how can i find more about bipolar disorder_?

Question

I have been diagnosed with bipolar andf dont know where to start.

Answer 1

The book "Bipolar for Dummies" was a great beginning book; it even has a section for the loved ones in your life to help them understand what is going on.

Answer 2

I have also been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Some of the symptoms of this
disease are:

One week, you feel like you could change the world. And you have enough energy to pull it off.

A week later, you don't have the energy-or the desire-to crawl out of bed, and it's hard to believe things will ever get better.

You are not alone, but you feel alone. You have up and down cycle of moods-intense highs and lows. Bi-polar is not your fault. It is an illness that canbe treated. And that
means that there is hope tht you canenjoy a better quality of life. See a mental health
doctor in your community, tell him what
feelings you are having, etc. Good Luck!!

Answer 3

Yes, it is common for teens to have BPD. I will also say there can be behavior/symptom overlap between bi-polar and BPD - so sometimes you aren't sure if its the personality disorder or the mood disorder driving the behavior. BPD rarely travels alone. Co-morbid issues are typical and many BPD sufferers have a history of trauma or abuse. The helpful thing that you need to know is that personality disorders are typically not considered curable by medication. Now, that does not mean medication does not have a place in the treatment plan. It just means that there isn't a clear cut physical abnormality in the brain which can be "fixed" with medication. You don't take meds to get rid of BPD. For this reason you REALLY need to work hard with your therapist. Ask good questions. Get the help you need to help yourself find a way of life that will be safe and stable for you in the long run. You can also Google up numerous BPD forums which have a wealth of information for you and your family.

Answer 4

start with natural herbal remedies like St johns wort. I take them for my mood swings and temper, and they help. My sister is Bipolar and my father was Manic depression. They had to take alot of medicines. I am not. Ive never been diognosed with it though. I just want to have patience and not have mood swings. Just dont let the dr. put u on alot of medicines. The more medicine they put u on , the more $$$$ they make. Dont lit anyone tell u different. I take care of schizophernics and mental disorders. They r on lots of meds. More $$$ for them. Most r better without all of those meds to keep them drugged up. Good luck!!!

Answer 5

Try asking your physician for more info. You can also get more information and support from NAMI--National Association for the Mentally Ill--they've got a great website and local brances all over the US. They've been a great support for my family dealing with my son's bipolar/schizophrenia & Asperger's Syndrom!

Answer 6

I have bipolar disorder and know about everything there is to know about it. You can visit:
http://www.webmd.com/diseases_and_conditions/bipolar_disorder.htm

Personally you should make sure you ask your psychiatrist about any questions you have. You will have to see one regularly and you must stay in treatment or you could spin off into a bipolar episode.

Remeber that it isn't your fault and is a combination of biological chemical deficiences in your brain, and a muititude of other issuse you might not have control over. Don't blame yourself or feel ashamed.

About the medications you could take:

Medications are vital to Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression). You will probably have to be on them for the rest of your life. Bipolar disorder is disorder of the moods. You might have episodes of extreme happiness, anger, or sexuality, aggressiveness, or more when you have manic episodes, irritation, irresponbility. Then you will have depressive episodes; you won't want to do anything, will feel dead inside, slowed thinking, saddness, guilt, hopelessness. You could also experience anxiety or fear.

Well, usually you must be on some kind of mood stabilizer. The only medication that is specifially for bipolar disordre is lithum. However, most people these days don't take it because it can make you lethargic, fat, feel like a zombie, give you the shakes, and a bunch of other side effects. However, it is a natural drug, a salt, and it has been around for years.

Anti-convulsants are also used as mood-stabilizers. Sometimes your doc will put you on one or two. Some of the most popular is Depakote, Tegretol, and Lamictal. I take Lamictal and love it because it has no side effects and works well for the depression part of bipolar disorder.

Anti-depressants are usually combined with a mood stabilizer for an extra kick at preventing depression. Some of the newer ones work on more than one brain chemical.

Wellbutrin is a new and good one that has less sexual side effects and may give you a boost in energy. It works on dopamine and norphenephrine neurotransmitters. It aids smokers that want to quit, and possibly might help a bit with ADHD.

I'm taking Effexor which works on norphenephrine and seretonin. It relieves anxiety also, which makes it good for panic disorder, Anxiety disorder, Social anxiety disorder or and of course it works to alieviate depression. My personal favorite.

A new one that works on the same neurotranmitters is Cymbalta. It is also a pain suppresant, it is good for people that get muscle pain.

Trazadone is a newer one that will put an end to insomnia, trust me it will knock you out at night. Remeron has alot of side effects included fatigue, and they will make you gain an appetite and weight but Remeron works on three major neurotransmitters.

The classic and older anti-depressants are Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and a bunch more.

Lastly is anti-psychotics. Usually people with bipolar disorder are firsth treated with mood-stabilizers, but recently doctors started treating people with anti-psychotics to numb the mania in it. However, these meds are usually used for people with schizophrenia, a condition where people hear and see things that aren't there. These drugs are better now but they still can cause you to feel like a zombie. It might make you feel dead inside, lethargic, make you fat and lazy, and worst of all it can cause tardive dyskensia which is a disease in which the muscles of the face jerk uncontrolably. Anti-psychotics are usually only for short term use, they can have long term effects.

Some of the medications commonly used are Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Abilify. I was on all three. I got fat, felt like a zombie, and couldn't stay awake on Zyprexa, Risperdal made me feel like blah. Abilifiy is the only anti-psychotic that doesn't cause weight gain, loss of energy, or that zombie feeling. It is spiked with a stimulating effect that will make you feel wired. I took it and felt too wired, i was miserable because my tongue kept pushing against my teeth without control. But at least it had more plus.

So your doctor may put you one one, two, three, four, of these drugs in a combination that will work to alliviate any of your symptoms.

My suggestion:

I would suggest you try and stay away from the anti-psychotics because of the long term effects.

Someone on here suggested Adderall, it is used for severe fatigue and ADHD, adderall will make you high, and drop you off a cliff once it stops working. It made me go into a hypo-manic phase so I don't suggest it at all. It causes anxiety and insomnia too. It will give you a great amount of attention, and you will feel so happy and coffident when it is in your system.

If you are mostly depressed, tired, and have anxiety, I suggest a combo of; Lamictal/Tegretol, and Effexor. If you have bipolar II then Lamictal and effexor might work too. Another combo for these problems could be Wellbutrin, Effexor, Lamictal. Provigil is good for fatigue, it isn't as strong as Adderall and will make you feel more alive and not like a zombie. This could replace the Wellbutrin.

If you are more manic, have insomnia you could try Lithium, Trazadone/Remeron, and Lamictal.

But I'm not your doctor. Well, I hope I didn't bore you; Hopefully this will help. I'm medicine cabinet. Lol

Answer 7

webMD.com is a good site
Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine has a good discussion with some alternative options for looking at this problem.

Answer 8

NIMH (national institute of mental health) website was very helpful. My husband AND a very good friend of mine are bi polar. if you need to talk, message me through my profile here. I live with a bi polar person, so I know what it is like.

Answer 9

I was diagnosed with Biplar-manic depression @ 10 yrs ago. Take the pills the Doctor who diagnosed you had ordered.

Answer 10

You are aware that it has 2 sides -

the manic side - the "high" side, and the depressive side?

Go to Medlineplus.com they have a huge storage of stuff
you can look up.