ATTENTION, ATTENTION PLEASE - VERY IMPORNATNT INFORMATION

[Leonardo A]

 

People, please look for help immediately. There is not such thing as the one you are talking about.

You are wasting precious time of your life.

 

What you are describing is the symptoms of Racing Thoughts which is at the same time a symptom Bipolar Disorder I for those who have hypomania.

 

I tell you that because I also visited this blog  when I ws desperate, about a year ago. I remeber that I thought that my thoughts could be ADHD. But I have being treated with mood stabilizers that helped me to get back to reality.

 

Lithium for me was the best medication I have ever taken for this Racing Thoughts, I was so concentrated, with peace, my mind was normal, I could read without I having thoughts coming to my mind. It was wonderful.

 

Please stop thinking that you have a rare mental illness, and start helping both yourself and those who are in the same situation. Reseacrh and seek a psychiatrist's help.

 

Good Luck

 

 

 

 

[Pseudo Life]

Absolutely

Roger Lyda said:

I recommend that anyone experiencing MD,  possible racing thoughts, bipolar or whatever, to speak with a mental health care professional.  I think it is impossible to accurately self diagnose. Research helps a person understand what they are going through and I think helps them communicate these things to a doctor. No one should simply take the word of one doctor or therapist. Psychiatrist are not always easy to deal with, but they are capable of understanding your situation.  Be informed and be persistent. Don't try to face, diagnose, treat, this or any illness on your own.

I feel this site helps people with their research and understanding.

[Jennifer]

Umm...You think we're lying about or making up MD? You couldn't be more wrong. MD, even though it's not that widely recognized, is it's own disorder and has it's own symptoms. It blows my mind that you think people with MD would be making this up.

[Jennifer]

I agree with you completely, Mr!
 
Wish Upon A Wish said:

If you look up at my answer, I had the xactsame quote haha. I just didn't tell that it was from Wiki. Also, love the 'sayeth' haha

Jared said:

You could not be more wrong.

Sayeth Wikipedia:

Generally, racing thoughts are described by an individual who has had an episode as an event where the mind uncontrollably brings up random thoughts and memories and switches between them very quickly. Sometimes they are related, as one thought leads to another; other times they are completely random. A person suffering from an episode of racing thoughts has no control over his or her train of thought and it stops them from focusing on one topic or prevents sleeping.

Maladaptive Daydreamers have lots of control over their thoughts.

[truthandbeauty]

Well, the error in the writer's premise is that our DDs are "racing thoughts" or caused by "hypomania."    Those distinct symptoms don't occur in MOST people who live with MD.  Can a person have those other symptoms along with MD??  Possibly.    But that person would likely have a most complex diagnosis comprised of multiple disorders.

 

[Darren]

Racing thoughts is only one symptom of Bipolar Disorder. Even though it might be similar to maladaptive daydreaming, you have to have a lot of symptoms of bipolar disorder to actually be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It says people with bipolar disorder do crazy stuff like max out their debit cards, rage quit their jobs and get 2 hours of sleep and still be energized. 

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/bipolar_disorder_symptoms_treatment...

[Darren]

that doesn't sound like me at all 

sure i have mood swings but it just makes me really depressed or makes me really happy but people with bipolar disorder do crazy shit when they're experiencing their mood swings like max out their credit cards...lol...cause their mood swings are that intense. 

[Steve C]

I appreciate the concern but find it a bit presumptive to assume that our symptoms are to be lumped into the single category of bi-polar disorder based on a symptom that has some similarities (sometimes) to MD. There are many differences between bi-polar disorder and MD symptoms, so not weighing that into your argument makes it pretty fallible.

[SwanInTheWater]

I get racing thoughts it is completely different. Racing thoughts is 

That's a pretty flower, it looks like the one from my Barbie picture book I had as a kid it came with flower seeds my first grade teacher gave us seeds once to plant in the school garden I miss that school I miss my first best friend she used to wear braids a lot I think I wanna wear braids in my hair ugh but they take so long sometimes I just want to buy a wig, Cher wears wigs a lot and it's cool I miss when I used to listen to cher, we heard her album in the car ride to Canada there were so many stars in the sky too bad I can't see stars in this city but at least we have a lot of stores I gotta go shopping on Thursday I wanna buy some nice edgy clothes oh I think I have the perfect boots for edgy clothes

*Runs to closet and starts putting outfits together and trying some on*

MDD is more like acting in a soap opera, in your head. Long and involved and very detailed with dialogue, complex characters and storylines.

[Tinkerbell]

I'm glad that you have got better and found out what is wrong with you.  For many people here they may be misdiagnosed but for others they do have Maladaptive Daydreaming.  I know you are only trying to help but I think you were wrong here in presuming that" everyone" here has to have the same condition you have when that may not be the case.  

[Ash Lumiere]

Not everyone with bipolar disorder does "crazy shit" like "max out their debit cards" or "rage quit their job". Those with Bipolar type II do not experience full blown mania and experience hypomania, which is very subtle. You maybe be more impulsive but with different people sometimes this expresses in healthy ways. Besides sleeping little, I start projects, become very social. Hypomania is usually a very productive and high functional but brief period of time. The hypomanic episode is very rare, and most time one is in a state of depression for months.  This is what its like to be living with Bipolar 2, and most people go undiagnosed for years because it is subtle and presents itself usually as severe non-treatment responsive depression. Through out this depression you experience mixed episodes, were your either agitated and need to pace or were you have a hard time moving but your thoughts are racing. I believe there is a high comorbidity between Bipolar Disorder and Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder, because bipolar comes with psychotic feature such as having poor control over the direction of your thoughts and having a hard time focusing on things around you.

[Kia Hood]

There is a huge number of mental illnesses out there, making it only natural that a lot of them are similar and share certain symptoms, which is why a lot of people misdiagnos themselves/get misdiagnosed at first only to find out what they're having is something completely different. That, however, does not mean that one mental illness does not exist because there is already one out there wih similar symptoms. 

Furthermore, there are two very important reasons why diagnosis is needed. One, so you can get medication to treat the illness should it affect your life too much and you want to do something about it etc. Two, because you feel like a certain part of you is different in comparison to other people and once you find out that there is an actual name for it, that other people have it to, it gives you comfort and makes you feel less alone. The latter part is especially important in this reply, because I think you don't quite understand that people identifying themselves with MD do so because they can relate. A lot of people have spent quite the amount of time doing research and their symptoms and thus found out about MD, meaning that if what they were having was actually racing thoughts, they probably would have found that instead.

I get that you're only trying to help, but I find it a little rude to be honest that you make such a huge announcement just because this is how it's been for you. You could've made a post about racing thoughts and how you find it to be similar to MD instead of stating that we're "wasting precious time of [our lives]". Which is not only rude because you're claiming us to be wasting our time by identifying with a mental illness that describes our lives, your also implying that what we're identifying does not exist, which is just plain rude. How would you feel about someone saying "You don't have cramps/stomach ache, you're just hungry!" No. Just because there are similarities, does not mean one thing does not exist, or rather the thing you claim to have does not exist. Please think about that before making a huge announcement without any further proof (you could have at least written down the symtpoms of racing thoughts and why you think that exists and we all have that and not MD).

[Emma]

Hmm, I appreciate your sense of urgency and your desire to help others, but what works for you and what causes your problem is not the case for everyone.

In my own opinion, maladaptive daydreaming is a tendency that many people have.  Then, situations arise in life that cause that tendency to be stronger or lesser, depending on the individual.

In my own case, I have done it my whole life off and on.  There was no underlying problem or cause or anything going on that was bad when I was young.  It was just something pleasant I did when I had nothing else to do or when I was trying to sleep or going for long drives or whatever.

During periods of my life when things have been very stressful or I've dealt with trauma, I use maladaptive daydreaming as an escape.  I have gotten so comfortable with it that I do not really want to get up and stop doing it.  I crave it now the way people crave all sorts of easy, pleasurable distractions- like alcohol or television or surfing the net.  The longer you do it, the harder it is to focus on real life.

While I have no doubt that other people have different reasons and causes, these are mine.  Racing thoughts and bipolar disorder may be causes for you or for others.  If so, I'm really happy that you have found a way to treat it and make yourself healthier.  But those things are not a problem for me.  I have zero of the symptoms/behaviors associated with bipolar disorder, and the descriptions of racing thoughts that I've read have absolutely no resemblance to my experience with maladaptive daydreaming.  Moreover, with the exception of losing myself in daydreaming, I have no problem focusing my attention on other things.

So my point is that while I think your advice is valid and might help some people, I think it is a little rash to suggest that everyone needs to get on lithium or that they are wasting their time discussing this in this forum.