Bipolar disorder is one of the most treatable serious conditions in psychiatry, and one of the most often missed. Alice Tran, PMHNP-BC provides careful diagnosis and long-term bipolar care to Maryland adults by secure telehealth.
Book a Telehealth Appointment →Most people with bipolar disorder first seek help during depression, and hypomania, the elevated periods of bipolar II, rarely feels like a problem worth mentioning: a few days of exceptional energy, little need for sleep, fast ideas, big purchases, sharper confidence. So the depression gets diagnosed, an antidepressant gets prescribed alone, and for some patients that triggers agitation, rapid cycling, or a high. Research puts the average delay from first symptoms to correct bipolar diagnosis at roughly eight years.
The evaluation here screens every depression for bipolarity as a matter of routine: episode patterns, sleep changes, family history, and past reactions to antidepressants. Distinguishing bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymia from recurrent depression, ADHD, and borderline personality patterns is exactly the kind of diagnostic work that deserves more than one visit.
Treatment centers on mood stabilizers such as lamotrigine and lithium and selected atypical antipsychotics, chosen for your episode pattern and monitored properly, including lab work ordered to a location near you. Genetic testing is available when relevant, including HLA-B*1502 screening before certain medications for patients of Asian ancestry. Follow-up is the real medicine in bipolar care: catching a mood shift two weeks early routinely prevents a two-month episode.
The subtle, seductive highs that never got reported. If antidepressants alone have repeatedly failed you or made things stranger, this evaluation matters.
Lamotrigine, lithium, and modern alternatives, with real monitoring, plain-language reasoning, and labs coordinated near you.
A first manic or hypomanic episode is frightening. Steady follow-up care afterward is what protects the years ahead.
Hypomania can look like brilliance until it does not. Discreet care for professionals who need stability without stigma.
That history is one of the classic flags, and it deserves a proper evaluation rather than another antidepressant trial. Bring your medication history; the pattern of past responses is diagnostic gold.
The goal is the opposite: removing the swings that keep hijacking your plans. Patients stabilized well usually report feeling more like themselves, not less. If a medication dulls you, that is a dosing conversation, not a life sentence.
Yes, for evaluation, medication management, and monitoring, with labs ordered locally. Acute mania or a safety crisis needs emergency in-person care, and that boundary is discussed openly at the first visit.
Closer together at the start or after any change, typically every two to four weeks, then spacing out to every one to three months once you are stable.
Bipolar evaluation and long-term care by telehealth across Maryland.
Book Now →Or call/text: (703) 791-9099