Recovery from Bipolar Disorder

You are diagnosed with a mental disorder. You have bipolar disorder. The medications are beginning to work. You are no longer revved up or confined to your bed in anguish. Your worst symptoms have vanished.  You are in charge of your emotions again.

But you do not feel the same as you did before. You are uneasy about the side effects of the medications that make you feel worse in ways other than mania or depression. This is the fate of someone with a severe mental illness at times.  Each day of the rest of their lives will be like an individual with an unresponsive bipolar disorder.

Although there is a high success rate for treating bipolar disorder, surveys of outpatients at several clinics, however, found that a number were unemployed and some were on welfare or disability.

Response to medication is a commonly used for the success or failure of a medication. Response is when there is a significant reduction in symptoms.

There is no cure for bipolar disorder, but it is a treatable disorder. The treatment success rate for bipolar disorder is an approximately 80% according to recent studies.

It is important to diagnose and treat bipolar disorder as early as possible to help to reduce relapses and hospitalization.  According to researchers early intervention may avoid long term poor functioning in daily life of this debilitating disorder.

Individuals experiencing mania lose the ability of self awareness and do not recognize that they are ill. They may require treatment in the hospital to prevent self-destructive, impulsive, or aggressive behavior. Hospital stays vary due to the persons to medication; it may be 2 weeks to 6 months or more.

Many bipolar persons do not stay on their medications. When they start feeling good, in the manic episodes, they often feel that they do not need medication. Mania is the significant reason for not complying with their treatment plan. When mania strikes it is difficult to recall the times when there were either depressed or had a severe manic episode. The thought of reentering a hospital for outrageous behavior often can not be a factor in being consistent with medication. Unfortunately, many bipolars may have a few hospital stays before they finally learn that they have to take the medicine in order to stay well.

Then there are the ones who for reasons beyond their control are unresponsive to medication.  These people have to life with modified symptoms and taking a combination of medication that may have serious side effects.  Until the cure for bipolar disorder is found the disability rolls and hospitals will have an effect not only on the individual but society.

Women and Bipolar Disorder Facts to Consider

Bipolar disorder affects both men and women; the experiences and treatment can differ between the two.  Women who are pregnant, conception and the consideration of becoming pregnant have a risk of side effects caused by medication treatment. Women are prone to experience more rapid cycling. Factors such as estrogen levels fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle. A large portion of bipolar type I women had regular mood changes during either their menstrual or premenstrual times. They were more irritable and had increased anger and tend to be depressed.  Increased estrogen may increase the risk of depression. Stress levels may possibly be the reason for increased risk for depression.

Bipolar disorder usually does not respond well to antidepressant medications as the only treatment. If taken alone, antidepressant medications may increase the manic episodes. They alleviate the depression but in the long run the chance for mania has to be taken into consideration.

The treatment of rapid cycling bipolar disorder is especially difficult. As mentioned above, treatment with antidepressants may precipitate an episode of mania, but may also increase cycle frequency it is shown that the mania drives the disorder.  Documenting daily moods while taking the appropriate drugs antidepressants or mood stabilizers proves to be helpful in treatment.  Minimizing the use of anti-depressants and to maximizing the use of mood stabilizing medication can avoid the complications. Mood stabilizing medications are used to treat manic, hypomanic and mixed episodes and aid in preventing more mood episodes. However, mood stabilizers are used primarily to treat mania. And like the problem of taking primarily antidepressants, rapid cycling bipolar patients will have severe depressive episodes. The consequences of the use of either mood stabilizers or antidepressant drugs both decrease one problem while increasing another.

Since a cure for Bipolar disorder is still unknown the answer lies in the treatment of each individual different specifically women.  Most often an effective medication or combination of medications will help the person to find relief.

Antidepressant Induced Mania and Bipolar Disorder

Depressed patients treated with antidepressants can have an induced mania similar to the features of a person with bipolar disorder.

Previously diagnosed people with major depression and who have these manic episodes often have to be treated as actual bipolar patients.

Antidepressant medication can induce a manic episode in patients with depression, but the manic episodes are not considered to be bipolar disorder.

There are two major types of bipolar disorder type I and type II. Type I is distinguished by episodes of full blown mania while type II has a less extreme form called hypomania both have episodes of clinical depression.

Persons with induced mania from treatment with antidepressant induced mania more frequently have a depressive illness, with a greater occurrence of melancholy, and are more prone to seasonal changes( SAD), than those with either type of bipolar disorder.

 Prior to the medicine induced mania, the individuals show depression symptoms that are similar to that of bipolar persons without manic episodes.

Antidepressant induced mania is a serious consequence to treatment and should be considered as an indication of bipolar disorder.  To a certain extent medication induced mania can be a treatment complication, but the alternative is that it bipolar disorders are being under diagnosed. More research is necessary to find more conclusive results on this phenomenon.

Bibliomania

Bibliomania is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder a person compulsively collects books The person does not look at which books they buy, but are basically are bought and accumulated. Often they will buy multiple copies of the same book . The books that they collected usually goes beyond the usual and useful purposes.

Symptoms of Bibliomania are: an obsessive collection of books; collecting an abnormal amount of books; an unecessarily large collection of books; a feeling of relief upon collecting books; reduced anxiety by collecting books. These individuals will often have extreme difficulty discussing anything that is not related to books. The subject will always return to books with the people with this disorder.

The treatments for Bibliomania are psychotherapy usually Behavior therapy, Cognitive therapy and medication.When this disorder is severe there are other treatments such as surgery, however most other treatments can be effective.

Causes of Bibliomania are not exactly clear. This problem is most likely to affect those with a family history of this type of behavior, so a family background with a history as well as genetics is believed to be among the factors that trigger this behavior. The causes of Bibliomania are commonly undiagnosed medical diseases The cause of Bibliomania may be undiagnosed medical diseases.

This condition may affect anyone, regardless of sex, age, or economic status. It is not clear how common this condition is, most individuals never seeking treatment.

The features of Bibliomania which is being researched is that it often starts in early adolescence and gets worse with age.

There is little research on this disorder and until more information is gathered the prognosis for Bibliomania is not truly known. 

Manic and Depressive Episodes in Bipolar Disorder

There are different types of episodes that most people with bipolar disorder can experience from one pole to another. The most common type of bipolar disorder is one where the individual cycles back and forth between a state of mania or hypomania, a milder form of mania and depression.

During the manic episode, people have an elevated mood, commonly called a high, which includes feelings of increased self-esteem and being special in some way. They often feel that they can accomplish much more than they can do and the quality of their ideas. Their judgment becomes impaired and a feeling of being powerful with painful consequences. They may have many ideas and the energy to carry them out.

These rapid thoughts may be difficult to follow; this type of thinking thoughts is called racing thoughts or with pressured speech. People in manic episode may feel such an extreme pressure to talk and are unable to stop or slow down so that others do not have the opportunity to interrupt. Manic people’s minds are working so fast that they can speak with rhymes or singsong phrases. They may start singing or start dancing spontaneously. Their behavior can become disorganized or dangerous to the point that they require hospitalization.

Manic episodes can also have psychotic symptoms present.  A psychosis is a state in which a person is unable to tell the difference from reality and unreality. Psychosis symptoms include hallucinations, false beliefs about having special powers or identity. Psychotic symptoms indicate a severe mood episode that requires immediate treatment.

People experiencing mania often start several activities at once, without the insight to know if they can complete all of them. They have so much energy that they function on two or three hours of sleep a day.

During depression people with bipolar disorder may stay in bed all day with the feeling that they cannot get the day started. They their thoughts move slowly, and they take little pleasure in any activity.  People with bipolar disorder in a depressed phase often feel as if they are worthless and their life is meaningless. They may begin to overeat and, with a slowed down activity level, gain weight. They may speak or think of suicide. Psychotic symptoms may also occur during severe depressive episodes, the same as in a manic episode.

A Mixed episode is a mood episode during which the symptoms of depression and mania are present at the same time. This can lead to irritability, hostility and physical aggression.  Often hospitalization for their safety and the safety of those around them is necessary. They may need a longer hospital stay or a combination of medications to get well.

In Rapid cycling there are 4 or more manic or hypomanic episodes in the course of the illness with depressive or mixed episodes in a 12-month period. Rapid cycling bipolar disorder is not as easily treated and often is less responsive to medication. Treatment usually requires a combination of medications. It is seen more commonly in women.

Seasonal Disorders or SAD are mood disorders that seem to be triggered by the seasons of the year. A person who becomes depressed during the late fall and winter and then returns to a regular mood during the spring and summer has a seasonal form of mood disorder. In bipolar disorder, a seasonal disorder person has manic or hypomanic episodes during a certain seasons of the year. During the other seasons, their mood normal or depressed or neither manic nor depressed. The fall/winter depression is more common than the spring/summer episodes. Suicide is found to be more common in March, April and May this is thought to be due to changes in light.