Tag Archives: Bipolar

Depression-Hypomania Bipolar II for 17 years. Is the depression external event caused or chemical imbalance.

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lotsofcoffee Wonders: Depression-Hypomania Bipolar II for 17 years. Is the depression external event caused or chemical imbalance.
Can a tramatic event, although seeming managable at the time cause depression. Or is a chemical imbalance (low sertonin) eventually lead to depression with or without external causes. Is hypomania bipolar II mixed state bipolar difficult to diagnose? Can a person with the above suffer from a “lack of insight” much more common with bipolar I than II. I am skeptical a event of 17 years ago can cause a slow but consistent slide in a quality of life issue. I am in therapy. With revealing talks with old friends my behavior did change (slowly) but consistently almost two decades ago! Is this posible?

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Answer by Sierra B
I’ve done a lot of research on bipolar and I haven’t really found a consistent cause for depression, just the mania. But anit-depressants don’t work on the depression because in a study they found a placebo was more effective than the antidepressant. So it’s not particularly chemical. So it is very possible that an event 17 years ago could have triggered it. It’s called diathesis stress model. You could have been predisposed to bipolar, but had a supportive environment and nothing to trigger it, but this even disrupted everything.

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The Most Popular Bipolar Drugs  

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Article by Julie Frey







For many disorders, bipolar disorder included, there is not just one but many drug treatments available. Here are three of the most popular drug treatments currently being used to treat bipolar disease.

Lithium

Lithium is commonly known as the first mood stabilizer. Although it was discovered in 1817, it was not until much later in the century that it was found to have mood stabilizing properties, specifically anti-manic capabilities. By 1969 it was the preferred method of treating manic depression.

It is not known exactly how lithium works with the brain to stabilize moods. It’s theorized that those afflicted with bipolar disease have a chemical imbalance in the part of the brain that controls emotions and that lithium helps to restore the correct balance.

Today, lithium is usually the first drug treatment attempted when treating bipolar disorder. It is especially effective if there is a family history of bipolar disorder. If a family history does not exist, Lithium tends to be less effective and other treatments may be attempted instead.Recently, because of its toxicity and other negative effects, some medical professionals have begun to shy away from prescribing lithium.

Valproate

In the United States, valproate is the second most popular drug used to fight bipolar disorder. This seems to be mainly a direct result of the many lithium side effects and concerns. Even among doctors that prefer lithium as a first choice, valproate is usually a strong second choice. Also, as mentioned above, lithium is not always effective for treating bipolar disorder. In these cases, valproate is often considered a good alternative treatment.

Although lithium and valproate appear to have similar efficacy in treating bipolar disorder, there have been no head to head clinical trials between the two so a definitive conclusion cannot be reached. However, because valproate is less stressful to the human body, this may be a natural drug preference for some.

A second concern with using valproate is that while it has been proven to be effective against bipolar mania, it has been less effective against bipolar depression.

Carbamazepine

In Europe, carbamazepine, introduced in the early 1960s, is the second most popular drug used for treating bipolar disorder. Although, studies have proven it to be effective for bipolar disorder, it has not been approved worldwide.

And as with the drug valproate, carbamazepine while effective for treating bipolar mania, has also been less effective at treating bipolar depression.

Conclusion

Of the top three drugs used to fight bipolar disease, they all seem to be relatively equal in treating bipolar mania. However, when it comes to treating bipolar depression and in reducing feelings of suicide, lithium appears to have the clear edge.

Unfortunately, many of the studies that current bipolar treatment is based on are 15 or more years old and are very much out of date.

Fortunately, the scientific community, recognizing this, is becoming more interested in studying new treatments for bipolar mania. There are many medical trials underway that will test the potential for a new class of bipolar drugs and hopefully lead to much needed help for families dealing with this emotional wrenching disease.



About the Author

Julie Frey is webmaster of http://www.bipolarsickiness.com who writes articles relating to bipolar issues including how to find a bipolar paralegal in your area.

Bipolar Disorder – An Abnormal Mood Disorder

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Bipolar Disorder is a mood disorder characterised by abnormal mood states. More accurately it involves cycling between the high mood state of mania to the incredibly low state of depression. Bipolar disorder affects at least one in every 70 people, greatly impeding the sufferer’s ability to live a normal life, and putting them at a higher risk of personal, relationship and work related issues.

In order to understand this disorder correctly, a discussion about how we actually define mood or abnormality of mood is in order. Our moods include the obvious states of happiness and sadness, but also optimism, pessimism, contentedness or dissatisfaction and they can even cover physical states such as how fatigued one can feel. You could say that mood is like an emotional barometer a set of feelings that expresses our sense of emotional comfort or discomfort.

Generally speaking everyone’s moods vary within a certain range from day to day, people are not constantly in one state or the other and it is quite normal for people to have ups and downs of mood. So what is the difference between these regular ups and downs in mood and the moods of a bipolar disorder sufferer? Do they simply have higher ups and lower downs?

Well yes, in a certain way this is correct. A bipolar sufferers’ moods quite often are so outside the range of normal that it doesn’t take a psychologist to know something is wrong. They can swing from mood to mood like a monkey swings from a tree at a rate that is almost impossible to keep up with and that doesn’t make any rational sense. Therefore, the symptoms of bipolar disorder seem to be caused more by a defect in the brains regulation of mood.

So for what is essentially a biological condition, the effects are felt both physically and psychologically. Bipolar disorder is accompanied by a range of symptoms that affect not only mood but energy levels, memory, cognitive ability and ones ability to relate and connect to the people around them. Physically one suffers sleep impairments, energy surges or lack thereof, appetite changes and concentration difficulties. Psychologically one might experience changes in thoughts, feelings, choices and actions. As the symptoms are cyclic in nature a sufferer can be left feeling as if they are always losing ground and never quite able to get a handle on their life.

As such the prognosis for bipolar disorder can seem quite dim, however it does not have to be that way. With greater understanding of this disorder and improved medical options over the past 30 years, fortunately today there is much hope for the bipolar sufferer. Through better understanding and management techniques combined with medications such as lithium a bipolar suffer can control the cycling moods and triggers for mania and depression so that one can live an enjoyable life.

Of the treatments necessary for sufferers of bipolar disorder, non is more important than self management strategies. By developing the ability to recognise the triggers and adjusting your life accordingly, a bipolar suffer can lessen the onset and severity of manic and depressive episodes.

 

The most beneficial self management strategies include:

1. Sleep wake monitoring

2. Staying on a regular daily and nightly routine

3. Keeping a mood chart

A mood chart is really helpful in creating a structure for recognising daily changes in moods and emotions and how these changes are related to sleeping patterns, medications and stressful life events.

4. Developing a list of early warning signs is also beneficial to signalling an oncoming episode

 

The key to recovery is to achieve stability of mood. And what do we mean by stability of mood? Stability doesn’t mean you don’t have highs and lows. As we discussed earlier, having high and lows are quite normal. What it does means is that your mood needs to make sense to you and be in synch with what is happening in your life. You should be able to live your life with confidence that you can tolerate stress, and when your mood is affected by something either you get upset or excited, you can regain your balance reasonably quickly.

 

What is Bipolar Disorder?  

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Article by Peter Hutch







Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. But there is good news: bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. But there is good news: bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives.

Everyone has occasional highs and lows in their moods. But people with bipolar disorder have extreme mood swings. They can go from feeling very sad, despairing, helpless, worthless, and hopeless (depression) to feeling as if they are on top of the world, hyperactive, creative, and grandiose (mania). This disease is called bipolar disorder because the mood of a person with bipolar disorder can alternate between two completely opposite poles, euphoric happiness and extreme sadness.

The deep mood swings of bipolar disorder may last for weeks or months, causing great disturbances in the lives of those affected, and those of family and friends, too. Today, a growing volume of research suggests that bipolar disorder occurs across a spectrum of symptoms, and that many people aren’t correctly diagnosed. Left untreated, bipolar disorder generally worsens, and the suicide rate is high among those with bipolar disorder. But with effective treatment, you can live an enjoyable and productive life despite bipolar disorder.

A person with bipolar disorder will go through episodes of mania (highs) and at other times experience episodes of depression (lows). These aren’t the normal periods of happiness and sadness that everyone experiences from time to time. Instead, the episodes are intense or severe mood swings, like a pendulum that keeps arcing higher and higher.

The genetics of bipolar disorder are the most intensively studied of all psychiatric diseases. Multiple genes, involving several chromosomes, have been linked to its development. Bipolar disorder also may share these genetic factors with other disorders, including schizophrenia, epilepsy, and panic disorder. It is not clear if some of these disorders are variations of a single disease or separate disorders.

The cause of bipolar disorder is not entirely known. Genetic, neurochemical and environmental factors probably interact at many levels to play a role in the onset and progression of bipolar disorder. The current thinking is that this is a predominantly biological disorder that occurs in a specific part of the brain and is due to a malfunction of the neurotransmitters (chemical messengers in the brain). As a biological disorder, it may lie dormant and be activated spontaneously or it may be triggered by stressors in life.

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness. People who have it experience dramatic mood swings. They may go from overly energetic, “high” and/or irritable, to sad and hopeless, and then back again. They often have normal moods in between. The up feeling is called mania. The down feeling is depression. Bipolar disorder can run in families. It usually starts in late adolescence or early adulthood.



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Should You Adopt A Child When The Birth Parents Have Bipolar Disorder?

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Bipolar disorder affects millions of people worldwide. There are several treatment options available for those suffering bipolar and though this is a serious mental illness, with the proper treatment those afflicted may lead completely normal lives.

It is believed that genetics do play a part in if a person will develop bipolar, though most relatives of a person afflicted with this illness will never develop bipolar disorder. If one parent has bipolar disorder, the risk to offspring is approximately five percent. It can be as high as 14 percent if other relatives, such as an aunt or uncle, also are diagnosed. In the unusual case where both parents have bipolar disorder, the risk to offspring is approximately 30 percent, but can increase slightly if other relatives are bipolar too.

Symptoms usually develop around the age of 25, but can develop as early as puberty. Bipolar disorder carries an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Bipolar disorder includes four main mood episodes – Mania, Hypomania, Depression, and Mixed Mood. People who experience at least four of these episodes a year, which last a week or more, may have bipolar disorder.

• Manic Episode (Mania) is a distinct period during which there is an abnormally and constantly elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting at least one week.

• Hypomanic Episode (Hypomania) is a milder form of mania that lasts at least four days.

• Major Depressive Episode (Depression) is a period during which there is either depressed mood or the loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities, lasting for at least two weeks.

• Mixed Episode is a period of time during which a person experiences both manic and major depressive symptoms nearly every day for at least one week.

If you are considering adopting a child that has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, or may have a possibility of developing bipolar disorder, it is important that you learn as much as you can about the illness. Caring for someone with this disorder can be challenging for parents and it is important that you keep in mind that they will need as much loving support and understanding that you can give them.

Ultimately, the decision to adopt a child where one or both of the birth parents may have bipolar disorder lies exclusively with you. Research is being done to improve treatment. The best person to speak to about bipolar is your pediatrician. Also, you can check with national organizations specializing in bipolar and manic depression. There is no guarantee that your child will also suffer from this disorder. You will have to consider, if your child is diagnosed with being borderline bipolar, can you handle the special issues associated with raising a child who has with this disorder? Will you be able to give them the support, patience and love that they will need?

It is also important to remember that just because the parents have bipolar does not necessarily mean that their child will have the disorder. Many parents have passed on adoption situations because of something that was unfamiliar to them, so do research and ask questions of professionals before saying no to an adoption situation.

Considering adoption, but don’t know where to start? Here are some helpful sites to get you started on your way to being a parent through adoption.

www.Openadoption.com
www.ChristianAdoptionOnline.com
www.LetsTalkAdoption.com
www.AAAdoptions.com