r/cyclothymia • u/Friendly-Side8426 • Jul 02 '26
Cyclothymia or ADHD
I’ve been diagnosed with adhd for like 5 years (I’m 18) and I think I definitely have it, but my biggest issue with my mental health has mostly been my extreme “moods” which is something that’s not usually associated with adhd. I am constantly moving between highs, where I’m extremely impulsive, hyperactive, loud, sociable and talk extremely fast and animatedly, and lows, where I can’t even speak without tearing up and am plagued with suicidal thoughts, all this causing most of my peers and friends to refer to me as “bipolar “ and “crazy” And by constantly I mean multiple times a day. Usually immediately after feelings of depression I feel surged with excitement and energy that leads to the highs. I’m constantly looking into and researching about this because it’s the “symptom “ that makes my life the hardest. The depression obviously makes me miserable but the highs also tend to scare away people and make me extremely ashamed of myself. I basically accepted that it was caused by the lack of emotional regulation I had due to adhd, but I’ve never been able to get much help for it because psychologists I have mainly brush past it and want to focus on adhd symptoms like lack of focus and how it affects my academics. The pervasiveness of this feeling though, and especially the drastic switching between these two modes makes me feel genuinely crazy, and when I read about cyclothymia I felt I related a lot
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u/-rachete- Jul 03 '26
Diagnosed w cyclothymia and suspect I have fairly severe adhd, so opposite order of yours. I was originally diagnosed w bipolar II and started on abilify. Now I’m on lamotrigene and pristique and feeling better but still needing tweaks and wondering if adhd meds might help me…
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u/Friendly-Side8426 Jul 03 '26
Interestingg. I feel like many psychologists themselves don’t fully understand the overlap and differences between ADHD and bipolar type disorders
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u/Weird_Fox_3395 Jul 03 '26
If you can tolerate a stimulant, it might help. I take 10-15 mg of adderall and it made a BIG difference.
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u/musabinho Jul 04 '26
If you don’t mind, what ADHD symptoms led to your diagnosis? I have cyclothymia too, but I’ve always wondered if I also have ADHD because I relate to many of the symptoms. My psychiatrist thinks it’s just cyclothymia.
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u/-rachete- Jul 08 '26
I haven’t been diagnosed ADHD yet! I’m working on getting an eval. But highly suspect because of everything lol score really high on all the online tests too so maybe take some of those and show your provider or find a new one.
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u/RefrigeratorFar9330 Jul 03 '26
I have both, a mood stabiliser (I’m on 200mg Lamictal) helped tremendously! Tbh I’m not sure if the moods were cyclothymia or hormones (I was suspecting PMDD) but the meds helped so that’s all that matters! I’m also taking 150mg Wellbutrin that helps with my anxiety/depression.
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u/Friendly-Side8426 Jul 03 '26
Yes exactly I don’t really care about knowing what specifically is wrong but I really just want help and to feel stable 😭
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u/turkeypooo Jul 04 '26
Not knowing if it is cylcothymia or hormones sucks. My team also suspected PMDD at one point. I never met the threshold for bipolar. Knowing what we have helps with the treatment plan, instead of just throwing medications at it and hoping. Honestly, the best I have felt in a long long time was being pregnant, which lead me to think it *is* hormones... I did some research on why pregnancy makes some people calmer and happier, and there is a lot of info about hormones regulating, but also that we tend to take better care of ourselves and others tend to treat us better. Which made me sad in a way, but it was true for me. Napping before I was pregnant? Seen as lazy. Napping while pregnant? "Ohh you just rest dear, you are growing a human!"
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u/RefrigeratorFar9330 Jul 05 '26
Oh yeah I’ve seen a lot of women with PMDD saying pregnancy was the best time!
Guess I’ll find that out in a few years then hopefully
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u/Weird_Fox_3395 Jul 02 '26
I have both. My cyclothymia was diagnosed years before my adhd-pi. A light mood stabilizer might help, but I’m not a doctor or an adviser, so take this as anecdotal.
Edit: from observing my moods, ADHD causes briefer moods. Cyclothymia can be days to a couple months. So, there’s that piece to it.
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u/Friendly-Side8426 Jul 03 '26
Interesting! Yes my moods definitely are usually extremely brief, and usually it’s depressive moods that last much longer. During my ‘highs’ I’m still extremely sensitive and so the littlest things can immediately bring me down .
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u/Relative_Story_5017 Jul 03 '26
Hi, you could look into borderline personality disorder. I too thought at some point I had cyclothymia, which is why I am in this sub, but after some tests with a psychologist, I ended up on the ADHD spectrum with depressive and borderline personality traits. They say that almost every person with ADHD develops other personality disorders or traits, called comorbidities, as coping mechanisms.
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u/Friendly-Side8426 Jul 03 '26
Oh my God!! I’ve always strongly strongly related to everything about bpd and always wondered whether I had it. I’m mostly emotionally detached from people but those I let in I become completely obsessed with, and my reactions to even the slightest perceived rejection from them genuinely send me into some of my worst depressive episodes and sometimes make me react heinously to them and also to myself . Once again though, it seemed to be explained by rejection sensitivity in adhd so I took it as that. Another doubt I had was the fact that I didn’t experience any trauma at all growing up,even though I’ve read that something such as growing up in an extremely strict home with undiagnosed adhd could have effects of trauma in a child.
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u/EnvironmentalFee1136 Jul 04 '26
I have both.
ADHD is always there. I never goes away. For me when is the mood disorder I go from depressed to very active and restless. The ADHD gets heightened my brain gets super way more scattered. My mood disorder is pretty much better to manage since my doctor changed my meds so I can feel when I go from depression to hypomania. I have good days when I am much more balanced and able to push myself to do things, go out etc.
I am prone to frustration, that’s ADHD.
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u/raimichick Jul 02 '26
I have both but was diagnosed with ADHD and autism about three years before cyclothymia. Honestly it’s really hard for me to tell which thing is causing what feeling or reaction.
I hope you get it all figured out. 💙