Posts Tagged ‘Extreme Cases’

Bipolar Disorder Symptoms – Tips To Identify It

In order to become successful in life, it is quite essential to be healthy and wise. While any sort of physical restrictions of the body can be fought with and dealt with, the central processing unit of our body that is our brain needs to be absolutely perfect in order to live a happy & successful life. For all our errands what we primarily need is a sharp brain so as to understand our environment and act promptly & make well evaluated decisions.

Along with a perfectly working brain, what we need is a control over our emotions. Being over excited or unduly angry all the time would not help us in any way. Quoting in the right terminology all our psychological factors must be balanced enough.

And what if you discover that you yourself have or some of you known to has a brain disorder? One such common brain disorder is bipolar disorder. This disease not only effects our emotions and decisions on daily errands, in extreme cases it can lead to suicides as well.

The bipolar disorder symptoms can be broadly categorized in to three main heads. These are as follows:
i. Manic Symptoms
ii. Psychotic Symptoms
iii. Depressive Bipolar Disorder Symptoms

In case you find any of these symptoms growing, it’s just the time to consult the psychiatrist.

There are several manic, psychotic and depression symptoms of bipolar disorder. These are as follows:

1. They share their feelings quite openly.
2. Everything in their life is far grander, faster, & generally bigger than usual.
3. The person in this state is generally quite active than usual.
4. Such patients speak and think very fast, at least faster than their usual self.
5. Everything about their life seems to be exaggerated, may it be their overwhelming feelings of self importance.
6. They have very grand schemes & look for adventures in their works. Whenever their plans to grandeur do not work out, they blame some extraneous factors.
7. Within no time people with such disorders move to other plans.
8. All these accumulate to a very whimsical behavior on their part.
9. Manics tend to be very reckless.
10. Their actions go so far that they can at times land up to a jail and/or they often have broken relationships.
11. While these symptoms just seem to be abnormal behavior on the part of the individual, it is certainly an alarm for a major problem that is bipolar disorder and you must check with your psychiatrist and/or physician regarding the same.
12. A person suffering with bipolar disorder feels just too little or absolutely no need for sleep and/or food. This marks the beginning of the severe manic state. While some individuals are able to resist such a stage, usually like all human beings our body needs rest and sustenance to keep healthy.
13. The psychotic bipolar disorder symptoms often culminate to mania alongwith mixed moods & occasional depression symptoms.
14. Psychosis refers to some break with reality. It can occur in varied forms like hallucinations, both auditory (that is hearing voices, etc.) & visual.
15. Delusions, and/or false beliefs are other bipolar disorder symptoms. Like, a person starts believing that he/she is some famous figure from the history.
16. The symptoms of bipolar disorder are usually depression and can be seen easily only if one is willing to do so. The key signs of depression are apathy, indecisiveness & low self esteem.
17. The physical symptoms of depression in bipolar disorder are weight loss or gain, fatigue & eating and/or sleeping quite less or more than usual. The patients of this disorder always seem to be telling the people around them that they are not well physically.

14 Basic Bipolar Disorder Facts Everybody Must Know

In the absence of research and development many medical ailments were earlier treated as incurable mammoths. Bipolar Disorder is one among them.

Earlier the individuals suffering with this kind of disorder was often regarded as a ‘very moody person’ or in extreme cases the family wrote them off saying that they have become insane. Later on the scientists made us realize that this disorder is a – Manic Depression, also known by the name of – Bipolar Disorder.

Though this disease is not new, along with the name many other things regarding this disease are quite new like the help we can lend to such patients. As its effects can be very wide spread and deadly, the treatment is as crucial.

Some basic facts regarding Bipolar Disorder or Manic Depression are as follows:

1. As the name is withdrawn rightly, the disorder has two key phases – mania and depression. All the symptoms, ailments and effects of this disorder primarily belong to these two aspects.

2. This disorder is found equally among men and women.

3. Out of the world’s total population, around 1% suffers with the bipolar disorder.

4. Mania is found in two main divisions: hypo mania & full-blown mania.

5. Hypomania is a state where the individual possesses quite intense energy & is able to yield unusually high productivity. Ones who remain until this stage turn out to be great salesmen and high powered businessmen. Yet, the danger remains as many of the hypo-maniacs are just of the verge of being full blown maniacs.

6. The full-blown maniacs’ actions are rather devastating. Individuals suffering with bipolar disorder often become subject to the full-blown mania where they start making unnecessary moves in their business. Their actions yield far more losses than benefits, they themselves are never able to note this.

7. Patients of bipolar disorder almost never consider the results of their actions. They would spend money just like anything unconsciously. The money that they might have saved for some basic necessity for home or business, they might land up pending it in something just not required. They would sign the cheques irrespective of the fact that there is money in the account or not.

8. Such patients often become too generous and gift away their treasured items or things that they just can not afford to give away. Though, later they also regret their actions.

9. In an acute manic state the bipolar disorder can be characterized by overly gregariousness of the individual. They become extra ordinarily outgoing and do not realize whether their company is good or bad. This could be quite dangerous as getting in tough with some unwanted and unethical people can also land up in several irreversible problems such as sexual exploits, henceforth pregnancy, sexual diseases, or hampered relationships.

10. In extreme cases the disease suffering with bipolar disorder lands up in a phase of psychosis. This is the time when the patient has bizarre thoughts, like delusions and hallucinations. At this time the patient looses the senses of his/her immediate environment and is not able to make out the difference between realism & hallucinations. So he /she become so vulnerable that they can not even save themselves from natural calamities.

11. Often the mania cases land up to a phase of depression. Such individuals seclude themselves from their loved ones & acquaintances and many a times become bed-ridden for days together. Their sleep, appetite, energy level, etc. everything gets deeply effected.

12. One of the major dangers in bipolar disorder when the person goes in to depression is that they become suicidal. Hence, when the patient is in the phase of depression he/she must be guarded thoroughly.

13. Many adults & teenagers try to cope up with their bipolar disorder with other prolonged diseases like alcohol and drugs. Such cases are medically termed as – dual diagnosis. Such addictions complicate the patients’ condition and make thee treatment rather more difficult. However, with the changing scenario of our society this has almost become a common factor.

14. While individuals dealing with bipolar disorder have a lot many problems to handle, they can be optimistic due to the fact that several ways have been worked out for them to get cured and get a hold on themselves, like medications, therapies, routines, etc.

Do You Have An Eating Disorder?

Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are two of the most common forms of eating disorders. Statistic gathered by the Academy of Eating Disorders state that more than ten percent of women have symptoms, varying in degrees, of eating disorders.

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that is defined as having an intense fear of gaining weight. The person who suffers from this disease will do anything it takes not to gain an ounce. If they gain even as much as half a pound, it can send them into a panic and they will stop eating altogether. In extreme cases, the person affected becomes emaciated to the point where hospitalization is required.

Although Anorexia Nervosa is generally found in women, the amount of men that this eating disorder affects is rapidly increasing.

There are several other severe reactions that the body can have to this eating disorder. Women will stop menstruating, and in girls, it can be delayed altogether. Puberty is can be delayed. For boys and men, their sex hormones decrease or in severe cases, disappear completely.

Anorexia Nervosa also has psychological symptoms. Irritability, withdrawal and depression can be found in all victims of this eating disorder. Another symptom of Anorexia Nervosa is that the person afflicted with will develop compulsive eating habits. All food is put into two categories; good and bad.

The person afflicted with this eating disorder are deathly afraid of eating the foods that are in the “Bad food” category.

Often, a person who develops Anorexia Nervosa because they cannot control certain aspects of their life. They feel that the food that they eat is the one thing that they can control.

Bulimia Nervosa is another form of eating disorders. This is different from Anorexia because the person afflicted will binge eat.

This is when the person diets or starves themselves for long periods of time and then eats enough to fulfill their hunger. When they are done eating, they will begin to feel guilty then an intense fear of gaining weight will overcome them and they will purge themselves. To do this, they will either make themselves vomit what they consumed or they will use laxatives to clean out there system. Some who are afflicted with this eating disorder will exercise to the point of exhaustion. Although they think they have it under control, they do not. The cycle will start all over again.

Although those with bulimia maintain a normal body weight, it can still have devastating effect. From vomiting over and over again, a victim of Bulimia can develop esophageal erosion similar to acid reflux disease, as well as the erosion of tooth enamel.

If you are a parent of someone who has either one of these eating disorders, it is critical that you seek medical attention as soon as possible. Even if you are not sure your child has these disorders, let a medical professional confirm it or put your fears to rest.

Anorexia and Bulimia are a very private part of the victim’s life. They will have the fear that treatment means weight gain and they will go to any extent for that not to happen.

These eating disorder can be deadly. It is important to recognize the symptoms, and if there are any changes in your child’s eating patterns. If they start to eliminate their favorite foods from their diet ask questions and do not stop until you have a satisfactory answer.

Through the help of a physician medical treatment can be done to correct the physical damage caused. Therapy from a mental health professional one on one and in a group setting is usually the course of treatment, which works hand in hand with a doctor.

Summary:

Anorexia and Bulimia can only be diagnosed and treated by a physician. It is important that you seek treatment as soon as you recognize the symptoms. Part of the treatment will be session, whether private or group, with a psychologist. Group session have shown great results as the people afflicted with these eating disorders share their stories and usually support each other.