Meaning of Bipolar Manic Depression

Symptoms of bipolar manic disorder include sleeplessness, high energy levels, having large plans for activities, restlessness, talkativeness and uneasiness. Symptoms of bipolar depression are low energy with negative feelings like hopelessness, guilt, anxiety, and appetite loss. A patient might have many of these symptoms daily. The symptoms typically happen throughout the late teenage or early grown up years. The majority of patients begin having the symptoms at approximately twenty five years old. According to statistics, females are 3X more likely to have bipolar episodes than males are. The NIMH additionally says that a family history of the disorder might make an individual’s risk of having these symptoms higher.

Examination

Physical examinations, interview, lab tests like blood work and brain scans and evaluation of the patient’s medical history is involved in the first step in diagnosis. The doctor may provide referral to a trained mental health specialist such as a psychiatrist, who is more experienced in handling bipolar disorder after a complete diagnostic evaluation. Extremely important in helping bipolar sufferers lead a normal life is proper and immediate diagnosis. To reduce the frequency or severity of the symptoms, it will also help provide the right kind of treatment.

Remedy

A combination of medication and psychotherapy is usually recommended to effectively prevent relapse and bipolar episodes. Mood stabilizers (lithium, valproic acid, and anticonvulsants), atypical antipsychotic (olanzapine, aripiprazolw, quetiapine, risperidone) and antipsychotic drugs may be prescribed among bipolar patients. These are usually prescribed by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. In some cases, sleep medications or sedatives are recommended to patients having trouble sleeping. Psychotherapy or ‘talk therapy’ provides support, guidance and education among bipolar patients as well as their families. It involves several approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, family-focused therapy, interpersonal and social rhythm therapy and psycho education.

Warning

With bipolar manic depressive disorder, making it more difficult to diagnose and treat because there are other illnesses that may coexist. Causing behavioral problems associated with bipolar manic disorder and substance abuse may prolong or trigger bipolar symptoms. Bipolar disorder may be overlapped with anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress, social phobia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Developing thyroid disease, migraine headaches, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, other physical illnesses and people suffering this condition have higher risks also. Hence, seeking professional help is advised upon experiencing symptoms of bipolar depressive or bipolar manic disorder.

Ken P Doyle has vast amounts of knowledge and understanding in mental health issues. For additionalinformation on bipolar manic depressive disorder or bipolar manic disorder, look up his websitetoday.

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Emotional pain is a distressing feeling in the mind, which is experienced through the loss of someone you hold dear. This painful experience can arise from depression, fear, anxiety, disappointment or guilt. For those going through traumatic experiences reliving or the replay of these past events can become disabling. These crippling effects, affects the moods, relationships, professional and personal life. What makes it worse is it occupies the mind day in and day out. But for those with bipolar disorder symptoms it is quite different from the normal experience as we will try to discuss later on.

The Causes Emotional Pain?

Some people can go through these experiences in their childhood years due to a number of factors like sexual and physical abuse, abandoned and being neglected by parents, or the loss of somebody special. With adults, the emotional pain can be caused by the end of a relationship like divorce, the loss of work, the loss of someone special, being a victim in a crime of violence and the abuse of alcohol or drugs. Very often when trauma is severe , the victims can inhibit bad dreams and frequent nightmares. Those who have gone through the horrors of war or the experience of rape, mental images can be daily experienced.

Deep Emotional Pain in Bipolar

Emotional pain that are experienced by bipolar victims can be quite deep and lots of people reach the point where it is so hurting they can hardly move. These pains can be compared to somebody putting a knife into them. This very deep pain can last from a few minutes to a few hours and suddenly disappear. These emotional pain can be so bad that the feeling of loneliness may also come together with the emotional pain.

Linking Past Traumas with Depression

All our experiences of the past are stored in our unconscious mind and some believe this pain which is caused by the way we look at ourselves, hate of self, very deep shame, worry and the feeling of guilt is surfaced. All these negative emotions and thoughts may have a hand to both the mania and depressive episodes.

Parting Words

While we may just brush aside these deep emotions, it is important we take this pain seriously. This emotional pain can lead to people committing suicide. The use of medications can be necessary but some people can go without drugs and live a normal life. Usually in the midst of a severe crisis, bipolar medications are often the safest and quickest to getting the person back to normalcy. Important to understand is that all present and past issues play a part in creating emotional instability. Those with bipolar symptoms, their emotional pain cannot be traced back to an event, these pains seems to come from nowhere and stop all of a sudden.

It is really sad in our society today being so obsessed with “feeling good, looking good” and “performing well.” And because of that we have turned into a society of “medication freaks.” This article tries to outline some of the problems we as a society are faced with today when our child or members of our family have symptoms of bipolar.

The First Problem ” Pressures

When teachers and everybody are met with an overactive child people around are fast to advise parents for their child to go on bipolar medication. This is because we and teachers want to have a cookie cutter classroom.” Everybody has turned into what we call self taught authorities” in determining the problems with children. This is very frightening but more frightening is; more than half of parents were advised by these smart authorities that their children should go on medication. Our children are put on medicated drugs because of the amount of pressures from these non professionals.

2nd Problem ” Quick Fix

What happens most of the time, instead of helping to de-stress our lives, we take a pill when we are not feeling well and if its does not get better, we add another dose. We must give time for a headache to heal itself slowly. Another scenario, our little son coughs, we immediately rush for the their cough and cold medications. If they don’t want to take it because of the flavor, we run out and get another flavor. It is important we give our body the chance to work out the problem; its probably some dust that is stuck in the throat. But no, we pump our children up with all sort of medicine we can get our hands on.

Third Problem ” Wrong Diagnosis

We find that a lot of doctors are fast in prescribing strong medication to very young children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder ( ADHD). In a lot of cases it may cure the present illness, sometime other symptoms which were not present resurface, so other drugs is given. This can be compared to the person who swallowed a fly and to get the fly she had to take in the spider to catch the fly and the rat to get rid of the spider. Most doctors are too proud to admit that they they are lost in their diagnosis and so pump medication after medication, stimulants and ant stimulants, antidepressants and antipsychotics into the young child’s body.

4th Problem ” Availability of Drugs

When we have the money we want the fix it NOW attitude. Part of the problem is the easy excess of medication in our society. We are a very impatient society who are not willing to help the body use its own natural strength to fight whatever is causing the illness.

Fifth ” Money

We all want earn money including pharmaceuticals and so these big powerful companies are willing to sell their drugs no matter who is hurt in the process. Secondly some doctors know their real strength and weakness with bipolar medications but cannot admit it. While this may offend some, many times those who are making the medicine and those giving it are all driven by earning more money.

Final words

I think we have said enough to shed some light into the different problems we are face with today. Before you start running off to get your next batch of medications, why don’t you try the non medication approach which has been proven very successful by many people. Or do you want your child walking around with so many drugs in their system.

A distressing feeling in the mind, emotional pain can be experienced through the loss of someone we love so much. These emotional experiences can arise from the mind causing depression, fear of something, anxiety, guilt or disappointment . These traumatic experiences for those reliving or the replay of these past traumas can become crippling. These can effect moods, our relationship with others, professional and our personal life. One of the worst things about these experiences is it occupies the mind for a long time. As we will see later those with bipolar disorder symptoms are quite different in their experiences of this emotional pain.

The Causes Emotional Pain?

Some people can go through these experiences in their childhood years due to a number of factors like sexual and physical abuse, abandoned and being neglected by parents, or the loss of somebody special. With adults, the emotional pain can be caused by the end of a relationship like divorce, the loss of work, the loss of someone special, being a victim in a crime of violence and the abuse of alcohol or drugs. Very often when trauma is severe , the victims can inhibit bad dreams and frequent nightmares. Those who have gone through the horrors of war or the experience of rape, mental images can be daily experienced.

Deep Emotional Pain in Bipolar

Emotional pain that are experienced by bipolar victims can be quite deep and lots of people reach the point where it is so hurting they can hardly move. These pains can be compared to somebody putting a knife into them. This very deep pain can last from a few minutes to a few hours and suddenly disappear. These emotional pain can be so bad that the feeling of loneliness may also come together with the emotional pain.

Past Traumas and Bipolar Depression

All our experiences of the past are stored in our unconscious mind and some believe this pain which is caused by the way we look at ourselves, hate of self, very deep shame, worry and the feeling of guilt is surfaced. All these negative emotions and thoughts may have a hand to both the mania and depressive episodes.

Parting Words

This emotional pain have lead a lot of people committing suicide and it is important not to be just brushed aside and be taken seriously. Using medications may be necessary for some people but, some others can go without drugs and live quite a normal life. When in a bad or severe crisis, bipolar medications can be the safest and fastest way to getting the person back to normal. All present and past issues play a very critical role in creating emotional instability and those with bipolar symptoms, their emotional pain cannot be linked back to a traumatic event. These pains seems to pop out of nowhere and disappear all of a sudden.

With long periods of depression followed by manic mood episodes, bipolar disorder characteristics are the thoughts and mood disorders. Each person is different, depending on each patient, depression or mania can last a long time. Bipolar mania is sometimes called mania or hypo mania (a much lesser form of mania). With those in the hypo mania stage, victims may be irritable, too sensitive with an extremely elevated mood. Victims associated with mania episodes have big plans, involved in many projects and quite talkative. The high risk for bipolar manic victims is the use of alcohol or cocaine.

The use of Anti-Psychotic Drugs

The presence of psychotic thoughts, leading to highly charged emotional responses and judgment errors which can render them incapable of communicating is the main symptoms for those with bipolar mania. It is important before these thoughts get out of control, patients must be given mood stabilizing medicine to control their symptoms. These drugs may include:

Clorazil : First used in Europe in 1971 for the treating schizophrenia. It is the first antipsychotic drug to be developed.

Risperdal: Under this market name, was developed by Janssen-Cilag as an antipsychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia. It was later used for mixed and mania episodes and children with autism disease.

Zyprexa: A combination of two drugs fluoxetine Symbyax and FDA approved for antipsychotic and treatment of schizophrenia and later for the treatment of bipolar.

First Line Treatments

The recent practice guidelines, for many doctors the first-line of treatment for severe bipolar manic episodes are:

Lithium: A drug primarily for bipolar mania, is a chemical salts and used as a mood stabilizer.

Valproate: Used in bipolar treatment, it is a replacement to lithium salts and many believe it reverses the brain process and affect the function of the neurotransmitter.

Monotherapy: HAS been approved by FDA for treating bipolar manic and bipolar I victims

Family as a Therapy

A lot of people who are bipolar manic or depressive episodes forget that the first line therapy is a family-focused therapy which can be quite effective for bipolar patients. Bipolar Manic states can be made worse by bad blood running within family members. With this family-focused therapy, all members of the family must help to contribute by trying to manage their individual behaviors so to reduce a catalyst for the symptom to reoccur. The primary goal of this bipolar treatment -family therapy is be alert to the signs and symptoms of bipolar manic symptoms and how to handle it properly when the signs start to appear.

Dialectal Behavior – Therapy

This kind of behavior therapy was first started by Dr. Marsha Linehan in which patients go through different stages of therapy which finally can lead them to taking control of their behaviors. One of the main focus of this therapy is patients learn to accept and control their thought patterns

Reducing behaviors which are self-threatening like being suicidal and other bipolar manic behaviors that obstruct with bipolar treatment is the first stage goals. For manic victims, building on these stages requires skill training.

Bipolar disorder is characterized by thoughts and mood disorders with long periods of depression followed by manic mood episodes. Depending on each individual, periods of depression or mania may last from just a few months to one whole year. Bipolar manic is sometimes referred to as mania or hypo mania (much lesser form of mania). In the hypo mania state, patients may be irritable, oversensitive and have an extremely elevated mood. Those people associated with bipolar mania have large-scale plans, be involved in several projects all at once and extremely talkative. One of the high risk factors for manic victims is the use of alcohol or cocaine for self medication.

Anti-Psychotic Drugs for Bipolar

One of the main symptoms of bipolar manic is the presence psychotic thoughts, which may lead to highly charged emotional responses and judgment errors which render them incapable of communicating. Before these thoughts get out of control, manic patients can be given mood stabilizing drugs to control bipolar manic symptoms. These drugs include:

Clorazil : Was first used in Europe in 1971 for the treatment of schizophrenia. One of the first antipsychotic drug to be found.

Risperdal: Under this market name, was developed by Janssen-Cilag as an antipsychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia. It was later used for mixed and mania episodes and children with autism disease.

Zyprexa: A combination of two drugs fluoxetine Symbyax and FDA approved for antipsychotic and treatment of schizophrenia and later for the treatment of bipolar.

First Line Medications

The recent practice guidelines, for many doctors the first-line of treatment for severe bipolar manic episodes are:

Lithium: A drug primarily for bipolar mania, is a chemical salts and used as a mood stabilizer.

Valproate: A lithium salts is believed reverse the brain process and affect the function of the neurotransmitter. Used in bipolar treatment to stop or block transamination of GABA.

Monotherapy: With FDA approval for treating bipolar manic and bipolar I.

Family as a Therapy

Many people who are with a bipolar manic or with depressive episodes, forget that a family-focused therapy can be quite effective for bipolar patients. Bad blood running within family members can make bipolar manic states worse. All family members must help contribute by trying to manage their individual behaviors so as to reduce a catalyst for the symptom to come back. The main aim of this bipolar treatment -family therapy is members are alert to the signs and symptoms and how they can handle it properly when the signs appear.

. A New Therapy – Dialectal Behavior

First begun by Dr. Marsha Linehan for bipolar patients going through the different stages of bipolar. This therapy can hopefully lead patients taking some control of their behaviors. Learning to accept and control thought patterns is the main focus for this kind of therapy.

The first stage goals is to include reducing behaviors which are self-threatening like being suicidal and other bipolar manic behaviors that obstruct with bipolar treatment. For bipolar manic patients, they can build on these stages but it requires skill training for bipolar patients.

The main symptoms of bipolar disorder Bipolar are mania, hypo mania, and depression. Each of these symptoms have their own indicators whenever they are present which some call the red flags of the disorder. These mood swings which can be severe to very severe do not follow a certain pattern. For example mania symptoms do not always follow depression and the other way around. A lot of people can go through the same experience and moods” for weeks or months all at once “and all of a sudden some people experience the opposite mood. These phases differ a lot with each individual, with some severe and others not so.

Mania Symptoms

If you or a member of your family are constantly going through three or more of bipolar mania symptoms listed below most of the day, or for a whole week there is a great chance you have bipolar mania:

Full of happiness, are hopeful, and excited: This happiness is really going beyond the usual. At times it can be described as euphoric. These feelings of happiness, hopefulness and excitement are exaggerated in bipolar mania.

They can change from being full of joy to being, angry, irritating and quite hostile: Their mood can change from being happy, full of life to irritating, angry and hostile.

They become very restless with lots of energy, but not much sleep: Because the mind is full of ideas, the mind becomes restless and cannot rest for a good nights sleep.

Both very talkative and very easily distracted: These symptoms are all linked together, having racing thoughts, great and unattainable plans with puffed up self image. Probably because of the great amount of ideas in the mind the mouth will try to keep up. In five minutes they can talk about five to six different topics.

Exceptional sex drive: for bipolar mania their sexual fantasies are exceptionally high. Not only is their mind preoccupied with sex, they want to have sex and they do not care who with.

Having Great plans which are unattainable: They are full of big plans which to us look and sound ridiculous.

Tendency to deliver poor judgment especially on important matters: Probably the reason for this is because too many information are processed in the mind and the outcome is disastrous.

Self-esteem or self image is out of proportion: Their belief and opinion of themselves is unrealistic and false. They have also this grandiosity” type of thinking.

They are quite reckless in their overall behaviors: Victims with bipolar mania may go on expensive spending, wanting to have sex all the time and wanting to bo high by the use of alcohol and drugs. They can also make awful decisions and business endeavors.

Hypo mania Symptoms

This word Hypo mania comes from two words and linked together, hypo which means to go up and mania – excessive happiness and excitement. While it is a part of bipolar it is less severe form of mania episode and because of the good feelings experienced all must be warned that it can move into mania — or take on depression.

Finally

If you are having to many ideas coming all at once which you are unable to control and eventually is overwhelming replaced by confusion and clarity, red flags should warn you that something is wrong. Besides that you become irritating to others around you and you get angry, frightened very easily. You are also uncontrollable and trapped, you are sure to be having bipolar mania.

There is a big dilemma by doctors on pregnant women who have bipolar disorder symptoms, because of the possible harm of medication to the baby in the womb. There is the other risk of mood episodes reoccurring in the mother if she decides not to take her bipolar medication. Most doctors are faced with the difficult task of choosing between the baby having birth defects if medication is continued or the possible re occurrence or relapse in the mother if drugs are discontinued.

Recent Studies on Mood Stabilizers

In the 2007 December American Journal of Psychiatry, it has been published that there is a possibility of bipolar coming back due to intermission in pharmacotherapy. The study has warned that pregnant women with the disorder who stop taking their mood stabilizers are very likely to suffer severely when the illness returns.

A recent study of 89 women with bipolar was done at Emory University and Harvard Medical School. Of those studied nearly two thirds of those who took part stopped their drug medications for bipolar disorder during those 26 weeks period and 12 weeks after conception. The difference on women who did not stop their medications after they have conceived, when compared with women who stopped taking their medications 3 months after conception is great.

Result of Discontinuing

Women who stopped their prescribed drugs doubled their chance of their bipolar coming back of at least one to two episodes of the illness. Of women who stopped their medicated drugs, these women spent nearly 40% of their pregnant time with the bipolar symptoms compared to less than 10%who continued with their bipolar drugs and were able to do their work normally.

Pregnancy and Fetus

Freeman has revealed that by the time a woman knows she is pregnant, the high risk for the baby fetus has already gone. For women to stop their medication even for a short a short time can pose very high risk rather than a protection for the baby in the womb.

Not Treated Bipolar and the Risks

Pregnant women with bipolar symptoms can go into prenatal care risks, with nutrition problem for both her and the fetus, if bipolar are not treated. Relapses often has occurred with episodes which can be both dangerous for the baby and mother. When not treated, alcohol consumption and tobacco use increases, mother and child attachment is disrupted, and great stress to the family. Behavioral and emotional difficulty risks has been seen with children with depressed mothers.

Mood stabilizers and it’s Risks

Most mood stabilizers pose high risks for birth deficiency. According to Food and Drug Administration classification, divalproex and lithium fall in the category D drugs for pregnancy which can cause both abnormalities and cardiovascular problems in the baby.

Finally

Even during pregnancy, like some other mental illnesses with serious difficulties, bipolar disorder patients will require taking their drug medications. Pregnant during their reproduction years, women with bipolar do go into very high risks. This article have given some light into why you should continue with bipolar medications when pregnant – it is a better risk to take.

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Different than those that are experienced by adults, it is a known fact that symptoms of bipolar disorder in children is different, because it can also be confused with other mental disorders, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or depression. When children have the disorder it certainly interferes with their ability to function with others including their friends.

Early Signs to look out for

When you find your children not listening, their behaviors very bad, public behaviors humiliating and to top it all up they wont listen. Well, join the club with your problems and getting your child to behave is much easier than you think. But, with bipolar children there is a right and a wrong way of doing things.

The Wrong Way

We have been brought up by shouting and physical punishments and strongly believe that it will work for our children who happen to be bipolar. The truth is, it wont work. Always important to remember that you are dealing with, not your unusual ordinary child but a child with brain problems. We can yell, shout, and hand out different types of punishments; statistics tell us that, three out of four bipolar kids get up to behaviors they already KNOW are wrong and yet, continue to do them. The key to ending these problem behaviors is actually to STOP threatening punishments and instead offer rewards which is positive.

Addicted to their Behaviors

Most of us are familiar with drug and alcohol addictions. Well, if you have any idea of being addicted to something, you can at least have some idea on children who are like gamblers and addicted. These poor children have an addiction to their very temper tantrums and fighting. Parents must first understand and know why the child is doing what they are doing. It is important to know the facts, once you are familiar with these, you can now begin to give positive encouragements to your children, which will eventually change them.

What Works

As we have seen before, arguing and shouting doesn’t work and may have a negative result rather than a positive one. When we try and get children to tidy up, help in the yard outside, and take responsibility for their play things it doesn’t have to be a task! After every task try to make a big show of appreciation and thank them for what they have done. Always look for any opportunity to offer them, a congratulatory hug or word. Positive remarks and words works wonders. When you do this you in fact are training their mind to react to positive favors. The formula Negative action = Negative reaction and Positive action from parents = Positive reaction from kids may be good to remember.

Problems with Diagnosing Children

Very difficult to diagnose, because of other symptoms not related to bipolar.

All bipolar drugs are powerful ” overuse can result in overdose.

Quite heavy-handed, some psychiatrists with giving medications to bipolar children.

Side effects can be telling, which can result in hair loss, weight gain, and acne (small swelling on the skin), this can become a big problem for children with very sensitive skin.

Have Been Put to the Test

It has been proven by lots of parents that the body can recover itself without the use of bipolar medication. There are two words that are required here, one is PATIENCE and the other one is to stay POSITIVE.