Bipolar disorder is a mental illness tagged with extreme mood swings with ups and downs. Each of these extreme episodes affects your hours, days, weeks, or months.
The mood swings may even cause mixed feeling so you might feel irritated and depressed at the same time. Bipolar disorder can affect your personal and professional life and also spoils your healthy relationships.
Most of the time people ignore the Bipolar Disorder Symptoms and sign of this mental illness. First step of solving a problem is to recognize it.
Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
There are different types of bipolar disorder, mood episode-Mania, Hypomania, and depression each has a unique set of symptoms.
Mania – Mania symptoms of bipolar disorder may include feeling of heightened energy, less need for sleep, high sex drive, excitement, irritability, restlessness, euphoria, are common. People experience a manic episode often a hyperactive and take a minute for a mile and also feel that they are powerful, invincible, or great.
Hypomania – Hypomania is a less drastic form of mania. A person suffering with hypomania feels energetic, productive and euphoric. But are able to keep on with their day-to-day lives and are always in touch with reality. It seems as people suffering from hypomania usually remains in good mood. While, hypomania causes bad decision that harm careers, relationship and reputation.
Depression – Bipolar depression is significantly different from regular depression, particularly when it comes to recommended treatments. People suffering with bipolar depression are not helped by anti depression. In fact, these antidepressants can make bipolar disorder worse. People with a bipolar depression, sleep a lot speak slowly and gain weight.
Types of Bipolar Disorder –
There are several types of bipolar disorder, i.e. bipolar 1, bipolar 2, cyclothymic disorder, rapid cycling and mixed bipolar disorder. But 3 main categories are most commonly diagnosed. A manic episode is a period of abnormal exalted mood,
Bipolar I – A person affected by bipolar disorder has at least once manic episode in his life. A person affected by bipolar I disorder has had at least one manic episode in his or her life. A manic episode is a period of abnormally exalted mood, inclusive of abnormal behavior that depressed life.
Bipolar II – Bipolar II is similar to bipolar I, with the high and low mood swings But in bipolar disorder II person does not experience full – blown manic episode.
Cyclothymia (hypomania and mild depression) – Cyclothymiacs is a relatively
It is a Mild mood disorder with drastic mood swings. People with cyclothymic disorder have less harsh symptoms than full – blown mania.
Causes of Bipolar Disorder
The bipolar disorder has not been completely understood and it does not have a single cause, but it often appears that certain people hereditary predisposed to bipolar disorder, but genes are not only causing. Some brain studies show that physical changes occurs in the brain of people with bipolar disorder – abnormal thyroid function, circadian rhythm disturbances, neurotransmitter imbalances, , and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Stress – Stressful life can also trigger bipolar disorder in someone with a genetic penetrability. These stressful life events tend to involve sudden changes- i.e. losing love ones, losing a relationship, affect professional life, college life and married life.
Seasonal Changes – Events of mania and depression is often causes by seasonal changes. Manic events are more common during the summer and depressive events more common during winter and summer.
Medication – Some of the medication mostly antidepressant drugs can trigger mania. Some other drugs that causes mania includes - cold medicine, caffeine, corticosteroids, appetite, suppressants and thyroid medication.
Sleep Deprivation – Sleep deprivation is another cause for trigger mania. Lack of sleep, even skipping a few hours of relaxing.
Substance Abuse – Substance abuse does not trigger bipolar disorder, but when it brings on an episode worsen the course of the disease. Drugs – ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamines cause mania, while tranquillizer and alcohol cause depression.