People who are Bi Polar, any experts out there??
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
a condition sometimes also known as manic-depressive.
the person goes between two extremes, from very highs where the person is just hyper, wants to do everything and all is good, to sometimes to excited and almost unbearable due to the energy etc. at the flip side its the depression, in which all is bad, seclusion, pessimism, no interest in anything etc. There can be periods of normalcy between these two extremes. How fast a person cycles between these states and to what extreme does one go when in these states is fairly individual, it has known to deteriorate over time.
This is an illness and proper care and medication is needed to help. With proper care and medication the condition can be contained. People can be back to nromal after sometime as well, but it takes effort, support and care.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
i think my aunt has this...or some form of it...its sad...she in and out of the hospital...there are days where she is normal, and then there are days where she is so depressed and starts crying uncontrobally, and then there are times where she is so out of it and is unaware of her surroundings....this started happening ever since was in pak to visit her famliy earlier this year (her family has a history of mental illness)...the paki pple think its just buri nazar and someone did some kind of jadoo on her...but i hope she gets better...at least for her 3 year old daughter's sake...
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
…what fraudia said.
while sometimes depression can be caused by lack of some nutritions, bi-polar disorder isn’t like that. so far, the only cure is medicine. usually the kind used to help with clinical depression. sometimes, you can also get prozac or something, to calm you down.
when you’re in the manic stage of bi-polar, it can be dangerous to yourself and the people around you, since you think anything is possible. there are some amazing examples in my psych text. but at the same time, it’s not good.
http://www.webmd.com/diseases_and_conditions/bipolar_disorder.htm might help a bit.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
sorry, forgot to mention, you can also deal with bi-polar disorder with therapy, along side with medication. while the medication can start working immediately, therapy can take time. i don't remember right now how the results are though. if you want i can look it up in my text book or something.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
Actually, it can never be cured but controlled with medicaiton & therapy.
Unfortunately, the medication has a lot of side effects such as terrible over weight or under weight, & dizzyness etc.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
{This is an illness and proper care and medication is needed to help. With proper care and medication the condition can be contained. }
Thanks pir Sahib for the insight.
Thank you Khumar for pointing out lack of some nutrition is not the cause for BP; because I had heard possibly lack of the mineral 'Selenium' in the diet, have you heard about that, and what kind of depression does that cause?
Also thanks to Cool Breeze, I have heard that it is incurable too!
Afshi you are right about people attitude in the old country, buri nazar, jaado etc.
All of your concern is appreciated.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
thank you for pointing that out, I had said contained on purpose because there is unfortunately no cure, but looking back it makes sense to explicitly state it.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
All the cooments are quite educational and helpful. Fraudz actually described the condition quite well. Let me add a couple more points.
Besides the definition of the bipolar being going from one extreme of feeling down in the dumps to the overenergetic and g*****ose, there are other ways it presents itself. It can be in the form of daily depression mixed with irritability daily for days lasting from 4 days to more than a week. Also if the illness is left untreated people can become Psychotic meaning they can lose touch with reality and may start to hear voices of people who are not there or believe in things which are not true. It can be fatal if left untreated. People may commit suicide during the depressed episodes or during the mixed episodes.
Treatment includes antidepressants, mood stabilizers and antipsychotics as indicated. Psychotherapy is an adjunctive treatment but it has no value without medications.Its a life long illness and with treatment u can function just like any other normal person. Family members of a bipolar patient are more prone to develop this illness. I hope this helped and i'd be more than happy to answer any questions on this topic.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
So which disipline of MD's performs the therapy and prescribes medication, is it Psychytrists or can a Psychologist also do it, More important how does one convince the patient that they need help, since they are always suspicious of any such help?
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
hmmm, i might have it.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
Only psychiatrists prescribe medications and they can also provide psychotherapy. Psychologist are not qualified to prescribe medications and FYI ther are not MD's.
You did describe a common problem with some patients who are suspicious. The family member who the patient usually listens to and trusts should take the initiative and encourage the patient and should go along with, to the doctor.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
My mum is bi-polar she is 100% fine when she is in the UK but whenever she goes to Pakistan she suffers from this problem. In her case i think it is partly to do with re-visiting old memories and realising that people and places have changed and some people are not there anymore....i think it also has a lot to do with lack of sleep when she is in PK.
It was so bad once that she started saying weird stuff and behaving in a manner which wasn't normal for her..... so we took her to Al-shifa hospital in Islamabad where she was diagnosed with bi-polar and given medication...it didn't help much but as soon as we returned back to the UK she was her normal self and no-one would ever guess that anything had happened. This has happened on every occation we have visited Pakistan. Since speaking to friends about this i realised that alot of women suffer from this and other kinds of depression.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
sparrow, I don’t think that is bipolar syndrome. It characterized by the two extremes, if the mania part is absent then its just depression and not bipolar (manic-depressive condition).
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
You might be right..... but this is what she was diagnosed with by the doctors at Al-Shifa hospital who gave me loads of literature to read about bi-polar and most of the symptoms matched what my mum had at the time.....but who knows....i'm just glad that she is well now.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
It was so bad once that she started saying weird stuff and behaving in a manner which wasn't normal for her..... so we took her to Al-shifa hospital in Islamabad where she was diagnosed with bi-polar and given medication...it didn't help much but as soon as we returned back to the UK she was her normal self and no-one would ever guess that anything had happened. This has happened on every occation we have visited Pakistan. Since speaking to friends about this i realised that alot of women suffer from this and other kinds of depression.
stress and lack of sleep could both trigger the illness. Removal from a stressfull environment might help temporrarily but in the long term its an illness which needs life long treatment. People may have periods of normalcy between episodes as well but again if your mom has been doing well for a while in UK I doubt the validity of her diagnosis. Some People suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when they are re exposed to places, things which remind them of past trauma. just one idea.. Besides there are few other possibilities for what she goes through in Pakistan but her doctor is in a better position to explore those areas.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
I have a small power-point presentation on it, if you'd like to see it. It's quite informative and tells you about the different types including treatment, etc. Of course its health related so may be some medical terms you wont understand, but let me know if you'd like it anyway.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
I think you're right... especially about lack of sleep and memories of past trauma i.e. Post Traumatic Stress.
Re: Bi Polar What is it & How to handle
Thank You Munni for the offer to share information, the person in question is under treatment.