Bipolar Symptoms

Posts Tagged ‘depression’

Helping a Loved One with Bipolar Disorder

Dealing with the ups and downs of Bipolar Disorder can be difficult—and not just for the person with the illness. The moods and behaviors of a person with bipolar disorder affect everyone around—especially family members and close friends. During a manic episode, they must cope with reckless antics, outrageous demands, explosive outbursts, and irresponsible decisions. And once the whirlwind of mania has passed, it often falls on them to deal with the consequences. During episodes of depression, they may have to pick up the slack for a loved one who doesn’t have the energy to meet responsibilities at home or work.

People with bipolar disorder do better when they have support from family members and friends. Those whose loved ones are involved and supportive tend to recover more quickly, experience fewer manic and depressive episodes, and have milder symptoms.

If someone close to you has bipolar disorder, your love and support can make a difference in treatment and recovery. You can help by learning about the illness, offering hope and encouragement, keeping track of symptoms, and being a partner in treatment. But caring for a person with bipolar disorder will take a toll if you neglect your own needs, so it’s important to find a balance between supporting your loved one and taking care of yourself.

In addition to traditional medical treatment by qualified medical professionals (which has no substitutes), we also tried some other "natural" ways of managing ups and downs of Bipolar Disorder Symptoms. Book Conquer Stress, Depression & Anxiety was really helpful in maintaining "normal" mood levels.

Probably the best solution to stop anxiety, panic attacks and phobias is Linden Method. We strongly recommend you to try it. It’s a comprehensive and natural method to deal with many symptoms that accompany Bipolar Disorder.

The good news is that most people with bipolar disorder can stabilize their moods with proper treatment, medication, and support—so if your friend or family member has bipolar disorder, take hope. Furthermore, you can play a significant
role in his or her recovery.

Here are some ways you can help a person with bipolar disorder:

• Learn about bipolar disorder. Educate yourself about bipolar disorder. Learn everything you can about the symptoms and treatment options. The more you know about bipolar disorder, the better equipped you’ll be to help your loved one and keep things in perspective.
• Encourage the person to get help. The sooner bipolar disorder is treated, the better the prognosis, so urge your friend or family member to seek professional help right away. Don’t wait to see if the person will get better without treatment.
• Be understanding. Let your friend or family member know that you’re there if he or she needs a sympathetic ear, encouragement, or assistance with treatment. Remind the person that you care and that you’ll do
  whatever you can to help.
• Be patient. Getting better takes time, even when a person is committed to treatment. Don’t expect a quick recovery or a permanent cure. Be patient with the pace of recovery and prepare for setbacks and challenges.
  Managing bipolar disorder is a lifelong process.

I wish you and loved ones health, happiness and success in overcoming Bipolar Symptoms. Please scroll down to next posts to read more….

Natalie K.

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Want to beat the winter blues? Want to eliminate stress? See & experience life yourself with a new & beautiful dimension to it.

Clinical depression goes by many names -depression, “the blues,” biological depression, major depression. But it all refers to the same thing: feeling sad and depressed for weeks or months at a time, accompanied by feelings of hopelessness, lack of energy, and taking little or no pleasure in things that gave you joy in the past.

Clinical depression is an awful disease. Depression turns its victims into shells of their former selves; depression patients are stripped of all the hope and joy and emotional vitality that make life worth living in the first place. The good news, though, is that depression treatment really does work, and that the right depression treatment center really can help you rediscover the world as you used to know it.

Yes, depression treatment centers are places of hope, and of healingbut they’re also places of effort and of struggle, places where depression treatment patients get better only by virtue of the commitment they bring to the depression treatment process. There’s no gentle way out of the depression wilderness. If you want to get better, you’re going to have to work for it.

Depression matters, simply put, because depression victims matter. More to the point, depression treatment matters because depression treatment programs give depression treatment patients cause for hope, and for faith; depression treatment matters because it works, and because it saves lives. In the fight against depression, you’ll never have a greater ally than a depression treatment center you can trust.

If you’ve made it this far, you don’t have to be told how debilitating depression can be. What matters, now, is that you’re ready to take the first step: that you’re ready to enroll in a depression treatment program, and let depression treatment professionals help you get better. Please, for your own sake, make today the day you decide to start fixing tomorrow.

The right depression treatment center makes a world of difference in the depression treatment process. If you’re going to get healed, you need depression treatment that meets your individual needs, and serves your individual interests; you need depression treatment that addresses you as you actually are, without resorting to generalities or supposedly “universal” treatment solutions. If you’re going to win the fight against clinical depression, you might say, you’re going to have to win it on your own terms, get started today.

The right place to find dual diagnosis treatment programs. Realize the importance of private luxury rehab .

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http://encognitive.com/node/925
Successful Treatment of Bipolar Disorder With a Nutritional Supplement: Ten Cases

Recent research on various nutrients has suggested that some mental illness might be ameliorated by supplementation. Much work has focused on essential fatty acids (1), although various minerals are also being studied (especially zinc). We are evaluating a broad-based nutritional supplement that contains primarily trace minerals, plus vitamins and amino acids.

Recent work has suggested that crops grown with western farming methods contain fewer of these essential nutrients than they did in years past (2) . Although we have been examining the effects of the supplement on a variety of psychiatric symptoms in both children and adults, it appears to be particularly promising for bipolar disorder in adults.

We will present an open case series of 10 male patients aged 20-46 years who thus far have taken the supplement for 1.5 – 6 months. Four were diagnosed with Bipolar I, four with Bipolar II, one with Bipolar Mixed, and one with Bipolar-NOS. In most cases, the supplement has entirely replaced psychoactive medications and the patients have remained well. Side effects (e.g., nausea) have been rare, minor, and transitory. In all cases, the patients have been evaluated periodically with the Hamilton-Depression Scale, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and the Young Mania Rating Scale.

The change in mean scores for each scale from study entry to the time of the last visit are as follows: Ham-D (20.4 to 8.2), BPRS (37.3 to 9.9), YMRS (16.8 to 6.1), and OQ (75.2 to 48.2).
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the supplement for Bipolar I has been funded and began in July 2000.
Authors: Bonnie J. Kaplan1, PhD; J. Steve A. Simpson1, PhD, MD; Richard C. Ferre2, MD; Chris P. Gorman1, MD; David McMullen1, MD; – 1Calgary, Alberta, Canada; 2Salt Lake City, Utah
AbstractPresented at the Canadian Psychiatric Association annual meeting October 4, 2000, Victoria, British Columbia.
References:
1. Stoll AL, Severus E, Freeman MP, Rueter S, Zboyan HA, Diamond E, Cress KK, Marangell LB: Omega 3 fatty acids in bipolar disorder: A preliminary double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Archives of General Psychiatry 1999; 56:407-412.
2. Mayer AB: Historical changes in the mineral content of fruits and vegetables. British Food Journal 1997; 99:207-211

http://www.truehealth.org/break02.html

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An insight on Bipolar Disorder explained with an example of a famous artist.

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Mania, depression, recklessness and listlessness are the extremes associated with bipolar disorder, a mental illness characterized by mood instability that can be serious and disabling. Bipolar Disorder is also known as manic-depression or manic-depressive illness. Learn about bipolar disorder including possible causes, symptoms, and treatment in this video.

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A-Z OF FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH Bipolar Disorder

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please read below for more details.
bipolar II – NIMH government agency
NAMI.org for support & family education

nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder/complete-publication.shtml

Mania: (this is NOT the same thing as feeling good.)
Signs and symptoms of mania (or a manic episode) include:

* Increased energy, activity, and restlessness

* Excessively “high,” overly good, euphoric mood

* Extreme irritability

* Racing thoughts and talking very fast, jumping from one idea to another

* Distractibility, can’t concentrate well

* Little sleep needed

* Unrealistic beliefs in one’s abilities and powers

* Poor judgment

* Spending sprees (shopaholic behavior)

* A lasting period of behavior that is different from usual

* Increased sexual drive (greater than normal increase)

* Abuse of drugs, particularly cocaine, alcohol, and sleeping medications

* Provocative, intrusive, or aggressive behavior

* Denial that anything is wrong

A manic episode is diagnosed if elevated mood occurs with three or more of the other symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for 1 week or longer. If the mood is irritable, four additional symptoms must be present.

Signs and symptoms of depression (or a depressive episode) include:

* Lasting sad, anxious, or empty mood

* Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism

* Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness

* Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, including sex

* Decreased energy, a feeling of fatigue or of being “slowed down”

* Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions

* Restlessness or irritability

* Sleeping too much, or can’t sleep

* Change in appetite and/or unintended weight loss or gain

* Chronic pain or other persistent bodily symptoms that are not caused by physical illness or injury

* Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts

A depressive episode is diagnosed if five or more of these symptoms last most of the day, nearly every day, for a period of 2 weeks or longer.

A mild to moderate level of mania is called hypomania. Hypomania may feel good to the person who experiences it and may even be associated with good functioning and enhanced productivity. Thus even when family and friends learn to recognize the mood swings as possible Bipolar Disorder, the person may deny that anything is wrong.

Without proper treatment, however, hypomania can become severe mania in some people or can switch into depression.

Signs and symptoms that may accompany suicidal feelings include:

* talking about feeling suicidal or wanting to die

* feeling hopeless, that nothing will ever change or get better

* feeling helpless, that nothing one does makes any difference

* feeling like a burden to family and friends

* abusing alcohol or drugs

* putting affairs in order (e.g., organizing finances or giving away possessions to prepare for one’s death)

* writing a suicide note

* putting oneself in harm’s way, or in situations where there is a danger of being killed (AKA passive suicide – making no attempt to jump out of the way when a bus or train may run them over)

rapid cycling:

When four or more episodes of illness occur within a 12-month period, a person is said to have rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. Some people experience multiple episodes within a single week, or even within a single day. Rapid cycling tends to develop later in the course of illness and is more common among women than among men.

rapid cycling is very difficult for me to deal with. i swing back and forth between mania and depression at such a fast rate that it can be difficult to be in control and alarming.

music: Andrea Boccelli Cieli Di Toscana

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This video is a compilation of other videos that were all posted (to my old YouTube account: Here2DayGone2Morro) at one time or another. They were all recorded before May 11th 2008, the day I was hospitalized at a Behavioral Health institution for 1 week.

Bipolar Disorder (I and II) is NOT a joke or an imaginary disorder!

I hope that my videos will help others in the world who suffer from BPD. I want them to know that they are not alone. I want them to know that it’s okay…..I want them to know that we are normal….I want them to know that there is help out there for us. The longer we wait to get help, the harder it gets. As the disorder gets worse, it gets harder to seek the help that we need.

I was tired of losing family members and friends because of my behavior and couldn’t deal with it anymore…..so I chose to seek help.

Yes, it is VERY hard to admit having a mental disorder but you can’t run from it.

For more information –

http://www.webmd.com/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-2-disorder

http://www.webmd.com/bipolar-disorder/default.htm

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

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Technorati Tags: Biplolar, depression, disorder, health, II, Lamictal, MANIC, mental

Psychotic symptoms are hallucinations or delusions. A hallucination or delusion is a cognitive misperception of reality.

Though hallucinations are typically thought of as being visual, hallucinations can also be auditory, olfactory, or tactile. A person having an auditory hallucination may hear voices telling them to do things.

Delusions are thoughts that are not based in reality. The difference between a mere unrealistic thought and a delusion is the degree to which the thought is unconnected to reality. For example, someone may think they want to become a professional football player though they have not played well in high school. Though it may not be realistic, it is probably not a delusion by psychiatric standards. A delusion is more extreme. The person may think they have been chosen by God, are being stalked by the FBI, or have superpowers.

Psychosis is a defining characteristic of a psychiatric disorder called schizophrenia. Psychotic symptoms can also occur due to severe depression or bipolar disorder.

There are different types of schizophrenia, largely categorized based on the types of psychotic symptoms the person experiences. For example, paranoid schizophrenia often causes delusions of being watched or monitored. Some psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia can seem random.

Psychotic symptoms of Bipolar Disorder and depression are related to the mood disturbance. Psychotic symptoms of depression or depressive episodes can be much more severe than suicidal thoughts.

An example of a hallucination due to a depressive episode is hearing voices telling the person to commit suicide. Depression can cause delusions that the earth is a hellish place from which they must save their loved ones by killing them.

The psychotic symptoms of bipolar disorder from mania can be delusions of grandiosity. The person may believe they are immortal, have superpowers, or are chosen by God or somehow more special than humans.

Psychotic symptoms are not common symptoms of bipolar disorder or depression. People may experience psychotic symptoms only during the worst depressive or manic episodes of their lives and will not experience them again.

Medication to treat psychosis, commonly referred to as anti-psychotic drugs, may be used to treat psychotic symptoms of bipolar disorder. Injections of an anti-psychotic medication like Haldol may be necessary if the person is resistent to taking their medication regularly.

The person may no longer experience psychotic symptoms once the bipolar disorder or depression is stabilized. The hallucinations and delusions are the person’s reality at the time the psychotic symptoms are experienced. People experiencing psychotic episodes may become fearful of the psychosis.

Technorati Tags: Bipolar Disorder, depression, disability, manic-depression

Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS) is a diagnostic tool used to determine if someone with mood disorder symptoms has bipolar disorder. The Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale contains nineteen sentences.

The Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale was designed by Ronald Pies, M.D. and refined by S. Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., M.P.H. All variations and levels of severity of bipolar disorder can be detected with the Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale.

After working with a number of people whose “treatment-resistant depression” was later determined to be undiagnosed bipolar spectrum disorder, Pies was motivated to design the diagnostic tool to accurately diagnose bipolar spectrum disorder that may otherwise be missed. Bipolar spectrum disorder is not an official diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).

Some mental health professionals use the term bipolar spectrum disorder to include people who have Bipolar Symptoms, but whose symptoms are not severe enough to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder symptoms that are milder than the guidelines of the DSM is sometimes called soft bipolar disorder or soft bipolar spectrum disorder.

There are two sections to the Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale. The first section consists of nineteen sentences that describe the primary symptoms of bipolar disorder. The first section is completed when the patient has checked the sentences that describe their feelings or behaviors.

The second section is a rating of how the collection of sentences of section one fits their personal experiences. The score of the first section is determined by awarding one point per sentence that the patient checked as matching their personal experiences.

The score of the second section depends on how the nineteen sentence narrative is rated by the patient. Six points are added to the patient’s score if the patient indicated that the story fits them very well or almost perfectly. If the patient says the narrative fits fairly well, four points are added to the patient’s score.

Two points are added if the patient said the story fits to some degree but not in most respects. If the person says the story does not describe them at all, no points are added to their score.

Bipolar disorder is considered highly likely if the patient’s score is nineteen or higher. If the score is eleven to eighteen, there is a moderate probability of bipolar disorder. There is a low probability if the score is six to ten. Bipolar disorder is considered very unlikely if the score is under five or less.

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