mdquince1 asked:


I’ve been bipolar for 6 years now and I just wanted to hear others bipolar stories. I know what it says on webmd and wikipeda but I want to hear “REAL” stories of what you go through on a daily bases.

Kathryn

freedom68 asked:


I have a 17 year old male with Bipolar disorder he for gets his meds and probably does not want to take them. He has not completely accepted the diagnosis,the suicide,threats of bodly harm .How ,what I do not know if he will be safe on the streets when he turns 18,how can I protect him from him self?

Jackie

Question Queen ? asked:


I mean, if they’re both the same symptoms to 2 completely different mental disorders, then why do doctors wanna call you both? If you show you have OCD already, & you spend because you feel like you gotta have this & that JUST in case because you’d rather be safe than sorry, then why do they wanna call you Bipolar, as well? If excessive spending is one of your compulsions, then why do they try to say you’re Bipolar, too? Why can’t doctors leave well enough alone? & why does EVERY patient have to be considered Bipolar these days?

Danielle

adobeprincess asked:


I am bipolar, but on medication and my creativity is flattened. How can I get creative, so I can do some painting?
How can I get inspired?
I can tell my doctor, but I doubt she wants to do anything about it because for once I am really stable. It is wonderful to be stable, but I want to do art also.

Alvin

Toothie asked:


It seems like there are quite a few bipolar people that have not been diagnosed. I recently figured out what bipolar is and I see the symptoms in a lot of people I know personally. Im not a doctor or anything but when i see someone that has all the symptoms I start to wonder how many people are out there (like the people I see) that are not helped?

Allen

krazymaplechick asked:


When my husband is having a manic episode, he acts really hyper and can’t seem to sit still. He is also argumentative and more sensitive than usual. If I say something and he takes it the wrong way, he freaks. If I try not to say much, he gets upset that I’m not speaking to him. I’ve read a lot about bipolar, and it says to be patient and supportive, yada yada yada, but it doesn’t tell you what to DO or SAY during a manic episode.

Gail

imaquitter asked:


Does anyone know the beginning signs of bipolar disorder? And how it is linked to schizophrenia? Do the two go hand in hand?
You obviously have never been in a room where your own Mother couldn’t tell who you were. Or when she was convinced on a road trip to Ohio that she saw knights on white horses trotting on the interstate, or how about when she yelled at the man in the line at wal-mart because he was “reading her mind”

You’re a jerk. As far as ICD-9 codes go, I know how to use them thanks! I do work for a doctor and you are misinformed! Thanks come again.

Leroy

Abhishek Agarwal asked:


Bipolar disorder goes by many names: manic depression, manic-depressive disorder, manic-depressive illness, bipolar mood disorder, and bipolar affective disorder are medical terms for the same condition.

Bipolar disorder affects both men and women. For many people, the first symptoms show up in their early twenties. However, research has shown that the first episode of bipolar disorder is occurring earlier: It often shows up in adolescence, and even children can have the disorder.

Recent research suggests that kids and teens with bipolar disorder don’t always have the same behavioural patterns that adults with bipolar disorder do. For example, kids who have bipolar disorder may experience particularly rapid mood changes and may have some of the other mood-related symptoms listed below, such as irritability and high levels of anxiety. But they may not show other symptoms that are more commonly seen in adults.

Because brain function is involved, the ways people with bipolar disorder think, act, and feel are all affected. This can make it especially difficult for other people to understand their condition. It can be incredibly frustrating if other people act as though someone with bipolar disorder should just “snap out of it,” as if a person who is sick can become well simply by wanting to. Bipolar disorder isn’t a sign of weakness or a character flaw; it’s a serious medical condition that requires treatment, just like any other condition.

A person with bipolar disorder experiences alternating “highs” and “lows”. Both the manic and depressive periods can be brief, from just a few hours to a few days, or longer, lasting up to several weeks or even months. The periods of mania and depression range from person to person — many people may only experience very brief periods of these intense moods, and may not even be aware that they have bipolar disorder.

A manic episode is characterized by extreme happiness, hyperactivity, little need for sleep and racing thoughts, which may lead to rapid speech. A depressive episode is characterized by extreme sadness, a lack of energy or interest in things, an inability to enjoy normally pleasurable activities and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. On average, someone with bipolar disorder may have up to three years of normal mood between episodes of mania or depression.

Bipolar disorder is recurrent, meaning that more than 90% of the individuals who have a single manic episode will go on to experience future episodes. Roughly 70% of manic episodes in bipolar disorder occur immediately before or after a depressive episode. Treatment seeks to reduce the feelings of mania and depression associated with the disorder, and restore balance to the person’s mood.

With treatment, the outlook for bipolar disorder is favourable. Most people respond to a medication and or combination of medications. Approximately 50 percent of people will respond to lithium alone. An additional 20 to 30 percent will respond to another medication or combination of medications. Ten to 20 percent will have chronic (unresolved) mood symptoms despite treatment. Approximately 10 percent of bipolar patients will be very difficult to treat and have frequent episodes with little response to treatment. On average, a person is free of symptoms for about five years between the first and second episodes. As time goes on, the interval between episodes may shorten, especially in cases in which treatment is discontinued too soon. It is estimated that a person with bipolar disorder will have an average of eight to nine mood episodes during his or her lifetime.

However, one thing to be kept in mind is that there should be support from family and friends so that the affected person may feel more optimistic and secure.



Marc

rjc asked:


I have a daughter who is severly bipolar. One of my friends has referred to her as psychotic. Is psychosis part of the makeup of being bipolar?

Jamie

Abhishek Agarwal asked:


In order to become successful in life, it is quite essential to be healthy and wise. While any sort of physical restrictions of the body can be fought with and dealt with, the central processing unit of our body that is our brain needs to be absolutely perfect in order to live a happy & successful life. For all our errands what we primarily need is a sharp brain so as to understand our environment and act promptly & make well evaluated decisions.

Along with a perfectly working brain, what we need is a control over our emotions. Being over excited or unduly angry all the time would not help us in any way. Quoting in the right terminology all our psychological factors must be balanced enough.

And what if you discover that you yourself have or some of you known to has a brain disorder? One such common brain disorder is bipolar disorder. This disease not only effects our emotions and decisions on daily errands, in extreme cases it can lead to suicides as well.

Here are some facts that you must know about this brain disorder:

1. As the name is withdrawn rightly, the disorder has two key phases – mania and depression. All the symptoms, ailments and effects of this disorder primarily belong to these two aspects.

2. This disorder is found equally among men and women.

3. Out of the world’s total population, around 1% suffers with the bipolar disorder.

4. Mania is found in two main divisions: hypo mania & full-blown mania.

5. Hypomania is a state where the individual possesses quite intense energy & is able to yield unusually high productivity. Ones who remain until this stage turn out to be great salesmen and high powered businessmen. Yet, the danger remains as many of the hypo-maniacs are just of the verge of being full blown maniacs.

6. The full-blown maniacs’ actions are rather devastating. Individuals suffering with bipolar disorder often become subject to the full-blown mania where they start making unnecessary moves in their business. Their actions yield far more losses than benefits, they themselves are never able to note this.

7. Patients of bipolar disorder almost never consider the results of their actions. They would spend money just like anything unconsciously. The money that they might have saved for some basic necessity for home or business, they might land up pending it in something just not required. They would sign the cheques irrespective of the fact that there is money in the account or not.

8. Such patients often become too generous and gift away their treasured items or things that they just can not afford to give away. Though, later they also regret their actions.

9. In an acute manic state the bipolar disorder can be characterized by overly gregariousness of the individual. They become extra ordinarily outgoing and do not realize whether their company is good or bad. This could be quite dangerous as getting in tough with some unwanted and unethical people can also land up in several irreversible problems such as sexual exploits, henceforth pregnancy, sexual diseases, or hampered relationships.

10. In extreme cases the disease suffering with bipolar disorder lands up in a phase of psychosis. This is the time when the patient has bizarre thoughts, like delusions and hallucinations. At this time the patient looses the senses of his/her immediate environment and is not able to make out the difference between realism & hallucinations. So he /she become so vulnerable that they can not even save themselves from natural calamities.

11. Often the mania cases land up to a phase of depression. Such individuals seclude themselves from their loved ones & acquaintances and many a times become bed-ridden for days together. Their sleep, appetite, energy level, etc. everything gets deeply effected.

12. One of the major dangers in bipolar disorder when the person goes in to depression is that they become suicidal. Hence, when the patient is in the phase of depression he/she must be guarded thoroughly.

13. Many adults & teenagers try to cope up with their bipolar disorder with other prolonged diseases like alcohol and drugs. Such cases are medically termed as – dual diagnosis. Such addictions complicate the patients’ condition and make thee treatment rather more difficult. However, with the changing scenario of our society this has almost become a common factor.

Bipolar II Disorder

While the above gives you a glimpse of the bipolar disorder, another variation in this dreadful ailment is called Bipolar II Disorder.

The key points to understand about this aliment are as follows:

1. The manic episodes in case of bipolar II are not as severe as compared to the bipolar disorder.

2. Instead, the depressive episodes in the case of bipolar II are far more severe than in bipolar disorder.

3. The only abnormality that the manics face in the case of bipolar II when it comes to their daily life is that they feel far more energetic than the normal individuals. Rest they can lead a healthy life in terms of errands.

4. In the depressive episodes among bipolar II, the symptoms are almost similar to bipolar disorder except that when they are at the peak that is very severe, the patients can even try to commit a *******.

5. Bipolar II calls for a very urgent & serious medical & psychiatric check as this mental disorder is very severe and can become quite worse without being controlled.

6. The patients and the family must understand that bipolar disorder and bipolar II are both incurable, yet controllable. Such patients are able to live a healthy, successful and prolonged life with the help of will power and constant medical attention. The treatment involves varied medications and therapies that further control the ailment and help the patient getting stable.

7. While the psychotherapy sessions are going on for such patients, the family must get involved and act as a support system for the patient. They must understand about the bipolar II disorder and ways & means to cope with it.

8. In these therapies and sessions the patient is guided towards several methods in order to minimize the effect of episodes linked with bipolar II, essentially the depressive episodes.

9. During the psychotherapy, medications are prescribed for the patients to strengthen the effect of the therapy and normalize their mood swings.

10. This way the patients can also help themselves avoiding the state of reaching the peak of depressive or manic one.



Cody