Treating Your Disorder Successfully: Choose the Right Bipolar Medication

July 29, 2008

It is believed that knowledge is very important to fight bipolar disorder. Information can help in the recovery of a person and foster acceptance of one’s self and relate to other people within a community. The motivation of patients to communicate with their health care providers has a greater chance of attaining a successful result. There was even a documented report that patients with chronic illnesses felt better because they had regular doctor visits.

There is an estimated two million Americans who are affected by this manic-depressive disorder. This is often disruptive and distressing similar to other serious disorders. It is also difficult to handle for spouses, friends, family members, and employers. They must cope up with some severe behavioral problems like uncontrollable spending sprees and its long-term consequences.

A bipolar disorder pertains to a brain disorder that is considered a serious problem. It is an illness of the mind involving serious episodes of depression and mania. The mood swings of a person ranges from extremely irritable and high to hopeless and sad, and vice versa. However, in between this swings, normal mood and behavior still occurs.

Read the rest of this entry »


Tapestry of Causes of Bipolar Disorder

July 10, 2008

The medical society may have disagreed about so many diseases in this world since Pandora has opened the little box of horrors. One of the few things that they have agreed upon is that bipolar disorder is not caused by a lone factor. Several factors are intertwined together to produce a cloth of the illness. Hence, its being so called to run among blood relatives, other factors such as biochemical and environmental can not just be eliminated. In other words, having a relative with a bipolar disorder doesn’t always mean you’ll get it too, but there is a big possibility. Moreover, having a clean slate in the family background doesn’t always save you from the lash of the sickness.

Luck seems to be the key to escaping any illness or disease.

Bipolar disorder is an illness characterized by cyclical mood swings which may start during the adolescent years or later in life. There are some cases where young children were afflicted with the disorder. It does not spare any race, gender, social class, or ethnicity. The disorder is treated with an amalgamation of mood stabilizers, anti-depressants, anti-manics or anti-psychotics, and psychotherapy. Read the rest of this entry »


Sugar and Salt: My Life with Bipolar Disorder an Overview

April 14, 2008

Sugar and Salt: My Life with Bipolar Disorder is a book about a middle aged woman who had and managed to survive bipolar disorder also known as Manic-depression, but along the way experiences the bitter and sweet moments of life in a not so normal way. She only knew of her illness when she turned 32. In the book, it is vividly detailed what it is like to live in a family threatened by such an illness, how to fit in school or do work while dealing with the undiagnosed illness. She also describes her ordeal of facing the failure of her marriage and other relationships, how she tries to understand that, however she tries to live a normal life it just bounce back and still she lives a very different and more complicated life than the persons she knew. Until she admits that there is something wrong about her and that she needs professional help.

After the acceptance of the strange malady within her comes the long journey to get treatment as she tries one medication after the other after being mistaken for a psychotic. For more or less five years her life was devoted in seeking the proper knowledge and ways to approach the said disorder that she has been putting up for such a long time until the part came where she realizes that for her to get the proper treatment she needs she had to enter a mental hospital. She illustrates the life she had lived in a locked ward and how fortunate she was when her attending physician finally finds a certain medication that her disorder responds to. She feels that she had the key to break free from her long ordeal and finally she gets the normal feeling she always wanted.
Read the rest of this entry »


Bipolar II Disorder: The Signs, Symptoms and Treatment to Cope Up With This Brain Disorder

March 15, 2008

In order to live a normal and productive life, you should have a healthy body. This is what most people often say and believe. However, what most people don’t know is that they should also consider that their brain should also function normally. Besides, having a brain that doesn’t function properly can affect the way you live your daily life.

Today, recent advances and research in psychiatry have found different kinds of brain disorders that can affect almost everyone. One such brain disorder is called bipolar disorder. This particular disorder can affect the way you control your mood or your emotion. Normally, there are some instances where you feel some ups and downs, depending on your environment. This means that when something happens that you like, you will feel happy or when something happens that you don’t like, you will feel depressed. This is a normal reaction of your body.

However, a person suffering from bipolar disorder cannot control their mood. There will be a constant cycle of depressive and manic episodes where a person will feel excessively happy and excessively depressed at no reason at all. People suffering from bipolar disorder can seem unusually happy or sad at some intervals. Severe cases of bipolar disorder have been known to cause several noticeable mood swings in a single day.

As mentioned before, there are two episodes that a person suffering from bipolar disorder experiences. The first one is the manic episode where a person will feel extremely happy, feels that they have a lot of energy, feels that they don’t need sleep and others. The person in the manic episode will usually talk very fast with racing thoughts that results in jumping from one idea to another. He or she will also be irritable and will not accept that there is something wrong.

In the depressive episode, the person will feel depressed and excessively sad. They will feel that they are useless, they will be irritable, they feel restless, they feel that they need to sleep, and in severe cases of bipolar disorder, they think about death and suicide where they can attempt to commit suicide.
Read the rest of this entry »


Bipolar Disorder: Symptoms of Mania in Manic-Depressive Illness

March 7, 2008

There are many people today that are unaware or little informed about a very serious brain condition that can affect their daily life. This condition can cause difficulties in controlling ones mood that can result in having relationship problems, and can make their performance at work or at school deteriorate.

Many people consider that having a good physical health is enough in order to live a normal and productive lifestyle. What most people neglect to consider is that they should also be aware about their mental health where they may never know if they are already suffering from a serious bran disorder called bipolar disorder or sometimes called as manic-depressive illness.

This particular disorder can affect a person’s mood which can include unusually excessive highs and lows in their mood. This means that people with bipolar disorder experiences different moods, such as excessive happiness, and excessive depression in cycles. What this suggests is that people with bipolar disorder can experience being depressed or being euphoric at no reason at all. It just happens.
Read the rest of this entry »


Bipolar Disorder: What You Should Know About This Illness

March 3, 2008

It is important for people to function daily in the society in order to work, and whatever their daily activities are. In order to function properly, your health should also be in good condition especially your brain. You have to consider that your brain is what controls most part of your body and as well as your decision and other psychological factors. Emotions and your mood is also controlled by a certain part of the brain.

However, what if you have or someone you know has brain disorder? With a brain disorder, you have to consider that it can definitely affect your daily task. Even controlling your emotions and your mood can be difficult. One kind of disorder of the brain is called bipolar disorder. This kind of disorder can affect ones ability to function properly in their daily lives. It can affect several aspects, such as the emotion, mood, and also your body’s energy.

Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depressive illness. This particular illness causes unusual shifts in the person’s brain. Normally, people experience ups and downs in life. However, with a bipolar disorder, the person affected will experience severe mood change. As you can see, bipolar disorder can affect everything about a person’s lives. With this disorder, it can result in relationship problems, poor job and school performance, and in some cases, it can even lead to suicide.
Read the rest of this entry »


Bipolar Disorder: Tests for Determining If a Person Has Bipolar Disorder

January 28, 2008

In order to live a normal life, it is important for a person to have good physical health. However, you should also consider that your mental health is also important. The brain is what controls everything you do in your daily life. It controls your speech, it controls your motor skills and it also controls your emotions. Although you are the person who decides whether you are in a bad mood or in a good mood, there are some people with mental disorder that cannot control their emotions.

This kind of disorder is called bipolar disorder or commonly called as manic-depressive illness. Many people call this manic-depressive illness because a person suffering from this kind of disorder cannot control their emotions or their mood. You will notice that a person suffering from bipolar disorder have constant mood swings. In one moment, you will see that they are happy and the next minute they will get depressed at no reason at all.

Bipolar disorder is a serious condition that can affect the daily activities of those affected. Since they constantly change their mood, they will have trouble with their relationships as well as their performance in school or at work. You have to consider that a lot of marriages and friendship, as well as school grades and jobs have been lost due to bipolar disorder.
Read the rest of this entry »


Essential Overview on Bipolar Depression Characteristics

November 15, 2007

Bipolar disorder in psychiatry is a medical diagnosis which refers to mania (mixed states or hypomania) alternated with euthymic or depressed mood (clinical depression) within a specific duration of time. Compared to ups and downs experienced by normal people, a person affected by a bipolar disorder can have extreme swings of moods which can last for a few minutes or even months. Changes in moods are often associated with disruption and distress with high suicidal tendencies. There are also instances linking bipolar disorder to extreme functioning. Most creative talents are attributing bipolar disorder on their creativity.

A bipolar disorder is categorized either as Type I or Type II. In Type I, a person may experience a full-blown mania. In Type II, the “highs” of a person never exceed the hypomania stage unless it was triggered by the mania medications. During manic periods, psychosis may occur. Rapid cycling is also possible. When talking about bipolar disorder, severity and problems connected with moods have its own variations. Thus, a bipolar spectrum disorder concept is employed more often which includes cyclothymia.
Read the rest of this entry »


Depression Symptom Experienced By Bipolar Patients

November 5, 2007

Different illnesses often cause a lot of confusion among people. In recorded history, depression has been already cited. If you’re familiar with Job and King David, they suffered from such disorder. Even Hippocrates mentioned about depression, but at that time, it was referred as melancholia which literarily meant black bile. Medical physiology before humored about the four fluids including black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. Arts and literature was also able to portray depression for many years. But today, what is meant by a depressive disorder?

Depressive disorders are not new, in fact, for many years people suffered from it without getting any treatment. Millions of people at present are not even aware that they have the disorder. And those that are already aware of it don’t want to accept such fact because they think it’s quite embarrassing. Like other illnesses, depressive disorders are divided into types. People are familiar with major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder.
Read the rest of this entry »


Tips on Recognizing Bipolar Symptom and Its Importance

October 16, 2007

Bipolar disorder, also called as manic-depressive disease has severe effects on the life of the sufferer as well as those people closest to them. The patients need almost everybody’s attention. They need it from their psychiatrist, physicians, close friends, and supportive networks.

There are approximately 2 million Americans who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But most of them are unaware that such condition is present. It is because it can trigger any time. In most cases, the symptoms started to manifest during adolescence or early adulthood. Fortunately, there is nothing to worry about because this brain disorder is treatable. You just need to recognize different symptoms to achieve proper diagnosis as well as treatment.
Read the rest of this entry »