Have you ever been around somebody who throws up when they run out of patience like for instance breaking glasses in a hotel when a waiter overstays or getting extremely excited when talking about plans that don’t make sense to you? Well, you may be dealing with a person with bipolar disorder.
Bipolar Disorder is among the most common mental health conditions that are rarely visited hence most people are unaware of it.
Persons with bipolar disorder experience alternating depressive episodes with periods of manic symptoms.
Mayo clinic describes Bipolar disorder as a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs which is the mania episode and emotional lows which is the depression episode. It causes unusual shifts in mood.
Bipolar is divided into three types which are Bipolar I disorder, Bipolar II disorder and Cyclothymic disorder.
Bipolar I disorder is defined by maniac episodes, Bipolar II disorder by depressive episodes and Cyclothymic disorder by recurrent hypomanic and depressive symptoms.
Every disease has a cause but with Bipolar disorder, the researchers are still studying the possible causes. Most agree that there is no single cause and it is likely that many factors contribute to a person’s chance of having the illness.
Factors such as having a problem in brain structure and functioning and genetics where maybe a relative had that illness are considered the most possible to cause Bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder has signs and symptoms which are mostly different in comparison with the depressive and maniac episodes. Like for example, when one has decreased need for sleep in maniac, in depression one sleeps too much.
Others include; talking very fast about different ideas in maniac and talking slowly and forgetting a lot in depression and excessive appetite for food and other activities in maniac and lack of interest in almost all activities in depression among others.
Bipolar disorder is a lifelong illness but can be managed. A combination of medication and psychotherapy is usually the effective treatment plan.
The most common types of medications that doctors prescribe include mood stabilizers and atypical antipsychotics such as antidepressants.
If you have Bipolar disorder, you should take medication as directed, structure your activities, try doing vigorous exercises like jogging and keep a life chart to help recognize your mood swings so as to help you cope with the illness.
BY MARGARET MUGO