Change in your mood can affect your sleep energy and decision-making ability, behavior and thinking ability. Mood swings can happen sometimes or multiple times in a year. Bipolar disorder is something that stays with you for the rest of your life. By sticking to a therapy regimen, your mood swings can be controlled. Medication and talk therapy are highly effective in treating bipolar disorder.
WHAT IS BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Manic depression or bipolar disorders both are one and the same. In bipolar disorder, you may feel the mood, behavior, energy and ability to function changes. Bipolar disorder remains for hours rather than days. Bipolar disorder can affect relationships with their partner and cause difficulty focusing on work. This condition tends to be passed down from generation to generation. Bipolar disorder can be passed down through the generations if it is present in the family. People who have bipolar disorder may have anxiety issues, substance use problems or ADHD. The number of suicides may be higher in people with bipolar disorder than the normal people. There are three distinct labels that can be applied to someone with bipolar disorder.
- Bipolar I Disorder:
In this case, you may experience a manic episode. People who share manic episodes feel like they have more energy and are somewhat irritated. They believe they are at the pinnacle of achievement. People with this disorder also feel depressed and sometimes have a neutral mood.
- Bipolar II Disorder:
In bipolar disorder II, people may have other mental problems like anxiety and drug abuse, due to which they show symptoms of depression. Regarding diagnosis, you should have at least a major depressive episode. Some people may get normal sometimes. People with this disorder first seek treatment due to their first depressive episode.
- Cyclothymic Disorder:
It is a mild version of bipolar disorder, where you may feel many mood swings. You may feel depressed and have mania more frequently. People feel emotional ups and downs but lower than that of bipolar disorder I and II.
BIPOLAR DISORDER SYMPTOMS:
There are different types of bipolar disorders. In these types of bipolar disorder, there may be various types of hypomania and depressive episodes. You may show symptoms like changes in mood, behavior, depression and difficulty in life.
Symptoms of bipolar I disorder:
Manic episode:
A manic episode is when a person feels highly energetic and irritated most of the day for so many days. He may feel changes in behavior, such as:
- He’s so full of life that he can’t bear to sleep.
- Rapid-fire speech
- Fast thoughts and quickly change the topic when talking
- Easily get distracted
- Highly active
- Take risks
Your family and friends should understand the change in the behavior. The symptoms may cause dysfunction in friends, work and family. Going to a hospital for the therapy can help ensure your safety. Some people who have manic episodes also experience hallucinations and false beliefs.
Hypomanic episode:
It is less severe manic episodes that last for four days in a row rather than a week. It does not cause any problems with family and friends and daily functions.
Major depressive disorder:
It is an episode that lasts for two weeks in which you may feel the following symptoms:
- Melancholy
- Lose enthusiasm for past hobbies and interests
- Guilty feeling
- Tiredness
- Sleep changes
- Loss of hunger or feeling hungry
- Slow speech or movement
- Low concentration
- Thoughts like success and death come into the mind
Symptoms of bipolar II disorder:
Symptoms like one major depressive disorder and one hypomanic episode, but you never have a manic episode.
Symptoms of cyclothymic disorder:
There are so many depressive or hypomania symptoms for at least two years. The symptoms, however, don’t meet the criteria for hypomania or depressive episodes.
WHAT CAUSES BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Nobody knows the actual cause of bipolar disorder. However, the following are possible confounding variables:
Biological differences: You may suffer from physical changes in the brain. It can help to pinpoint the cause. The changes in the brain are still unknown.
Genetics: Bipolar disorder may be genetic. It can run into the families if some or the other relative has bipolar disorder and will suffer from bipolar disorder.
BIPOLAR DISORDER TREATMENT:
- Bipolar I disorder treatment:
First, we will talk about bipolar I disorder. The symptoms of bipolar I disorder improve with treatment. Medicine and talk therapy can help many people know their illness and stick to drugs. A mood stabilizer is a common medicine that is prescribed for bipolar disorder. These medicines help to improve brain signaling. In bipolar disorder, the mood changes abruptly and repeats; therefore, ongoing preventive treatment is suggested. People with bipolar disorder should try different medicines and find the best. ECT therapy may be used when medication and psychotherapy not worked. In the case of ECT, an electric current is applied to the scalp while the patient is under anesthesia. A short controlled seizure is a result of ECT. The brain signal pathways are remodeled with the help of ECT.
- Bipolar II disorder treatment:
This disorder follows the same treatment plan as bipolar I disorder. Antidepressants and mood stabilizers are frequently prescribed medications. In this case, if medicines are not effective, then ECT may be used.
- Cyclothymic disorder treatment:
It may include medicine and talk therapy. Talk therapy may help people with mood swings. Keeping a journal can be more effective in observing patterns in mood changes.
FAQ’s:
How do hormone fluctuations impact bipolar disorder?
It is recognized that female reproductive events and hormonal treatments may have an impact on how bipolar disorder (BD) manifests in women, and that some women are more prone to mood instability during hormonal fluctuations.
What are the effects of bipolar disorder on love and romance?
When manic, people with bipolar disease may partake in potentially harmful activities like unprotected sex or extramarital affairs. Depression might cause a partner to withdraw from sexual activity.
Does bipolar disorder change after giving birth?
In the first postpartum month, you are most vulnerable to a manic or hypomanic episode. Your doctor or psychiatrist should be monitoring you more closely right now. You may decide to begin or increase treatment as soon as delivery for women who have had previous episodes.
Is it possible for vitamins or other drugs to interfere with treating bipolar disorder?
Adding OTC herbs and natural supplements to your bipolar drug regimen could have serious consequences. The effectiveness of bipolar disorder treatments can be diminished or even rendered useless by using certain herbs and supplements. Natural therapies have the potential to exacerbate existing conditions, though.
CONCLUSION:
From the article, as mentioned earlier, we conclude that bipolar disorder is a mental health condition where a person feels changes in his mood, like energy or depression sometimes. He cannot focus on his work. Bipolar disorder can be hereditary, and that’s why it can pass on to future generations. Doctors can suggest better treatments which include medicines and talk therapy. When both therapies don’t work, then ECT is the best way to get rid of bipolar disorder.
REFERENCES: