Bipolar: What’s It All About?

[kah22]

For a number of years there was obviously something wrong with a very good friend of mine. Then they threw a major wobbly and were involuntarily committed to a mental hospital where they were later diagnosed with bipolar. That was a number of years back.

I had heard of the terms ‘manic-depressive’ and ‘bipolar,’ but had no idea of what it meant. In common language, I suppose, I had just thought of them as ‘mad.’ It was only when I started to look up the condition that I began to have some understanding of what it was all about. I say ‘some,’ and that’s still a very small ‘some.’ That’s part of the reason why I’ve opened this thread. It’s also part of the reason why I’ve given the post the name: ‘Bipolar: What’s It All About.’

Hopefully those, like myself, who know bipolar suffers can ask specific and general questions about the condition and try and get to understand what’s going on with their loved one, whether it be husband, wife, children, or in my case a very dear and close friend. With that knowledge hopefully we can understand and help the individual and maybe give the suffer some understanding of what's happening in their life.

Again I would hope that those who live with the condition whether they be the suffer, a medical professional, or those who have lived with a bipolar suffer would chip in and answer the question.

It is my hope that this thread won’t die and that interested parties will post on an ongoing basis. I know I have questions I’d like answered to and I’ll be posting looking help to understand what’s going on.

So let’s start the thread proper. As mentioned above my friend was diagnosed some years back. Looking back I can now understand some of the strange things that she was about. I want to talk about one in particular.

They were forever dumping their clothes at the bottom of their bed and still are. At the moment my friend cloth pile has reached the size of the mattress and has spread to almost half the width of the bed and they are still buying! Their living room is at the best ‘un-kept,’ Books, magazine, clothes, ornaments, you get the picture and that’s when they are ‘normal,’ taking their medication!

Now here is my specific question. If I put this down to their bipolar – my friend was brought up in a very tidy environment where they had a place for everything and everything had its place. What can I do the encourage them to ‘tidy up’ to get rid of half the rubbish they have accumulated and make the place clean and respectable?

Can I shame them into it?
Can I badger them into tidying up?
Do they really see, or appreciate, how untidy, even dirty, the place looks?
Even though you’re stabilized are you every really free of behaviours like this?

That’s my first question, or rather set of questions.

I have bipolar. I was diagnosed 10 years ago after a few years of going on and off antidepressants. I'd become very depressed, go to the GP, be given antidepressants, become manic, stop taking my pills, get depressed again and the cycle continued.
My university GP picked up on it, sent me to a psychiatrist and I was eventually diagnosed (longer story than that but that's the basics).
I'm fairly stable these days after finding a medication that worked for me. I only really become ill when I stop taking my tablets (once because of the 10 stone I gained and once for breastfeeding). I've noticed my episodes get worse the older I get but I'm better at knowing the warning signs too.
Happy to answer any questions you might have about bipolar.

I'm probably quite untidy, my medication makes me tired and I use the energy I do have on family and work. I don't think shaming your friend into tidying will do any good and in fact sounds quite unkind. Perhaps you could offer to help them if they want it? However if they're not bothered by a bit of mess then I don't see why it's an issue unless it's a real health hazard.

I doubt the clothes issue has anything to do with bipolaryou say that's when she is taking her medication and thereby imply that she is well/not in an episode. You can't out every bit of odd behaviour down to a mental illness. I'm untidy as hellbecause that's just the way I am.

Bipolar varies greatly in its variation. Some people are mostly depressed, others more manic. Some can cycle rapidly through these moods, others can go for long periods of stability. It's a really wide ranging diagnosis.

I had no mental illness until after DD2. I had bad PND and was admitted to a mother and baby psych unit and started on antidepressants. For some people, like myslef there can be an underlying vulnerability to bipolar-it was triggered by the antidepressant. That's a common factor in bipolarantidepressants can trigger high mood (at least if they're taken without a mood stabilizer). This was five years ago and there's no sign of the bipolar going. If anything, it's worse. I'm starting to face up to facts that this is irreversible, although I'm mostly stable on medication, I think that it won't just 'heal' and disappear like PND can do.

For me, I have mostly lows. They're crippling, suicidal lows where I beleive I am absolute scum and I am damaging my children by being alive. This is often mixed with terribl agitation where I can't sit still and dark, horrid, racing thoughts. In my last episode, I thought I was rotting from the inside and contaminating my children. I could even smell it. One of the problems with bipolar depression is that it's difficult to treat because anridepressants can cause mania so people often have to resort to other options, which don't always work well. Taking a mood stabliser can help to stop highs being triggered, but many cause bad side effects, esp serious weight gain. It too three years of trial and error to find the right combination of meds for me (it's common to need more than one--I take three meds). This works well for me, ex cept one of them causes terrible joint pain that means I can no longer xercise and sometime struggle just to climb the stairs. For now, I'm putting up with it as trials of other alternative meds were disastrious.

However, when my meds are at the correct level, I stay well and you'd never know I had it. I work full time as a university lecturer and have 2 DDs (5 & 7).

MaggieCursedTea, I do agree with you that shaming my friend is no real answer the reason I put it there was because while it might be a bad, even hurtful answer, it is a solution.

Unfortunately my friends mess is becoming a little more than a mess and I fear it won't be that long until it could become a possible health problem

If I was in your position, I might give my friend a gentle offer of help to tidy up. Sometimes mess can become overwhelming and it's hard to know where to start.

I have bipolar disorder.

The common features of bipolar in all bipolar people are up and down moods. But really, thats where it ends.

Some people are type 1 ie. classic manic depression - usually big phases of weeks/months of manic, elated and increasingly disturbed 'highs' ehich can become delusional...and similarly long phases of serious clinical depression, which can be (but aren't always) interspersed with periods of relative calm.

Some people are type 2 - depressive episodes and hypomanic episodes (the mania isnt as bad and depression can often be the dominant mood disorder).

Some people have rapid cycling bipolar disorder. Moods cycle between high and low quickly (can be week to week or day to day).

Some people manage bipolar disorder very well and have very productive lives. You wouldn't know they had bipolar disorder at all. Some people are very unwell a lot of the time. Others manage it well a lot of the time, but have crises periodically.

Some people take lithium or a mixture of anti depressants and mood stabilisers. Others (more so type 2 or rapid cycling) might be able to mostly manage their symptoms with therapy, mindfulness, exercise, diet, sleep hygiene (highly regulated sleep) and careful monitoring of moods.

My point is - its a wide spectrum of experience. The condition affects different people VERY differently.

There are some common themes which come up when I talk to bipolar friends and associates.

Debt, reckless sexual behaviour, self medicating (drugs and alcohol) and suicidal thoughts/suicide attempts crop up a lot. Its a cliche that prople with bipolar disorder are intelligent/creative...but in my experience, it does tend to be true. At the very least, bipolar mania can turn sufferers into super productive, creative people before it all goes too far and they become seriously unwell. But again...this doesnt fit with all people with bipolar disorder.

My own experience is that I have long periods of depression interspersed with hypomania. The depression is distressing. It crushes me and drains my life of all joy. The hypomania is much more frightening though. I am less aware of when I am becoming hypomanic, for starters. It also feels GREAT initially. Imagine the happiest, most exciting time in your life and it feels like that. My body tingles and I feel invincible and creative and capable and sexy. Then I do stupid, reckless things that are self destructive and hurt other people and eventually crash back into depression and have to face up to what I have done. It is a highly distressing condition at times (understatement).

But...I am learning to live with it. Its who I am. Essay over

My essay was trying to show, quite clumsily, that although its admirable that you are trying to understand your friends condition, the best thing you can do is try to talk to her about how it effects HER. Supportive friends can be a life saver (sometimes literally)

Bipolar type 1 (mixed) here . I take lithium and sertraline which work well for me. Only become unwell when off meds.

I have a very good friend with bipolar, she was diagnosed during our friendship. I've always loved her for who she is, but it did make sense of, and therefore make me more patient with some of her more extreme character traits. E.g. She constantly interrupts during conversations and I know that is due to chaotic thoughts. One of the hardest things is seeing her interactions with others fail due to strange behaviour, as people don't understand and this really hurts her. Excessive shopping is one of her manic symptoms and perhaps this is the case with your friend. Perhaps you can offer to spend some time with her having a sort out.

im still trying to get the professionals to agree I have some kind of bipolar, I get really bad mood swings, some weeks im on high thinking I can build a house, project ideas come thick and fast, money is spent with out thinking.. I get easily frustrated and agitated. most nights im up til 2am when im feeling good.
I buy animals, multiples at a time. I go through phases, latest is cats, previously it was rabbits, dogs, you name it ive bought it.
I talk to people (which I don't normally do when feeling down) quite chatting, talking non stop! probably more but cant think right now...

then other weeks I hate the fact I woke up, I feel like I don't deserve nothing, my tolerance is zero! I get rid of the animals id bought realisng I don't actually like that animal... feel suicidal daily, wish the days away, feel like sleeping all day, got no motivation. cooking goes to pot and kids served cheap oven meals.... list goes on. worst thing is people that I spoke to before don't understand why I walk straight passed them or seem abit off?

thing that I hate the most is the extreme in change of mood. for example - I was decorating, feeling quite good and got to a point i couldn't reach a particular spot up the stair wall... I flipped out, burst out crying, felt rage right through me, had to try so hard to get the idea of self harming out of my head. there was so many tool I could of used! I was exhausted fighting off the thought

my psychologist just repeats herself saying im just anxious and my own worse enemy and need to build my confidence.. no! I don't agree ive been this way all my life and im getting worse the older I get. I will end up in crisis before they believe me or sort me out!

sorry to hijack your thread, just trying to reach out for some support

i was diagnosed last April,im on anti psychotics and ad's

my new psyc now thinks i have clinical depression,im feed up of them
changing,but im still written down as bipolar

im having real problems with weight gain and even worse joint pains,it's spread to my knees and cant kneel down without incredible pain and alot of holding onto thing

im really im scared if it gets anyworse,how will i get my son to school for starters,my mental health team and gp dont seem to think its the tablets but it only started when i took the meds

ive tried cod liver oil,no difference,i have a good pain threshold but im nearly close to tears

sorry for rant

dontrunwithscissors joint pain,your not on Quetiepine are you (sorry if spelling is wrong)

I feel that I could be Bipolar. I have had depression for years and am on Prozac but my moods go up and down. When I feel good I have energy and can do alsorts, I have ideas and can easily spend money on things which I regret buying later when my mood has turned low. I can throw things away in a moment of madness and regret it later. I have moved home twice in the past seven years since my Mum died and regret that and now wish I was back in the first flat I had. I spend a lot of time thinking 'if only'. I only seem to be able to function better when I am at work and keeping occupied, my manager has even said she wishes she could clone me because I get myself that busy and active. Weekends and time off from work seem to be the worst times, though OK at first when I realise I can have a nice lie in but once the day progresses I sink into depression. I also get extremely agitated. I am currently wound up because I have just signed up for a new mobile phone contract and am worried if I have done the right thing so that's no sleep for me tonight probably.