What is Bi-Polar and does it affect women more?

Question

One of my favorite Aunts has been diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder. What exactly is it? How do you know you have it? And how do they test for it?

Answer 1

i to suffer with bi-polar, bi-polar is a chemical imbalance in the brain, i am no doctor so bare with me in my explanation, it effects the mood of a person in such a way that that person may suffer from delusions, hearing voices, and has a very hard time making appropriate decisions, decisions that affect there well being, i know from experiance that if i am not on my medication and take it every day i always wind up in a hospital due to my moods being up and down and weather or not im sleeping right, sleep is a very important factor in a bi-polar persons life if they dont get enough sleep then that can trigger a manic or depessed episode, a manic phase is where you dont sleep much if at all and for different people its different things, like if im manic i will clean for days on end and paint and draw, it may not sound like such a bad thing but once you have been sleep deprived for so long it tends to drive you crazy, i start making bad decions or do not think things out or even rationalize things out and wind up becoming paranoid and needing to be hospitalized weather i want to be in a hospital or not, when a person goes into deppressed mania they generally wont leave there house wont answer the phone just really depressed and very sad ans where in a manic phase you can be happy really happy but you crash after you have went about 7 days with out sleep, now where as knowing wheather you have bipolar is a very difficult thing to diagnosis for me it was my mother watching me very closly she knew there was something wrong with me at an early age, bipolar people tend to have volent tendencies like being cruel to people like using hurtful language or threats. i done both i was always out to get my siblings til i got old enough to realize i could really hurt them and til i was 21 i was a very angry person, didnt fit it i turned to drugs with only aggravates bipolar, drugs only created a false sense of happiness, when id come down i would offten be very paranoid and scared of everyone thinking everyone was after me, and testing for bipolar is nearly impossible its more you watch over time for symptoms to appear or manifest into manic or mania then thats when the doctors will look at bipolar as a diagnosis, there are many helpful drugs that doctors can perscribe to help with the symptoms of bipolar. but as for does bipolar affect women more offten then men i dont really know but in my family bipolar runs in the females of my family my mother to has bipolar, so i beleive it does but theres no proof that i have see to prove me wrong. i hope my explanation was in some way helpful i know my answer jumps around but i tryed.

Answer 2

Bi-polar is what was once referred to as manic-depressive disorder. It means that you have times of extreme depression and others of euphoric or reckless behavior. Bipolar I means that you have a roughly equal occurrence of both types of behavior and Bipolar II means that you have more of one than the other. I don't think that it discriminates, but it is often misdiagnosed as clinical depression, especially if one has Bipolar II with more depressive episodes. Taking anti-depressants when what you need is a mood stabilizer can do more harm than good. So please make sure you are properly diagnosed by the psychological professional and not just your regular M.D. It could save your live. Taking the wrong medication can exacerbate your symptoms to the point of a suicide attempt. If you have moments of being severely down with the classic signs of depression (Loss of or increased appetite, feelings of hopelessness, etc.) mixed with things that seem dangerous and reckless, such as being overly promiscuous or driving excessive speeds on dangerous roads, then you might have bi-polar. A series of the right questions being asked can help target your symptoms and lead your physician to make a proper diagnosis.

Answer 3

Women do seem to suffer more from bipolar than men.That may be due to more testing done on women whereas men can work the problems out at work. Bipolar transferance happens a lot easier with women due Their empathetic nature.Aggressive or overly assertive women work out their emotions on their spouses who put the diagnosis down to PMS. Some traits of bipolar are unexplainable. Spending binges, general ly bad housekeeping, arguements out of the blue, specific canned goods placement or other such activity, uncontrolable crying and emotional stress, thoughts of suicide, lack of healthy sex drive, a desire to overdiscuss a problem, shouting , excellent memory are all a part of the general diagnosis.
You will not know you have it unless you are diagnosed and realize that you are exhibiting these traites of the desease.
Psychiatrist use a set of criteria determined from the patients conversations, answers and actions.
Bipolar is controlable chemically , one such being lithium.

Answer 4

This is an excellent question as bi-polar seems to be a diagnoses that seems to be a one size fits all branding of human emotion. I have spoken to a doctor in The bay area who is a Psychiatrist and a Neurologist who believes that the disorder does not exist,that it is a function of the pharmaceutical industry seeking new Illnesses to treat where the patient is instructed to take a life time drug cocktails inclusive of often many medications for profit. Dr John-first name only,suggests that in all of time society accepted a much broader rage of acceptable behavior and emotions. Now we are told that this range of human emotions and women's natural hormonal swings are unacceptable and in need of treatment. Every one has highs and lows,PMS,suicidal ideation at times. It is what you choose to do with those thoughts and how they ultimately effect your behavior that matters most. If your family member is completely melting down she may need some intervention, but I do not believe in a rubber stamp life time diagnoses. I believe in short term crisis intervention with pharmacology or she may want to try other methods such as therapy, hypnosis, or meditation.

Answer 5

In the old days, they called in "manic-depressive disorder" and, no, I'm not aware of any stats saying that it affects men more than women.

It tends to run in families. People have moodswings, abnormal swings, so that they they're "high" they use poor judgment, tend to spend too much money and take foolish risks, then when they're "low" they are depressed, they have no energy, they might not even want to get out of bed.

There's lots of information on the Net about it. It can be treated with medication.

Answer 6

There is Bipolar I and Bipolar II.
Bipolar I requires the presence of at least one manic episode.

-Distinct period of abnormally and persisitently elevated, expansive or irritable mood lasting at least 1 week.
-During this period, there a three or more of the following symptoms present to a significant degree
---inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
---decreased need for sleep
---more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
---flight of ideas or racing thoughts
---distractibility
---increase in goal-directed activity (often unrealistic, like inventing something crazy)
---excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have high potential for painful consequences (buying sprees, sex, drugs)

-Causes marked impairment in occupational or academic functioning or in unusual social activities with others

Bipolar depression is characterized by typical depressive symptoms such as low mood and loss of interest/pleasure, but also often includes atypical symptoms of depression such as weight gain (rather than weight loss) and hypersomnia (rather than insomnia).

Briefly, Bipolar II is a less severe form of the same thing. Both the mania and depressive symptoms are not quite as extreme.

Answer 7

It's a form of depression with manic high and lows. Mood swings are apart of it. Not sure if it affects women more but you can look it up.

Answer 8

I think it's when you have really bad mood swings that you can't help or something like that.