Something’s not right
Hi @Lolla,
Welcome to Forum Land. 
Yes, misdiagnosis is a big issue in the area of mental health. Compared to other areas of health, I believe we are still very much in the dark ages regarding mental illness. It is not at all uncommon for people to end up with a whole shopping list of diagnoses as they go from one health professional to another.
I have BPD and I went through a very brief stage of being diagnosed with bipolar many years ago. This was based on a ten minute consultation with a psychiatrist. I told him I got super big feelings. It was on that basis alone that he diagnosed me with bipolar and put me on medication. It was absurd.
Are you familiar with how a diagnosis is made? The diagnostic criteria for mental health conditions are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - fifth edition (DSM V). Basically it's a tick-a-box thing whereby the health professional tries to figure out if you tick enough boxes to get a particular label. There is a lot of overlap between some diagnoses, which is why people often get a different diagnosis from different mental health professionals. The DSM-V does discuss how to do a "differential diagnosis" which means how to, for example, distinguish between BPD and Bipolar.
If you believe that BPD fits better than bipolar, I would suggest getting a second (and third and fourth) opinion. It can be helpful to be familiar with the DSM-V criteria so that you can articulate why you think one diagnosis fits better than another. It sounds like you might already have a sense of this, given you are questionning the bipolar diagnosis.
Changing the subject, have you been exploring the forum? This is a good place to introduce yourself: Introduce yourself here and this is a good place to start chatting and getting to know people: Good morning.
There are quite a few people with BPD here in Forum Land so please feel free to ask more questions. If you want to let someone know you have responded to them, you need to put the @ symbol in front of their name. That way they will receive a notification about your post.
I hope you can feel well supported here Lolla.
Hi @Former-Member and @Lolla,
It definitely used to be the case that anyone seen as complex or difficult to treat was given the label of BPD. However, thankfully that is gradually changing.
The diagnostic criteria for BPD are quite specific. There are nine diagnostic criteria and a person must have at least five of them to receive the diagnosis. The diagnostic criteria are listed on p. 663 of the DSM-V. BPD is very treatable, the problem is that treatment is intensive and long-term which sadly means it is out of reach of most people. Thus those of us with BPD tend to get band-aide solutions a lot of the time. 
@Lolla I guess what you are seeing here is different attitudes to diagnosis and mental health professionals. I personally do not understand why "professionals" are considered somehow more capable of reading the DSM-V that anyone else. However, I respect that we live in a society where for whatever reason, this is the case.
About four years ago, I figured out that I had Asperger's syndrome. No one had ever picked this up in the 17 years and 40+ psychiatric admissions that I'd had. After I figured it out for myself, I paid hundreds of dollars to get assessed at an autism specialist clinic because I knew no one would believe me unless an "expert" had given me the diagnosis. I walked out with the diagnosis confirmed about 90 minutes later. So yep, my attitudes towards mental health professionals and the value of expert opinion versus doing one's own research is very much shaped by my experiences. However, I completely respect that others hold different views.
Hi @Lolla,
First of all Welcome to the Forums! Thank you so much for sharing your concern around being misdiagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, when you feel you may be experiencing Borderline Personality Disorder. Many members here on the forums have spoken about misdiagnosis and concerns around misdiagnosis. As @Phoenix_Rising and @Former-Member said, if you feel you have been incorrectly diagnosed, a great next step is to get a second/third opinion.
If you feel it would be helpful, I have hyperlinked some specific threads around misdiagnosis and Borderline Personality Disorder, as follows: "Newly (and finally) diagnosed with BPD by @Raven; and "What I wish the rest of the world knew," by @catalytic.
I hope these resources are helpful. Please keep us updated, and let us know the next step you take to address your concerns around being misdiagnosed. Hopefully, other members respond to this thread, talking about similar issues, and how they have approached such concerns.
Kindest,
Amour_Et_Psyché
