A few ideas to ponder. I’d love to hear your views as well.1. Restlessness. This can be mental or physical. It’s a definite symptom of mania, but I also think it’s a personality trait of many of us with this illness. We simply crave change and can have trouble saying no to something new, even though it’s not good for us!
2. Bipolar disorder is a sleep disorder. All people with bipolar disorder have sleep problems. The more we learn about the genetics of the circadian rhythm, the closer we get to a bipolar disorder cure. I believe this!
3. Bipolar disorder is a lifestyle illness– this means that our lifestyle choices affect our moods. Changes in lifestyle can be as powerful as medications.
4. Much of what we know is still in the chicken or the egg stage. For example, does lack of sleep cause mania or do we have sleep problems because the mania is already there? It’s fascinating.
What parts of bipolar disorder do you find interesting? Julie
Sometimes I wonder if anxiety is a type of hypomania. My son has bipolar II. When he was first diagnosed, it seemed like he was either depressed or anxious. Without ever having read this, I came to see his anxiety spells as hypomania. His antipsychotic is Seroquel–a powerful anti-anxiety medicine. Increasing the Seroquel would take care of the anxiety. Or hypomania, depending upon how you look at it.
Hello Judy,
There is definitely an anxiety component to mania- this is called dysphoric mania- it’s a combination of depression, anxiety and manic energy. I wrote about this a lot on the blog- just check for dysphoric mania in the search box and you can read more about the symptoms. I also write about this a lot on my Bp Magazine blog. Here is a link to my work: http://www.bphope.com/author/julieafast-2/ Julie
I find it fascinating that on a well balanced diet , daily exercise and self awareness, that and lot of people do not require meds for some forms of bp.
I find the creative aspect fascinating. Does bipolarity contribute to creativity, or are creative people more predisposed to bipolar disorder?
I believe that people with bipolar disorder are definitely more intellectual. We attend college at a very high rate and always want to work. I believe that mania is where the creativity occurs, so I don’t believe that people with bipolar disorder are more creative than the norm! Julie