout the day and the rougher energy crash happening around 5pm.
I'm curious whether it's possible to actually have bp2 and still respond this well to antidepressants/stimulants with no mood stabilizer or antipsychotic involved. I haven't had what I would describe as a hypomanic episode since February and I'm having a hard time understanding if that's because I don't actually have bp2, or because this combo of meds is creating a kind of emotional flatness that's suppressing both the highs and the crying-spell/irritable lows. The emotional flatness feels weird because I find myself not being able to emote sometimes, but not in a scary sociopathic way just a lot of general apathy towards a majority of small things that would have normally sent me over the edge emotionally (happy, sad, or angry). I was considering bringing up my past diagnosis with my psych to get her opinion, but I'm worried that she might add a mood stabilizer or antipsychotic if she thinks I should be on one just in case??? I'm curious to know if anyone here has every experienced anything like this
Posted Aug 12, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC