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bipolar disorder mood

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Q: How could one with bipolar mood disorder get a good job?
I have been diagnosed with bipolar mood disorder 2 months ago and my medicines areworking good in me , I should say because I feel better and better each day. Of course, I give credit to God who is my greatest Doctor and my Healer!!! I believe that God uses instruments to heal us. I have taken one step at a time. I don’t hurry because I don’t want to disappoint myself. Few years ago, I have been in 3 to 4 businesses but everything failed. I have a good side of it, being good in designing and production but on the financial side, I am very bad at it. Knowing just now having bipolar, I have realized that all of my failures were caused by my illness. Now that I am being treated, I am praying for God’s guidance so I can be back to work or have a business which can help my family. I am married with a very supportive husband who did not leave me despite of my illness.. I have 2 beautiful children age 11 and 12. Please give me your encouragements to help me on this concern. Thanks…

A: People with bipolar illness are able to live normal happy lives. They can be successful in business and their personal life.
However, you have just been diagnosed and are just getting adjusted to your medication.
Give yourself a little time to feel better before you go out and work.
Right now, take care of your kids (they probably need extra attention from you after living through your illness) your husband, and yourself.
The best way you can help your family is to stay well. Keep taking your meds and don’t be so hard on yourself.

Q: Is Bipolar Mood Disorder the same as Bipolar Disorder?
I have a feeling they are different but not sure. Does anybody know? Or Do you have Bipolar Mood Disorder? I think it’s a less severe form of Bipolar Disorder.

Also, what are the symptoms?

A: they are the same, bipolar disorder is just an abbreviated way to say it. I have bipolar disorder and my research does not distinguish between the 2.
symptoms are periods of elevated mood,, followed by either a “normal” mood or a crushing depressiong the changes between the 2 can be as little as weeks (rapid cycling) or as much as years. I suffer from rapid cycling, my moods change several times a year and I don’t get full on mania but what is called “hypomania” which appears as though everything is ok but with a slightly elevated mood.

Q: what can i do about bipolar mood disorder ?
I have no parents that care about my belief that I have bipolar mood disorder… So I am unable to seek their help… What can I do to get help…
I have not been professionally diagnosed, that is wat i wanted to do. But my parents don’t believe I should be tested for it…. Wait till i get a car?

A: you mean you’ve not been professionally diagnosed??♦

Q: What is the best book that you could recommend me for guidance and self help about Bipolar Mood Disorder?
I have been diagnosed with Bipolar Mood Disorder 2 months ago and I have been surfing the net for possible info that I could get to educate myself and my family. Well, things are gettings better everyday as I pray hard and take my medications regularly. I got so interested with this topic knowing that there are many people out there like me. I searched amazon.com and found many references but I can not pin point which of those is the best. So, I am asking those who have tried purchasing books for Bipolar Mood Disorder and please do give me your suggestions based on your reading experiences. I will greatly appreciate your answers. It will help me and some who are in this condition. Please do specify the Title and the Author of the Book/s so it would be easy for me to look for them. I am from the Philippines and it’s quite hard to look for books like these because in our Country, BMD is not yet that accepted in the society. So, please help me. I believe you can.. thanks a lot. Bye…….

A: By far the best book on Manic Depression is entitled:

A BRILLIANT MADNESS

This book is an autobiography of the actress Patty Duke who has been diagnosed with Manic Depression. The book is well written and entertaining.

Patty Duke will write a chapter, then a lady by the name of: Gloria Lochman will write a chapterf, Ms. Lochman focuses on the medial aspect while Patty Duke’s wrtitings are of a more personal nature.

There are a lot of books out there on Bi Polar.

I consider it a priveledge to reccomend this book to you.

It is by far Number One!

Q: Is bipolar disorder a mood, mental, or behavioral disorder?
Many people say that bipolar disorder is a mood disorder but I see it as more of a mental “disturbance” instead of a mental “illness”. I also see it as somewhat of a behavioral and mood disorder. So the question is, what category does bipolar disorder fit into?

A: It is all three. Behavioral only because of the disorder’s affect on the persons thoughts due to mood changes.

Q: Has your bipolar mood disorder gotten you into trouble?
Do you have Bipolar mood disorder?

A: I have bipolar ll with rapid cycling moods and if I had a penny/cent for every time I got into trouble because of it I would be very very rich. from the police, relationships and not to mention the financial side of it all. I am not as bad as I was between the ages of 12-18 but still I do have problems with money when I am in a manic episode.

Q: Bipolar mood disorder or something else?
Its been 5 weeks since i started going to counseling and i know you shouldn’t expect immediate results, i have not yet been diagnosed but i can tell i have it or something pretty similar and in a month or so I will get tested, but throughout all my research into the subject I found the biggest treatment is medication, does the counseling help at all without the medication, if you have bipolar mood disorder tell me your story and how you’re being treated or even if you are.

A: The best treatment is both therapy and medication. Medication alone will not eliminate all the swings and you can also have “breakthrough” symptoms. In addition each episode will be worse than the last. The purpose of medication is to slow down the swings and decrease their intensity……. nothing can eliminate them. Therapy teaches you techniques to deal with remaining symptoms and how to recognize emerging symptoms so your meds can be adjusted before it gets too bad. Sometimes my therapist will notice changes in me even before I do.

Q: What is the best medicine as maintenance for bipolar mood disorder?

A: a couple of shots of vodka or tequila

Q: Is there anybody suffering from bipolar mood disorder?
Please tell about yourself, your symptoms. Please tell your own story.

A: I self medicated with pot and alcohol heavily between my 18th and 33rd birthdays; I mixed in cocaine toward the end. However, as I began to be more successful in my work, my self-medication, messiness, intolerance, belligerence, and irritability was tolerated by family and friends, “oh, he’s our brainy wacky brother”.

I always spent more money than I made. In the 1980s and 1990s, I made millions of dollars. The more I made, the more I spent. In 1998, I cashed out of an IPO with nearly $3,000,000 after tax. But, before a few months had gone by, I had purchased a house that I couldn’t afford, quit my job, and had to cash in stock in order to pay $800,000 in federal and state taxes. I divorced my 2nd wife, sold the house at a loss after 9/11 and split the money that was left over. I then proceeded to become unemployable, underemployed, and unable to hold down a job even when I found one. I ended up bankrupt by 2008.

In 2006, I had a nervous breakdown. I had been abusing pot (again) for the past 6-years, and had a run-in with my then boss. He spread malicious rumor and gossip about me and even spied on me. I ended up quitting, and asked a doctor to give me Clonazapam. I became unable to communicate, highly anxious, irritable and impatient. I couldn’t remember anything, and began to scribble notes in my moleskin; in the period of about 2-months, I filled up no less than 5 each moleskins .

I somehow found my way to a psychopharmacologist who pronounced me “bipolar type II rapid cycling”. Here I was, 60-years old, broke, and my new shrink tells me he’s finally figured out what’s wrong with me.

He put me on 200MG of Topamax and 30MG of Mirtazapine, and I came out of my fog and began to speak lucidly. I quit pot and alcohol and for the first time in my life, the noise in my head began to quiet.

However, I had to earn a living, and I became filled with optimism and euphoria. My shrink and therapist’s notes say that I was clear and rational, but I proceeded to overspend again, and ran up an $80,000 debt on credit cards. I also proposed marriage to three different women. I just didn’t have the impatience and irritability and drug abuse to go along with the euphoria.

I had always believed that I had some sort of “psychic but real” connection to the JFK and RFK assassinations. I believed that I had a psyhic connection to Quang Duc, the Buddhist priest who chose self-immolation to protest the Diem regime. I realize, now, the fallacy of my weird thoughts; but I had this belief for for over 40-years, between 1965-2008!

My life came crashing down after I withdrew $120,000 from my IRA to payoff the credit card debt.

Subsequently, I fell into the worst depression I’d ever had. It was physical; I lost 20-lbs. I moved my home to a smaller apartment, got rid of about 75% of my “things” so I could fit into the apartment, and I settled into a state of “living depression”.

I’ve been admitted to the Kaiser Permanente health system (an HMO in California), and am under the care of a Pyschiatrist and a Therapist. I attend group therapy sessions, classes, plus individual therapy. I clean the house, get my daughter to do her chores, cook meals, go shopping, exercise every day, and work hard every day. This has helped to fight the depression.

My shrink says that my reality is distorted on both ends. On the depression side, I believe I’m not being successful, when, in fact, my clients keep renewing my contracts and telling me I’m doing a great job. On the euphoria side, I over spend my credit cards and propose marriage to women serially.

At this moment, I seem to be in some sort of state of “awakeness”; like I’m a Zen Buddhist Bodhisattva; it’s not unreasonable for me to be depressed about my shattered life. I’m wide awake and aware that I need to help my daughter (who is 17) leave home and go to college, even if I don’t have the money to support her. I have just a few months left to teach her how to cope with life.

Q: i am taking a combination of epilim, lexapro and amitriptyline for bipolar mood disorder?
What are other people’s experience of these medications, any pros and cons.

A: I am unsure of the combination as such, but I have been taking Amitriptyline for about 4 years now for depression. The main side-effects I get a dry mouth and drowsiness. (I have to take the 225mg at night as when I tried to spread them out over the day I ended up falling asleep across my desk at work!) I’ve been told by various doctors that it’s a very old fashioned drug which is mainly avoided, but personally, I’ve found its the only anti-depressant that works for me. One of the worst side effects are the withdrawals though. I’ve tried to stop taking it multiple times and I couldn’t sleep, I was crying all day and having panic attacks plus much more. My friend was prescribed 30mg for back pain and suffered the same symptoms when she tried to stop taking it a week later! I’ve now accepted that I’ll be on them for life so if this thought concerns you, I would advise speaking with your Doctor about alternatives. Google ‘amitriptyline withdrawals’ to see others experience of the drug. Good luck! :) x

Q: Psychiatrist said i have symptoms close to these three…Schizophrenia, Bipolar, & Mood Disorder?
the Psychiatrist told me that my symptoms are very similar to these three things, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, & Mood Disorder. She said i have like a mixture of all three of these things well symptom wise. What do you people think it is.

1.Brain Fog (Severe)
2.Vascular Headaches
3.Migraines
4.Full Sensitivity to Light
5.Headaches from bright light
6.Color mixing (Visual)
7.Memory problems
8.Visual perceptual and depth loss (Severe)
9.Bluish-purple hands (Cold Hands)
10.Sunglasses make me more foggy
11.Glasses make me see things farther away then they really are
12.Can’t concentrate
13.Can’t pay attention
14.Palpitations
15.I Can Hear Voices
16.Mood Swings
17.Shortness of Breath
18.Dejavou
19.Sunglasses make things appear like they are moving
20.Ground looks elevated (Frequently)
21.Reaction time is dull
22.Feels like I’m not really there or here
23.See black spots
24.See black lines
25.Confused (Often)
26.Forget what I just read
27.Checkered & stripe shirts hurt my eyes
28.Dry throat
29.Dry lips
30.Black on white paper, hurts & hard to read
31.Stores make me get severe headaches, extreme fog, and make feel like I could vomit
32.Sometimes feel like I am spinning
33.Room not very well lit gives me a headache and makes more foggy
34.Vision Blurry
35. Feels like people are out to get me (Frequently)
36. Trouble thinking of words & forget what I was going to say
37.Moving objects are hard to follow (soccer ball)
38. I see the ground move side to side like I am on a boat
39. Brain tells me to do stuff that I don’t want to like hurt someone
40. Feels like I am fighting against myself

A: My first response is, who do you mean by “you people”?Since a psychiatrist has given you something close to a diagnosis, my best advice would be to continue to see the psychiatrist if you like and trust him/her until they can figure it all out. Psychiatry is not like other fields of medicine. A lot of the time the diagnosis cannot be made right away. It may take time, medication trials, and maybe therapy to help you start feeling better. I believe the most important thing is not the name that the illness is called, but getting someone (a psychiatrist) who can, over time, figure out with you what the problems are. I am a psychiatrist and you have quite a number of symptoms. There is really no way of saying exactly what illness you have, if in fact you have an illness, just based on the symptom list. So, your psychiatrist is right, you have symptoms that are found in mood disorders (of which, bipolar disorder is one) and schizophrenia. However, you have many, MANY, more symptoms that could be attributible to other illnesses. So again, I suggest rather than asking a question like this to people who are not trained to give you an informed answer, stick with your psychiatrist, or a psychiatrist that you like and trust, and eventually they will figure it out. By the way, other illnesses you may have based on your symptom list include schizoaffective disorder, a personality disorder, or a medical condition that is giving you symptoms similar to a psychiatric disorder. Most importantly don’t give up hope, and you will get better. Good luck!

Q: does serlift help for mood disorder?is bipolar different from mood disorder?
last week i was totally depressed i lost interest in almost everything.and for the last 2 days i am feeling very high and positive, i walk fast, i feel good if i see myself in the mirror, at times i can feel my hands shivering. i consulted the doctor, he said i am suffering from mood disorder. he said that serotonin chemical is low. he prescribed serlift for 2 months. and asked me to come after 2 months. i just want to know if mood disorder is the same as bipolar. does serlift help for mood disorder and bipolar disorder?

A: serlift helps in overcoming ocd’s only.
The primary medications used to treat bipolar disorder, especially in prevention of future episodes are mood stabilizers. Lithium and Valproate are the most commonly used. Often manic spells require the addition of an antipsychotic medication or a benzodiazepine. Depressive spells may require the addition of an antidepressant. Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) or shock treatment may be used to treat severe depression or mania. It is extremely fast and effective and has no lasting side effects. Psychotherapy is an important part of treatment to help the person and family cope with this chronic illness.

Q: Can mood swings from Polycystic ovary syndrome be confused with bipolar disorder?
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in November of 2008 and i have been on medication ever since. My moods are somewhat stable but not fully yet. I was recently diagnosed with Polycystic ovary syndrome and one of the symptoms of it are mood swings. Is it possible that my doctors misdiagnosed me as being bipolar but my mood swings are from PCOS?

A: Yes, it is very possible. Does your dr. know you have been diagnosed with PCOS? I have been diagnosed with PCOS myself and my moods are constantly switching. On top of all the other symptoms of PCOS i’m miserable with menstural cramps even when I’m not on it..No wonder our moods are all over!!! Hope you feel better.

Q: Question about Bipolar Disorder (mood swings)? What does the pattern of depression/mania look like?
I am really confused about a feature of bipolar disorder. Spercifically mood swings and alternating behaviour.

1) If someone with Bipolar is in a deep depression, how quickly could the depression turn into mania. Could it be depression then suddenly change within minuets to mania or would it be gradual mood change over days? I thought that the mood could change within hours or days but am very confused now!

2) Could the mood then change back to depression after mania then back and forward within days, or is it more that one will experience depression for a few months, then maybe mania then possible a period or stable normality?

3) Is it common that one could experience both severe sympotons of deppression and at the same time symptons of hypo/mania? If this does happen, would the person be constanty in a state where they are unable to function properly, or would the severity of this state be changeable throughout the day/week etc?

4) Day by Day what would a person with Bipolar Mixed state typically experience? Would it be possible for a person with Bipolar mixed state to only experience the mixed state or would they alternate between mixed states and mania or depression?

Would it be possible for a person experiencing mixed state bipolar to have say a couple of months where they continuously had symptons of depression and hypo/mania and then after a certain amount of time they for no reason suddenly felt able to function normally?

5) Is fast cycling quite common? and how fast is fast change in mood? could it be hours or is it more like every few months.

6) I have heard that Bipolar disorder would only be concidered if the patient in question was exhibiting a clear distinction between mania and depression, in clear definable periods. This dosn’t make sense to me becuase i was under the impression that there the mixed state of bipolar and fast cycling were in the diagnostic critera and were both considered to be a part of the disorder as much as bipolar I or II. Is this not correct? So if a patient is exhibiting every single sign of Bipolar disorder mixed state, but isn’t experienceing clearly defined periods of mania or depression, but rather severe symptons of a mixed state, would this not be concidered to be true Bipolar disorder?

I have read a few question on here about Bipolar and a common theme kept coming up. i jsut want to say that i am not attempting to ‘diagnose’ myself, i am questioning the possibility of an incorrect diagnosis, so i don’t need advise to see a Phychiatrist. Thanks you for you help, there are a lot of questions, please just answer any of them and that would be great! Any personal expereince of Bipolar would be great, Thanks.

A: To answer your question of misdiagnosis, the general rule in mental health is that when no other diagnosis can be reached, it is usually bipolar. It’s generally hard to diagnose because when a patient has come to seek treatment, it is possible that not all of their symptoms have presented yet. Not all patients have all symptoms either.

1. There is no set schedule or pattern for depressions, manias, and intermissions. I’ve been depressed for months manic for a half hour and then depressed again.

2. Again, there is no pattern. Bipolar disorder is unpredictable. My depression had been stabilized for two months and suddenly I was manic. My doctors aren’t sure if it was triggered by the steroids I was taking for my ankle or if I was just manic.

3.The condition you’re describing is a mixed state or an agitated depression, in which presentations of mania and depression are typically lesser than the patients normal extremes. Again the key word is typical.

4. I personally think mixed state is better defined by the term agitated depression. The mania experienced is hard to describe, the only way I can think of is to say that it is darker than regular mania. People constantly in a mixed state usually try to stabilize their moods with mood stabilizers. There are people who have mixed states and others who don’t. There are people who have intermissions and others who don’t. The unpredictability of bipolar is the worst part about the disease.

5. Just as there are different classifications of bipolar disorder, there are different terms for the timing. More than four cycles of mania or depression in a given year is classified as rapid cycling. There is also ultra rapid cycling, although I don’t know how quickly cycles would have to be for a patient to be classified as ultra rapid cycling. The distinction between ultra rapid cycling and mixed state is definitive manias and depression. Rapid cycling is between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6. It’s hard to say because once treatment has been started and rapid cycling is present the goal is to eliminate it. Most patients also don’t seek or stay in treatment because of the stigma of mental illness.

6. Again, bipolar is so hard to diagnose because patients may not have presented with all their symptoms yet.

Q: I suffer from bipolar mood disorder,skitso affective disorder and they say I am a socio psycopath, cure please?
I have lived with these disorders for the last seven years using medication to contrl my mood and keep me from getting to nervous or aggresive, I suffer from a anger management problem the doctors say it is a result of my disorders, I would like to know if there are any herbal medication to replace all the drugs

A: Oh, dear, just because you have a mood disorder it does not mean you lack a conscience or you`re purposely vicious.I have bipolar1, GAD, and ADHD, and I`m not a sociopath. AND, yes, I take meds, BECAUSE, I know I need to.They have all kinds of research out there proving that these illnesses are in fact only managed with medication. Herbs and psychotherapy will not help, meds are needed.If you`re not being managed with meds, than you need to go back to your doctor and get your meds increased or changed. I`m being put on another set of drugs again because I`m not coping with my current drug cocktail.
Do you even know what a sociopath is? Google before labelling yourself.

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