tilley asked:


I am bipolar and take lamictal 100mg. Recently my doctor prescribed me adderal 5mg to help me focus at work. He said this could work one of two ways:

Good: It will help me focus
Bad: It can make me go back into the mood swings and I won’t realize it’s not working.

Should I forego the stimulants and just increase the dosage of my bipolar meds, or should I give this a try?

Lydia

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

Lina Smith asked:


Being diagnosed with an illness can often bring a sense of relief. It can help a person to make sense of the way they have been feeling for some time and draw a line under the frustration of not knowing what their condition was. At the same time though it can also bring up a whole host of new questions and worries, and this certainly happens when a person is diagnosed as being bipolar.

Bipolar disorder or disease as it is also known is a type of mood disorder that can send the bipolar person into manic highs and depressive lows. In between these periods, or episodes, the individual who is bipolar can feel totally normal and this is what can make having a diagnosis of bipolar disorder so hard to cope with.

Unfortunately being diagnosed with bipolar is seen as something as a stigma and this is due, in part to society not fully understanding the impact that being bipolar has on a person. Being diagnosed with bipolar is just the start of a long journey for a person who is striving to become well again and wants to function just like anyone else. It is all too easy to think that as soon as a person finds out they are bipolar all they have to do is to start taking their pills for the disease and this will miraculously cure them in no time. This assumption is wrong.

Instead being diagnosed with bipolar means that the person can now start to find what type of treatment will work the best for them and move forward with their lives. If you have had a recent diagnosis of bipolar you might have mixed feelings about what this will mean for your future so it is essential that you find out all you can about the condition.

Bipolar disorder can be treated in two main ways – with drugs which are prescribed specifically to the individual based on their own needs and the severity of their bipolar disorder and psychosocial treatments. Lithium is often used as it works very well as a mood stabiliser and there are different strengths of this available for doctors to prescribe for people diagnosed as being bipolar. Lamotrigine is also used if the patient has severe episodes of depression as this can help to alleviate the symptoms and further stabilise the mood. There is currently a strong debate over whether or not antidepressants should be used to treat those people who are bipolar as they have been known to be a trigger for depressive episodes, so it is quite unlikely that these would be prescribed.

Psychosocial treatments can come in the form of cognitive behaviour therapies and similar as these work at the core of bipolar disease and help to highlight emotional triggers for a sufferer. In fact many people believe that when used in conjunction with the correct drugs psychosocial therapy can make a big difference to the quality of life for a person who is bipolar.



Javier

msexprss asked:


What parts of the brain are defected in a person whom suffers from bipolar? I need to know how bipolar effects the brain.

Ashley

Lina Smith asked:


Being bipolar and living with the illness means that you should have a bipolar disorder treatment plan in place. This usually begins to be formed from the time that a diagnosis of bipolar disorder is made. Often the bipolar disorder treatment is split into two types – one for treating manic episodes and one for treating depressive episodes. It is essential that this happens so that the person with bipolar disorder is getting the correct bipolar disorder treatment.

During a manic episode the bipolar disorder treatment will start with the elimination of any substances that might could the sufferer harm – many will turn to stimulant drugs so they should be removed as they can further alter the mood. Next an assessment should be made to determine whether the best form of bipolar disorder treatment is to hospitalise the sufferer. In particularly extreme manic episodes this can happen to prevent the sufferer from coming to any harm.

Then mood stabilising drugs need to be administered as the next phase in the bipolar disorder treatment. Lithium tends to be used at this stage as it is can be a highly effective mood stabiliser. If after a week or so the bipolar sufferer will then be given antipsychotic drugs which should help to stabilise the moods. After this stage of bipolar disorder treatment additional drugs may be prescribed along with any therapy that might be needed. By this point the bipolar sufferer should be quite stable and able to continue with their daily life as usual.

During a depressive episode the bipolar disorder treatment is quite similar with lamotrigine or lithium being given to the sufferer initially. If they fail to respond to these many doctors have the opinion that they will have to cope with the depressive episode for as long as it lasts. Strangely antidepressants are not normally included in bipolar disorder treatment plan for depressive episodes as they don’t tend to work very well.

Once the bipolar disorder treatment is underway the next step could be to begin cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) so that the sufferer can start to recognise what triggers their bipolar disorder and learn ways to avoid these triggers. Therapy of this form can be hugely successful if the sufferer is willing to try this type of bipolar disorder treatment. By being able to manage their different moods a bipolar sufferer is helping to reduce the number and severity of depressive and manic episodes. Alternative bipolar disorder treatments are also quite popular with yoga and meditation being two of the most widely used by sufferers around the world.

Although there is no known cure for bipolar disorder there are a number of ways that bipolar disorder treatment can help sufferers and there is constant research into finding more ways. It may seem as though there is nothing that can be done for someone who is bipolar but as you can see there are several options that sufferers can try to find which is the best bipolar disorder treatment for them.



Juan

Lina Smith asked:


It is never easy living with an illness, especially one that can be hard to manage at the best of time and bipolar disorder is such an illness. Bipolar disorder affects the mood of a sufferer to such an extent that living a ‘normal’ life can become virtually impossible. Some of the characteristics of bipolar disorder are that a person with it will have episodes of incredibly intense ‘highs’ or elevated happiness and at times these episodes can result in mania and extreme behaviours. At the opposite end of the scale a person with bipolar disorder will also suffer from extreme ‘lows’ where they are swallowed by feelings of depression, guilt, anxiety and may even have suicidal thoughts.

When a person’s mood swings between these two opposites it can make living with bipolar disorder very hard to cope with. In many cases the sufferer feels as though they are the only person who has to live with bipolar disorder and this can be a trigger in itself. It is at these times when it is useful for someone with bipolar disorder to have someone to discuss their feelings with.

Often there are also, in between these episodes of feeling high and low the person with bipolar disorder can feel very normal and often it is these times that can cause the most problems. It is at these times when a bipolar disorder sufferer can start to think that they can manage their condition without the need for medication – and some will stop taking what has been prescribed to them. This is very dangerous as this can be the trigger for an episode and without mood stabilising medication the high or low experienced can be incredibly intense and difficult to deal with effectively and safely.

Another very useful treatment which is used in addition to medication is psychosocial therapy sessions. These can take the form of cognitive behavioural therapy sessions where the therapist and the patient try to identify ‘triggers’ to a bipolar episode and work on ways to overcome and avoid them. Or they can be family behavioural therapy sessions in which the person with bipolar disorder and the people they live attend and try to work out coping strategies for everyone. This type of treatment can be massively successful when there are other people involved as often they are able to identify when a bipolar disorder sufferer is about to have an episode and can then act accordingly.

One thing is for certain, living with bipolar disorder is not easy – but it is more achievable than you might think. As long as a person’s bipolar disorder is kept under control with the correct medication, and any emotional triggers are identified and avoided there is no reason why life cannot continue as normal. Problems occur however when the medication is not taken and the person with bipolar disorder has an additional problem with alcohol or stimulants, both of which can play a large part in the illness and should be avoided.



Douglas

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