newbie here with a little question...

[fruhlings]

my psychiatrist has always insisted that I am just depressed, but I've always suspected I might be bipolar. Now an outside doctor has said I sound like I have a "mood instability disorder", and he wants to prescribe a mood stabilizer in addition to my current anti-depressant (I've had trouble with my meds working for a while, and then not working, even at the highest dosage). Now, I feel like I've never been just "depressed", but I also am very certain that I've never had a manic episode. Looking back, however, and examining some of my different mood swings, I see that it's possible that I've had mixed or perhaps (less sure about this) hypomanic episodes, and I think I'm in the midst of a mixed episode right now, tending towards the depressive.

Can someone be bipolar and never have a manic episode, and only have mixed and depressive eps? I've looked it up online, but I really feel more comfortable asking real people, honestly.