Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar Disorder – General Information
This disease has been known
as Bipolar Affective Disorder, and the actual name refers to the cycling
between high and low episodes, from euphoria to depressions and from
recklessness to listlessness. This term is designed to be neutral, to
avoid the confusion in the non mental health community that comes from
“manic” and “”.
The types of extreme episodes are associated with the Bipolar Disorder,
which can be considered a severe disabling mental illness. The disease can
be also called manic
or manic depressive illness, manic behavior is one extreme of this
disorder and
is the other. Bipolar Disorder, in most of the cases, occurs in
adolescence and early adulthood and can even persist throughout the whole
life. The causes of this type of mental disease are elusive, and doctors
say that there is no cure for it. The flares of the mental disease can
continue for weeks or even months, leading to the appearance of great
disturbances in the lives of the affected patients, their friends or their
families. If the mental disease is left untreated, it gets, in most of the
cases, worse. But doctors can easily manage the mental disease with
medication treatments and several other therapies. Generally, the symptoms
appear in childhood and the diagnosis is made on the patient’s experiences
and behavior. The episodes of distress and disruption can highly increase
the risk of suicide. Usually, the disorder is found in patients involved
in arts, as cases with creative geniuses affected have been commonly
encountered.
Bipolar Disorder – Symptoms
Doctors and scientists don't know for
sure what leads to the appearance of Bipolar Disorder, but they suspect
that a variety of biologic, environmental and genetic factors can be
involved in provoking and triggering the specific episodes of this
illness. The signs and symptoms of the Bipolar Disorder usually alternate
with ,
emotional highs, and ,
emotional lows. The signs and symptoms associated with the disease can
vary on the intensity of the symptoms and the disorder can range from mild
to severe, which can alternate with episodes of normal behavior.
Generally, the signs and symptoms are classified depending on the phases
of the Bipolar Disorder, manic and depressive. For patients in the manic
phase, the symptoms can appear as feelings of euphoria or extreme optimism
and inflated self esteem, rapid speech, racing thoughts, agitation or
increased physical activity, poor judgment, recklessness and taking
chances not normally taken, difficulty sleeping, tendency to be easily
distracted, inability to concentrate and aggressive behavior. For patients
in the depressive phase, the symptoms can appear as persistent feelings of
sadness, ,
guilt and hopelessness, disturbances in sleep and appetite, fatigue and
loss of interest in daily activities, problems concentrating,
irritability, chronic pain without knowing the cause, recurring thoughts
of suicide. Patients suffering of Bipolar Disorder usually don't know how
impaired they are when experiencing a mood episode and how much the
disorder is changing their lives and the lives of others. Friends, family
or even physicians play an important role in recognizing possible signs of
the disease and in recommending the patient to seek medical attention.
Bipolar Disorder – Treatment
Patients who are suffering from this sort of medical condition ought to
be given professional medical attention as soon as possible. This type of
disorder generally cannot be cured, but it can be treated. This is why
most doctors usually prescribe medication as main option to treat the
disease, even if therapies like psychotherapy and electroconvulsive
therapy, which is used occasionally, can also prove effective in the case
of patients suffering from this disorder. For most patients suffering from
Bipolar Disorder the medication treatment is meant to regulate their
moods. ,
prescribed by the doctors as
and Lithobid, has been very used as a mood stabilizer and is usually the
main type of treatment for the manic episodes. Doctors can also prescribe
anti
medications, which can include ,
and
and are also administered such as mood regulators.
is another type of anti
drug which can also be used to stabilize any mood. In some cases, doctors
can also prescribe antidepressant drugs to treat the
that is correlated with the Bipolar Disorder. This type of medication can
include , ,
and
or other drugs associated with these. In other cases, doctors can also use
antipsychotic drugs which can include
or .
The American Diabetes Association recommends all doctors to monitor
patients who take medications because they might develop diabetes, or
high blood pressure. For patients who take the medication treatment, they
have to wait several weeks for the mediation to be fully effective.
Another way to treat Bipolar Disorder is Psychotherapy, which is used in
combination with the medication treatment. The therapist can help the
patient to detect the patterns which can provoke to episodes of the
disease and try to identify the main causes for the episodes.
Psychotherapy is considered a way to provide strategies for controlling
stress and coping with uncertainties. Due to this fact, along with main
education of the nature of the disease, it can help the patient understand
why he might have to continue taking medicines all his or her life. The
electroconvulsive therapy or ECT is used by doctors in cases when patients
suffering from Bipolar Disorder have episodes of major
associated with suicidal tendencies or in cases when the medication
treatment has proved ineffective. In this type of treatment, electrodes
are taped to the patient’s head. After this, while the patient is
anesthetized and he receives a muscle relaxant; then, a small amount of
electrical current is passed through the brain for less than a second.
This type of current causes a brain ,
and because of the muscle relaxant, the patient’s body remains calm.
