|
|
|
| well, if they can split the atom... |
|
|
Mood Swings  The masks of comedy and tragedy have been forever a symbol of the theater. However; as a manic-depressive I think they are an excellent emblem for the mental illness called bipolar. Bipolar is the more modern term for "manic-depressive". Do not confuse this with obsessive/compulsive, schizophrenia or borderline personality. They are not the same, although some people may have multiple disorders. When one is schizophrenic AND bipolar it's called schizo-affective--a most unfortunate combination. To try to make it brief, bipolar is a MOOD DISORDER caused by a chemical imbalance, schizophrenia is a THOUGHT DISORDER which can be caused by a number of things (not all of them known yet), including brain injury. Schizophrenia usually results in a total break with reality (psychosis), but is also treatable with mediation. However; some unmedicated bipolars have been known to get so manic that they can go into a psychotic state for a time.
I'm lucky that I only have bipolar, but it is still hard to live with and what makes it worse is how ignorant the world in general is on this subject. Considering that it is genetic and physiological disorder and NEARLY AS COMMON AS DIABETES in the general population, it is a crime that more attention is not paid to it, other than to mention it only in connection with occasional crimes and then as though people are claiming to be mentally ill as a "so-called" excuse for behavior. It is real and it is treatable--to a point--but most bipolars are not only unmedicated, but completely undiagnosed.
I'm so manic today I could scream and that is why I'm talking so openly about it. I'm not ashamed to have it, in fact, I have more guilt about being diabetic--which also runs in our family--because I know my weight problems contributed to it. Truth to tell, I'm not just manic, I'm in what they call a "mixed state" where, unaccountably and confusing I admit--the depression and manic states are both here at the same time--makes me ready to jump out of my skin. It's horrible, because I can't stay doing anything for more than a minute since I'm so nervous and anxious. In addition, when I try to to anything on the computer, it gets all balled up and drives me crazy. So, I can't sleep, even though as a rule, my medication makes me very sleepy right after taking it, and yet, I can't find anything to turn my hand to so that I can quit thinking about it. I have little or no patience with myself at this moment in time. This is almost--but not quite--worse than the crippling lows of a depressed state. It's almost impossible to explain to anyone who is not bipolar, and I mean the "rapid-cycling" type of bipolar. Because I was not diagnosed until I was 45 it is even more difficult to treat me (instead I'd been treated in error for clinical depression for 20 years). I take my medications faithfully (many bipolars do not; as this is a symptom of the manic end of bipolar), but they only work to a point. I can function on good days, sometimes quite well, and cannot bear to go out of the house on many others.
If you care, and want to read what it is like from a layman's point of view, and especially if you think you might be bipolar or have a loved one you suspect might be bipolar there is an excellent description by a remarkable woman who was a rapid-cycle bipolar. I say was because she was tragically killed in an automobile accident a couple years ago, just when she was getting so much better and had found a combination of meds that worked better for her. Her family has elected to keep her most informative page on the internet:
Link to Mood Swing
The whole page is enlightening, but for an explanation of "mixed state" go down to "Rapid Cycling". Should you be wondering if you qualify as bipolar, read the whole page. As with any social problem in the world, be it child and animal welfare, poverty, spousal abuse, or mental illness, ignorance only adds neglect and intolerance to the dilemma. Medication is key to helping you cope with this disorder, but I believe it must go hand in hand with some psychotherapy that concentrates on behavior modification and learning tips that will help you keep your self-destructive tendencies from ruining your life and hurting those close to you. But family and friends should be informed and supportive and realize that it is an on-going process and that any bipolar will have bad days no matter how well medicated, no matter how much they learn, because, although the medications help; there is no cure and none of them work the same on any one person. I will also be posting this on my MySpace.com page, and a couple others. I used to have something on it on my regular family web page and lost my nerve after being ridiculed by a flamer at a pet messageboard. I shouldn't have been so easily cowed. I'll probably put this back in over the next day or two.
|
|
|
|
