Bipolar hearing things?

[2008camryhybrid]

Hello,
I have diagnosed bipolar II and PTSD. On occasion I will hear things that are not there, primarily my name and there is nobody there and it's in the middle of the day so I know it's not a dream. The voice isn't how I imagined it to be like I thought if I ever hallucinated it would be a scary whisper voice but it was just a woman calling my name once or twice. I know that my head is creating it and it kinda freaks me out...has anyone else had this experience?

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

Schizoaffective disorder

 

[HLon99]

Despite diagnosis being very pigeon-holed in today's medicine, its believed that Bipolar and Schizophrenia exist on the same spectrum of illnesses. A classical case of Bipolar would involve mood episodes only, but no psychosis; a classic case of Schizophrenia would involve Psychosis, but no mood problems. In reality, a lot of people with psychosis get depressed or sometimes even (hypo)manic and a lot of people with bipolar get psychotic features.

What you are experiencing is "psychotic features", i.e. whilst you are hullucinating right now, I can tell that you are still fairly lucid and still aware that this is not normal. A diagnosis of either Bipolar Disorder with psychotic features or Schizoaffective Disorder is possible. This is nothing to be ashamed of, but its certainly something that you should speak to your psychiatrist about.

I never heard voices outright per se. But I had some psychosic features. I had delusions of grandeur when I was Manic; I believed that I was the King of England. I had delusions of persecution (Paranoia); I believe my mother and my friends were all part of a conspiricy to manipulate and brainwash me. And I would see flashing lights in my field of vision.

It would help if you were to tell me more about your state of mind right now.
Are you manic, depressed or stable right now? Do you experience any Paranoia, delusions, disordered thought processes, or other types of hallucinations (visual, touch, taste, smell)? Have you been taking your medication regularly and if so what type of med do you take?

Regardless, my advice would be go and get help ASAP, and if you get on the right meds it can stop you from ever going full-blown Psychotic. People who manage to stop this problem in its early stages, go onto do a lot better in life than those that don't. If you are not already, you should be using an Antipsychotic. If you are on one, look into getting the dose/type adjusted. Frankly, if you ask my opinion, Antipsychotics are a lot better than Lithium/Valproate against BP, they are just as effective at treating mania and offer protection against psychosis and don't cause as many physical side effects, unlike Lithium/Valproate.

 

[wellness]

Despite diagnosis being very pigeon-holed in today's medicine, its believed that Bipolar and Schizophrenia exist on the same spectrum of illnesses. A classical case of Bipolar would involve mood episodes only, but no psychosis; a classic case of Schizophrenia would involve Psychosis, but no mood problems. In reality, a lot of people with psychosis get depressed or sometimes even (hypo)manic and a lot of people with bipolar get psychotic features.

What you are experiencing is "psychotic features", i.e. whilst you are hullucinating right now, I can tell that you are still fairly lucid and still aware that this is not normal. A diagnosis of either Bipolar Disorder with psychotic features or Schizoaffective Disorder is possible. This is nothing to be ashamed of, but its certainly something that you should speak to your psychiatrist about.

I never heard voices outright per se. But I had some psychosic features. I had delusions of grandeur when I was Manic; I believed that I was the King of England. I had delusions of persecution (Paranoia); I believe my mother and my friends were all part of a conspiricy to manipulate and brainwash me. And I would see flashing lights in my field of vision.

It would help if you were to tell me more about your state of mind right now.
Are you manic, depressed or stable right now? Do you experience any Paranoia, delusions, disordered thought processes, or other types of hallucinations (visual, touch, taste, smell)? Have you been taking your medication regularly and if so what type of med do you take?

Regardless, my advice would be go and get help ASAP, and if you get on the right meds it can stop you from ever going full-blown Psychotic. People who manage to stop this problem in its early stages, go onto do a lot better in life than those that don't. If you are not already, you should be using an Antipsychotic. If you are on one, look into getting the dose/type adjusted. Frankly, if you ask my opinion, Antipsychotics are a lot better than Lithium/Valproate against BP, they are just as effective at treating mania and offer protection against psychosis and don't cause as many physical side effects, unlike Lithium/Valproate.

Well said mate !!
From my personal experience of having these Voices for over 30 years now, in this life-time of Voices I have been mis-classified with both Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder as well as Atypical Psychosis and Catatonia.
Despite all of these illnesses and being infected with Voices I was able to complete a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and hold a highly paying job.... my greatest achievement is all of this DESPITE having these Voices. Truely get the feeling of a Beautiful Mind that would have gone to the Moon if there were NO Voices.
For the most part other than being a bit depressive, I have not experienced any other symptoms ... my only mental health symptom is these darn Voices!!! So for such situations it is needed to understand The Voices symptom in isolation!
I don't think that the Psychiatric world has a clue or got it right on this diagnosis.... they are just for the most part SUBJECTIVE labels.
Nothing objective about their diagnosis at all.
I have had numerous conversations with many Big pharma Executives in trying to get them to develop cures and get better remedies for these darn Voices. But I have been bluntly told that finding cures for The Voices is NOT a priority ...

Cheerio ...