Just curious about it. It runs in my family, and I've had a few people mention to me that I should get myself checked for it. I've looked up some info online and some of the symptoms describe me...

I guess I'm just curious if anyone is dealing with it or knows someone who has it?

I have had a lot of experience with bi-polar disorder..my best friend had major issues with it...and most likely if you recognize the symptoms..you don't have it! You could have a milder form of it though. Most bi-polars are severe and can't function normally, and from what I've heard about from you in your posts, you seem to have a lot more together.

I have a form of manic depression called mania. It's not as severe as full on manic depression. From what I know bi-polar and manic depression are in the same family..not sure what separates the two. My disorder causes me to go from elated to depressed with very little in-between. Manic depression includes periods of time where you do "extreme" things like decided on a whim to paint a room or sleep w/10 guys or have a drinking/drug binge..etc. and then you go into depression just as deep.

From what I know...bi-polar is more extreme than even that.

Interesting. That's good information. I definitely didn't relate to any of the manic episodes...but a lot of the depressive bipolar information is very much me. That could just be depression in general-and I have been on anti depressants so maybe that's it. I definitely don't want to blow it out of proportion, it just got me concerned when I found out it runs in my family and a few people I'm close with have mentioned to me that I might have it.

You're right, I don't have a problem with functioning normally, so that's reassuring I do have mood swings that can just be so up and down all day long. I'm happy, I'm excited, I'm on a high, then BAM, I'm down and sad and depressed. All within hours of each other.

Who knows. Probably just the wacky life of a stresed out single parent, right?

Again, thanks for the info!

It may be worth looking at the World Health Organisation website to see what you can find.It lists all sorts of medical problems in detail.


Mark

I'm no doctor or therapist...but many members on here can agree...that I go through that as well. It's not just single parenting stresses in my situation. I'm supposed to be on anti-depressants constantly...I just chose to manage my diet and be aware of when I need to seek help.

There are many of us dealing w/and battling depression. Bi-polar is extreme, and you don't seem like you have it. I lived next door to a lady that was bi-polar once, and she was just the way B says they can be. If you aren't up at 3 am painting a room and playing music really loud w/o any explanation as to why you felt the need to do that then, you may just have depression or anxiety. I would just see a doctor to get a professional diagnosis, but I don't think bi-polar is what you have!

I think Tinkerbell got manic and bi-polar mixed up. Manic is the extreme up and downs, bi-polar is driving 120 miles per hour, spending all your credit from your cards in one trip, things that have no reason and you can't control it.

Yeah, maybe I just don't understand it completely. What's weird is that my grandmother was diagnosed with it and she's like 70! I mean, is a 70 year old going to drive 120 miles an hour or be up until 3 painting a room?!!

I guess I'm just confused!

The difference my doctor told me when they diagnosed me...was that I didn't go off and do EXTREME ACTS OFTEN....example: I wasn't sleeping around with a ton of men, doing excessive drugs, wiping out my bank accounts, talking about suicide, etc.

Bipolar Disorder


What is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar Disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a serious medical illness that causes shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe.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 ***
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.


In some people, however, symptoms of mania and depression may occur together in what is called a mixed bipolar state. Symptoms of a mixed state often include agitation, trouble sleeping, significant change in appetite, psychosis, and suicidal thinking. A person may have a very sad, hopeless mood while at the same time feeling extremely energized.

Bipolar disorder may appear to be a problem other than mental illness�for instance, alcohol or drug abuse, poor school or work performance, or strained interpersonal relationships. Such problems in fact may be signs of an underlying mood disorder.

"Bipolar Disorder is characterized by the occurrence of one or more Major Depressive Episodes accompanied by at least one Manic Episode." Definition.

"Depression might be identified by:

Refusing to get out of bed for days on end
Sleeping much more than usual
Being tired all the time but unable to sleep
Having bouts of uncontrollable crying
Becoming entirely uninterested in things you once enjoyed
Paying no attention to daily responsibilities
Feeling hopeless, helpless or worthless for a sustained period of time
Becoming unable to make simple decisions
Wanting to die
Mania might include:

Feeling like you can do anything, even something unsafe or illegal
Needing very little sleep, yet never feeling tired
Dressing flamboyantly, spending money extravagantly, living recklessly
Having increased sexual desires, perhaps even indulging in risky sexual behaviors
Experiencing hallucinations or delusions
Feeling filled with energy"

This is the list of some of the states you can go from and to.

Does this help?

I agree that if you recognize the symptoms in yourself (especially manic episodes AND the switch between moods), you probably don't suffer from BPD...just the "normal" stresses of the life of a single mom.

Most people who are truely bi-polar need to be on medication to "even them out." Sadly, my ex is one of those people, and he refuses to get the help he needs. That is one of the many reasons I decided that I had to end it. I've been the target of both his mania and his depression. I never know who I'm going home to. Will he be bouncing off the walls and cleaning like there's no tomorrow or sitting listlessly on the sofa? There's very little in between.

Hey Tinkerbell,

After college, I worked here in Charlotte at two psychiatric hospitals and dealt with many manic-depressive patients. What�s been mentioned above is true � it doesn�t sound like manic-depressive behavior, but rather good old fashioned mood swings you�re dealing with. Those with manic-depressive behavior often times don�t understand what all the fuss is about. It�s usually their friends and family who are driven crazy from their behavior and seek help for them. To them, only getting a couple of hours of sleep each night for weeks at a time is a great thing � they get all 37 loads of laundry done, they paint the entire house (three times over), single handily build the back patio deck, sign up for four pottery classes and still have energy to spare. The sad part of it is the eventual toll it takes on them and I saw first hand some really neat people waste away.

There are a number of potential factors you may want to look at � your diet, your stress indicators, your menstrual cycle, etc. which a doctor can help. Be careful of online diagnosis information, not that it can't be helpful but you would not believe how many symptoms described in �abnormal psychology� I can relate to

Larry

Haven't told anyone this in here but my ex has bi-polar , he can go months of staying in and not doing anything and then all of a sudden get up and be normal, then when the normal goes he gets very excited, does some weird stuff and doesn't really know what he's saying to you.

This may take a while but nearly five years ago actually its five years ago this week we broke up and this is the reason:

a couple of weeks before this he got a job doing night porter in a hotel, some weeks past and he went to work every night (or so he told me). One morning i had to go do an exam and he was supposed to drive me to it but never came home i just thought he had to work overtime and so my mum brought me instead. When i got home later that day there was no sign of him, so i started panicking, and i rang his work, was put on hold for 20 minutes until the manager came on the phone and told me they fired him weeks ago, i rang all the hospitals his parents, who lived 2 hours away i rang everybody even the police because i didn't know where he was i thought he was dead. Eventually and hours later he finally phoned to say he had driven all night ended up sleeping in his car about 3 hours away from our house in a different county, close enough to where his parents lived. I told him to go to his parents i couldn't face seeing him. He came up the following week and told me he had no petrol money, i told him i couldn't give him any money cos i didn't have any so what did he do he only went into my a money box my parents had given my son when he was born and i was putting a little into it every week. He broke it on the ground took the money and went. I'd find out from my friends that his family were saying that my son wasn't his at all you only had to look at him to know he was his and not only that but I don't sleep around. It wasn't only for these reasons why we broke up, the main reason was that he wouldn't take his medication to prevent these episodes and the only reason for this (he told me this himself) was because it made him put on weight (he wasn't that heavy at all when he took his meds).

He did some pretty strange stuff, which i could probably write a book about.

I'm a bit worried now that my son might turn out like his Dad, I've talked to his doctor and she said its a very slim chance, but i can't help but worry.


Anyway after all that I'm pretty sure you don't have bi-polar if you did you wouldn't know nor guess the symptoms.

Sorry for the long story, i can feel the tears coming.