loafbread1234 Member Profile

Need help figuring out if I have schizophrenia, bipolar, and/or BPD

Bipolar, Schizophrenia & Psychosis Support / by loafbread1234

September 26th, 2025

...See more (This is the shortened chatGPT version. The full and in depth version made by me will be at the bottom of this one) Hi, I’m Tyler (17M, 5’11”, 200 lbs). I’m diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and ADHD. I also have POTS, which was only diagnosed recently after years of being told it was “in my head.” I take Wellbutrin 300mg XL and Strattera 25mg twice a day. Over the last couple years, I’ve noticed symptoms that don’t feel explained by depression/ADHD alone. After tracking them, I see overlap with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and schizophrenia/schizoaffective. I’m not trying to self-diagnose — I just want to know if these symptoms seem valid and how I should bring them up with my psychiatrist. Bipolar-like: • Weeks where I barely sleep (3–5 hrs) but feel wired, alert, and even euphoric. • Impulsive spending (thousands of $), sneaking out at night, starting projects I abandon later. • Racing thoughts on waking, like adrenaline is pumping. • Right now I’ve been running on low sleep for days but still feel “clearer” than usual. BPD-like: • Small comments from people can flip how I see myself or them. • Fear of abandonment when people don’t text back right away. • Rapid mood shifts (happy → irritable/empty in seconds). • Periods of self-harm and impulsive behaviors. • Identity confusion — I feel like I adapt to what others want, and don’t know who I really am. Schizophrenia-like: • Rare auditory hallucinations (hearing my name called from far away). • Visual hallucinations in the dark (shapes, figures in corners). Once, I saw a figure leaning in a doorway, thought it was a friend — but nobody was there. • Tactile hallucinations (bugs crawling on skin, pressure/touch with no one around). • Paranoia: feeling watched or that someone’s behind me. • Dead/flat expression and monotone voice, even when I think I’m showing emotion. • Racing/jumbled thoughts, overthinking until I shut down. Other notes: • Memory is awful — most days blur together, I forget conversations/choices/meals. • Chronic fatigue. • Eating is inconsistent, I think I may have atypical anorexia (I gain/lose ~20 lbs every few weeks). My questions: * Do these symptoms line up with what I think (bipolar, BPD, schizophrenia), or something else? * How should I present this to my psychiatrist without sounding like I’m self-diagnosing or attention-seeking? Thanks for reading. Any input or questions are welcome. ----------------------------------------------------------- Full in depth version: Hello. I'm Tyler. I'm 17 years old, male, 5’11”, 200lbs, these symptoms date back to at least two years now, maybe three or more. Lack of memory makes it challenging to know. I have been struggling with mental health for a few years now. I've never really looked into why I feel the way I do or how my mind works. I kind of just labeled everything as "depression". I am diagnosed with depression but that was really it. I went about a year or two without medication and just a month ago I've started Wellbutrin, currently on 300mg XL. I also have ADHD and have been prescribed stimulants in the past such as Vyvanse and Adderall which never had an effect. Now my new psychiatrists (I've only talked to her once over a video call) has prescribed me a non-stimulant Strattera 25mg, one capsule two times a day. I have a lot of physical medical problems and have been dealing with them for quite some time now. they had a huge impact on my mental health and probably what tipped me over into a spiral. For my mental problems I have depression, anxiety, ADHD and possibly more (what this post is about) Recently I was diagnosed with POTS. I had to fight for that diagnosis getting ignored and told it's in my head or from depression multiple times. Because of being put to the side so much I've had to play doctor and track and research my own health for about a month and a half until I was able to see a cardiologist. Because of this time focusing on how I feel I ended up going into the mental part of things too. I was researching me mediation, mental diseases, etc. Now to drop what the post is about. I've come to realize that for the past 2 years minimum I've been expressing and experiencing signs of bipolar, borderline personality disorder (BPD), and schizophrenia. I know that sounds crazy. Because how can a 17 year old have those three along with depression, anxiety, POTS, ADHD, derealization, depersonalization, and physical medical problems. And for this reason exactly is why I'm so hesitant. But at the same time I know it is possible and if I can get those diagnoses I'd be happy because then I'd finally know what's wrong with me. Anti-depressants (Wellbutrin) helps but not a lot, it helps elevate my mood slightly. Other then that I still have a lack of responsibility for myself. My room is always a mess. My brain is fogged 24/7. Usually I can't remember anything that's happened in the past at all. Sometimes I can in fragments but usually all my days blur and I can't remember anything, not conversations, choices I made, what I ate, if I ate. Every day I also deal with heavy amounts of fatigue too. I can't sleep properly at all, when I go to bed I can go to sleep but not stay asleep. I wake up every 20-60 minutes leaving me getting up later not refreshed and still drowsy. The loss of memory, especially with how bad it's been recently is making this even harder to figure out because I can't remember the past much at all, there are a few moments I can think of. My sleep schedule changes on its own no matter what I do. I'll get into what I noticed I have in common with Bipolar: * There are weeks that I barely sleep but am wired throughout the entire day. This can happen for as long as a week to a month (from what I can remember). Usually during these weeks I am somewhat euphoric, energetic and enjoying myself and I'd have no clue why but I didn't want to question it. * I've gone months feeling strange. Impulses left and right. I've spent thousands of dollars because of it not caring at all. I've sneaked out of the house at midnight multiple times. Had moments of self harm. and quite a few very impulsive things like trying to start a business and spending a bunch of money on it just to lose interest and be left thinking "why did I do that? What was I thinking?" * During these energetic weeks that I'm now guessing were manic or hypomanic episodes I'd barely sleep and be super restless. The main limiter that kept me from cleaning everything, doing a bunch of work, etc, was physical from POTS and other things. My mind then goes a million miles an hour. * When I wake up during those energetic weeks my mind is racing a lot more then usual. I already have a overthinking mind but it's like I wake up with adrenaline pumping and I'm fully alert and refreshed. I never feel this way when it's a normal week, usually I sleep bad and feel the effects of that all day. * I think I might be currently in a manic or hypomanic episode right now. I don't know triggers but I do know the past few days have been strange. Mainly with sleep and energy, I've barely slept but am able to stay up for over 24 hours if I wanted to. Two days ago I was up for 16-22 hours then I slept 5 hours, woke up and was up for another 16-18 hours then slept 5 hours (was somewhat tired but mainly slept because I knew I needed to) then I was up for only 7 hours and slept 3 but I didn't sleep because I was tired but because I was in a state of apathy/depression, didn't know what to do so I just went to bed (just one way I deal with it). I've also been quite hyper focused on a few things, games, videos, movies, this even. I spend 7 hours in a row this morning researching medication and mental diseases to try and find why I am like I am. What I have in common with BPD: * This usually revolves around with my relationships with friends, family, and really and social action. * I'm very anti-social. I dislike my body quite a bit. I care about how I look but only when someone's near by. * I don't care about my hygiene unless I'm about to go out. * The smallest comments can change my viewpoint on them or myself completely. Compliments can slowly nudge me to not hate myself as much but anything else tanks my confidence. If someone says something, even a small thing I shouldn't care about there are times that it changes my entire viewpoint about them and turns the relationship with that person sour. * Fear of abandonment. I never really thought I had this but the more I think about it the more I think differently. If I'm texting someone or something and they take a minute to respond I get anxious, I'm worried if I'm being annoying, bothersome, or if they've just had enough of me * My mood changes quite a lot. I can be happy but when someone talks to me I can immediately get annoyed and irritated. Even the smallest things can switch my mood completely, when that happens it shocks me at the same time, I question myself "why am I so worked up over this??" * The constant change of emotions can cause me to do stupid things. Eventually including self harm. Not very proud of that but, oh well. * I'm everywhere when talking to people to. If I try to tell someone something just after a few words I'll be on a new topic and completely forget the original and that just rinse and repeats. * I can have similar impulsiveness as bipolar. Just it only lasts for a few minutes or hours and is based around more trivial things like telling someone something, etc. What I have in common with Schizophrenia/Schizoaffective: * Hallucinations, not audibly and visually common but still can happen. I have heard voices before but usually quiet and far like someone yelling from far away, sometimes louder as if they are yelling from downstairs, but it's pretty rare to hear voices. Feeling touched is more common, things like bugs crawling on my skin, sometimes just feeling something touched/is touching me but nothings there, like there's just a pressure on wherever I feel it. I smell odors every once in a while, usually when I smell one that's not exactly reasonable to be there it leads to a random old old memory that I had long forgotten. * Paranoia. There was a point that I was paranoid that someone was watching me and in the room for months, still happens randomly. Just thinking about it makes me feel like I'm being watched or someone is standing right behind me or is in the same room. * Delusions/false beliefs. It's random but I can get very suspicious of people for no reason, paranoid of being watched or someone being in the room with me, behind me. And maybe a belief here and there that I'm special in some way, if you want me to into more detail I can but it's pretty cringe and logically stupid but I still believe it no matter what. * My thoughts are all over the place all the time. Overthinking times 10. They cross over each other and can even lead to headaches. Sometimes I just disconnect, mentally shut down. Especially when I need to explain what I feel to others. * I've had a lack of expression for a while now. My face is very dead looking all the time. My eyes look dead, like I'm no longer here. My voice usually is flat. More then I realize. I've recorded videos and think "that was good, I think I had good emotion in it" then when I check I sound like the most depressed monotone voice with no emphasis at all or a care in the world. * In dark rooms especially when there's barely any light I see shapes of people in random place, mainly in corners and the creepiest places possible. There's nothing there when I turn on a light, not objects or anything so it can't be a illusion (mistaking an object to be something else) * I don't think that hallucinations are episode/manic based. They can happen whenever. Not entirely sure though because I don't remember much from the past few years. Don't really know how I'm really still here. So could be Schizoaffective. * One example of a hallucination that creeped me out hard is when I was playing hide and seek with my friends in the dark. I saw something that looked like a person leaning around a doorway staring at me. I called out saying for them to say something or I'm going to punch them. No one responded and I later found out no one was in that room, or even that direction. I stared at it for so long, I thought it was someone, that my friends were messing with me. When it went away it looked like it turned and hid behind the doorway then was just gone. I don't know where this one fits but my weight also fluctuates a lot, I'm pretty sure I have developed Atypical anorexia nervosa (AAN) and am fairly sure on that since I've been feeling the same for a long time now. I gain and lose 20-25 pounds every 2-3 weeks without fail. Well that's everything, it's been rough, I don't know who I am or how/want to take care of myself. Any questions I'll be glad to answer so please feel free to ask. I mainly want to know if I'm valid and not over my head for thinking these things. Do these symptoms sound consistent with what I think? How should I bring them up to my psychiatrist without sounding dramatic or attention-seeking? Thanks and sorry about all the text! Edit----- I forgot to add that me feelings about having these mental diseases is switching every hour. One hour I'm confident and thinking "there's a good chance I have this", the next I'm thinking "Why would I have that? That seems so dumb. I'm just looking into this too much". So I'm very split. Anything advice helps so thanks. Edit 2----- Just want it to be known how much this effects my life. I am now basically a shut in, little friends, dropped out of school, and now feel like I lost the ability to think. I used to be a A student but now I can barely speak and remember words. Living sucks. It's more like surviving right now. All my doctors tell me it's nothing or just don't ask at all about anything I tell them because apparently "everything is from your depression", even physical things like POTS until I pushed for a test and was diagnosed with POTS. I've kind of just been ignored by doctors all my life so I struggle standing up for myself and getting the help I need. I can barely take care of myself, I barely eat, shower only when I'm going out or a rare occasion of just wanting to be clean. My health has taken a massive decline along with my mental and no one seems to notice. I mean, even I didn't realize that there's a possibility of more then just depression. I keep switching sides. One hour I feel like "it's okay, it'll work out", another I'll be thinking "I'm probably making this all up, this is dumb", then another "maybe I actually have it, I could but I don't know". It's stressing me out so much. My anxiety is killing me right now

I need advice, I might have depression

Depression Support / by loafbread1234

March 5th, 2024

I just can't name or fully understand what I am feeling...

General Support / by loafbread1234

July 10th, 2023

I've stopped eating lately

Eating Disorder Support / by loafbread1234

February 10th, 2022

Bio

Recent forum posts

Talk to an expert therapist

🌈 Lisa Meighan is a psychotherapist registered with the British...

About Us

Get Started

Online Therapy

Terms

Bio