I've never been diagnosed with Manic Depression/Bi-Polar Disorder although I think I've got it in a very mild/moderate way. Now that I've said that, I guess you're wondering why this section is on my site - surely if I haven't been diagnosed with it then I don't know anything about it?
***UPDATE*** I've just (1 November 2002) got back from seeing Dr Invisible (the shrinky-dink) and he says that my hyperness isn't hyper enough to be Bi-Polar so I guess I just get naturally hyper sometimes?!?!
Well, that's not strictly true, I don't know what it's like to live with it, that's for sure, but I know bits and pieces about it and some of my online friends live with it so hopefully with their help and through research I'm going to be doing into Manic Depression/Bi-Polar Disorder, I'll be able to put something on here that will hopefully help you in some small way.
As for why it's here, well, a couple of people have emailed me after seeing this site (you know who you are!! Thank you!) and suggested I put a section up about it to try and help people cope with living with it and a few ideas of how to cope with the mania... hopefully I (with the help of my friends) will be able to shed a little bit of light into it for you! :o)
The next question you may be asking is why do I keep saying "Manic Depression/Bi-Polar Disorder"? Well, from what I've read online they are both the same thing but with different names... some people prefer one name, some prefer the other. I'm not sure which I prefer, but on the rest of this page, anything I write, I'll refer to it as Manic Depression just so that I don't wear my poor little fingers out! lol
So, I guess the next thing for me to do is to start doing some research huh? If you have Manic Depression and you think you could help me out with this page or you can point me in the direction of any useful websites that describe this illness, I'd love to hear from you!! :o)
Someone who emailed me after visiting this site described how Manic Depression feels for her and very kindly gave me permission to use it here... you know who you are - thank you!!
"I guess the best way to explain it would to say it's like getting drunk. Not that I'm saying being drunk is like mania, the stages are the same though. You feel okay, and quite normal, then you begin to become a bit hyperactive you're stupid, you talk quickly, etc. That's like when you're a bit tipsy. Then you go well, insane. You think odd things, make stupid accusations, and basically act like a complete ass. That's the drunken stage. And then you suddenly fall back down, and feel awful, you feel horribly depressed and suicidal. The hangover. It goes on like this forever. But the time frames often change. I'm going to and fro in a matter days now, yesterday was extremely manic, and now I'm feeling, not great, but not terribly awful. I know I'll be down again by tomorrow. But maybe not the worst I can get. Sometimes the entire scale can happen in one day, I can go from manic to depressed, and only be depressed for maybe an hour, even. Sometimes, I'll feel depressed for weeks, even months, before feeling normal or manic again. There have been rare occasions where I've been manic for weeks, and I've had to be admitted to hospital, because my family can't calm or handle me, and my own safety is at risk. It all depends on your situations really.Another friend of mine (thank you iriXx!) also sent me some info on Manic Depression after she saw this page... here's what she has to say! :o)
"did
you know there are several types of manic depression? its like a sliding
scale... some people even think that ordinary 'unipolar' depression and the
various types of atypical depression and bipolar disorder are all part of the
same spectrum of mood disorders...
the first place to look would be www.pendulum.org
- there is a great page on the various types of bipolar
disorder or 'BP' as i often call it - my friends on alt.support.depression.manic
often refer to themselves as BeePers... ;-)
this is a great page on the 'Bipolar Spectrum' or
different types of manic depression: http://www.pendulum.org/criteria/recognizing_bp.htm
i was originally diagnosed with Bipolar III or 'Cyclothymia'
- a variation in mood that differentiates me from normal depression, but not
strong enough to be Bipolar I or II. manic depression tends to get more marked
if untreated though - to start with i was just taking a little diazepam to
calm the mood swings and concentrating on using my psychotherapy sessions to
work on managing my condition. these days its progressed to Bipolar II
disorder - which is hypomania and depression, my personal 'variant' of Bipolar
II seems to feature major to severe depressive periods, with bursts of
hypomania, almost teetering on full-blown mania, mostly in 'rapid cycles' - i
can go up and down several times in a day, or sometimes i settle into a
pattern of a few days up and a few days down.... sometimes even a week up or a
week down. i've had some times where the hypomania lasted up to a month,
and one or two periods of full blown mania in my life although i wasnt aware
of it at the time. my mania isnt always pleasant - most of the time its almost
indistinguishable from a major stressout - and thats why it went undetected by
my psychiatrists for some time, until an intelligent young SHO noticed that my
depression didnt fall into the same regular pattern as other people. its
possible my manic depression was aggravated by taking SSRI antidepressants -
these have been associated with a risk of triggering manic depression -
although i still need to take medication for depression, so i have stuck with
them and added a mood stabiliser.
theres some good info on medications on www.netdoctor.co.uk
and www.mentalhealth.com
- common medications for mood stabilising are Lithium, Carbamazepine (Tegretol),
Sodium Valproate and Valproic Acid (Depakote).
other, more modern medications include a range of anti-epileptic medications -
because the same medications seem to treat both manic depression and epilepsy
effectively, there is some research going on to see if there is a link between
the two! these arent yet approved for treating manic depression, but a
consultant can prescribe them: Neurontin, Topimarate (Topomax) and
Lamotrigine (Lamictal). i take Lamictal.
sometimes anti-psychotics or benzodiazepines are prescribed to help bring the
mania down - of course there is a risk with taking regular benzodiazepines.
common medications include Seroquel and Zyprexa."
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