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Bipolar
Like, what are the signs of being bipolar? on one of my pervious questions alot of people mention that i might be bipolar, so i was just wondering.
♥Paige
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What Are the Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder causes dramatic mood swings—from overly "high" and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of normal mood in between. Severe changes in energy and behavior go along with these changes in mood. The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of mania and depression.
Signs and symptoms of mania (or a manic episode) include:
Increased energy, activity, and restlessness
Excessively "high," overly good, euphoric mood
Extreme irritability
Racing thoughts and talking very fast, jumping from one idea to another
Distractibility, can't concentrate well
Little sleep needed
Unrealistic beliefs in one's abilities and powers
Poor judgment
Spending sprees
A lasting period of behavior that is different from usual
Increased sexual drive
Abuse of drugs, particularly cocaine, alcohol, and sleeping medications
Provocative, intrusive, or aggressive behavior
Denial that anything is wrong
A manic episode is diagnosed if elevated mood occurs with three or more of the other symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for 1 week or longer. If the mood is irritable, four additional symptoms must be present.
Signs and symptoms of depression (or a depressive episode) include:
Lasting sad, anxious, or empty mood
Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, including sex
Decreased energy, a feeling of fatigue or of being "slowed down"
Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
Restlessness or irritability
Sleeping too much, or can't sleep
Change in appetite and/or unintended weight loss or gain
Chronic pain or other persistent bodily symptoms that are not caused by physical illness or injury
Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts
A depressive episode is diagnosed if five or more of these symptoms last most of the day, nearly every day, for a period of 2 weeks or longer.
A mild to moderate level of mania is called hypomania. Hypomania may feel good to the person who experiences it and may even be associated with good functioning and enhanced productivity. Thus even when family and friends learn to recognize the mood swings as possible bipolar disorder, the person may deny that anything is wrong. Without proper treatment, however, hypomania can become severe mania in some people or can switch into depression.
Sometimes, severe episodes of mania or depression include symptoms of psychosis (or psychotic symptoms). Common psychotic symptoms are hallucinations (hearing, seeing, or otherwise sensing the presence of things not actually there) and delusions (false, strongly held beliefs not influenced by logical reasoning or explained by a person's usual cultural concepts). Psychotic symptoms in bipolar disorder tend to reflect the extreme mood state at the time. For example, delusions of grandiosity, such as believing one is the President or has special powers or wealth, may occur during mania; delusions of guilt or worthlessness, such as believing that one is ruined and penniless or has committed some terrible crime, may appear during depression. People with bipolar disorder who have these symptoms are sometimes incorrectly diagnosed as having schizophrenia, another severe mental illness.
It may be helpful to think of the various mood states in bipolar disorder as a spectrum or continuous range. At one end is severe depression, above which is moderate depression and then mild low mood, which many people call "the blues" when it is short-lived but is termed "dysthymia" when it is chronic. Then there is normal or balanced mood, above which comes hypomania (mild to moderate mania), and then severe mania.
*I hope this helps. This is what I found while looking up on BiPolar disorder.*
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Odds are people around you are unaware of what it truly is like to suffer BiPolar disorder. They may have read all the text book information and fact sheets the previous answer provides. None of those can prepare you or your family for what it really is like.
There is no textbook case! I say that knowing full well there is not and each person who has it is different and hard to notice with. If I did not tell you I was Bipolar (which I am) you would never know once I was stable on lithium and other drugs. You cannot pick a mentally ill person out all the time nor can you accurately suggest someone is BiPolar.
Your friends and family likely have it wrong. If you are known to be bubbly, energetic and bouncing off the walls it is not the sign of danger. If however, you have boundless energy, cannot sleep properly, have rapid speech patterns, and cannot slow down this is a warning of something wrong.
In that case you likely are "Hypomanic" this is the stage where it is boundless energy, rapid thoughts, inability to sleep, always restless. While it is not dangerous at this stage it can escalate.
Once "Hypomania" becomes mixed with thoughts of being extremely gifted or delusions of things that you are not experiencing, seeing things not there, channeling thoughts of beings or animals, and all of the Hypomanic symptoms combined. Delusions are usually what is noticed first as is peculiar out of character thoughts, statements, ideas, behavior.
You might think "Oh that's easy to tell." Well, it is not you see the best way to describe BiPolar is that it takes your normal life and slowly hijacks it so your normal life and the delusions all get mixed into one. That is where BiPolar becomes dangerous and you then spend time in hopsital wards like I have myself.
I recommend if you need more information on the subject to stop consulting online sources, see a doctor if concerned, do not listen to friends unless they know what the disease is and does and get your hands on the book "BiPolar For Dummies" which really is the bible on this issue and points out everyone's symptoms are indeed different.
Next, I invite you to listen to a special program. It is 40 minutes of picking the brain of Karen Liberman the Moods Disorder's Association president in Ontario, Canada. This will give you an idea of what BiPolar is and is not more than anyone else can. [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
The direct link (scroll to Karen Liberman) is [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
I also invite you to converse with me by using my inbox here or writing me through reeltalk@teentalknetwork.com
Geoff
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