Bipolar Disorder
Hi all welcome back to my blog, I hope everyone is having a great week. I’ve been doing a lot of writing and research for my mental health awareness series lately, I really want to expand on it this year. I’ve got great feedback so far, People are enjoying it and finding it helpful and that always been my goal to raise awareness, help people and help get rid of the stigma surrounding mental illnesses.
This week I wanted to write a piece about Bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is considered a “Mood Disorder”. This is a very series mental illness that’s quite common.
I know from researching over the years when I was dealing with my own health, I looked into everything before I actually got help and treatment myself I was proactive in that way I was almost trying to diagnose myself.
In my research when I came across bipolar disorder there was a lot of information that was overwhelming I felt. it’s great that its available but it was a lot to take in for me I recall. It took a while to get through it and all the medical terminology, eventually I realize I didn’t have this illness my symptoms didn’t match but it was eye-opening!that’s why I wanna do this post, I really wanna simplify it. If you can understand the illness it less scary. With this post, I want to go through it really simple, start with the symptoms, how it can be diagnosed and then possible treatment.
Bipolar is known as a mood disorder because its when a person moods switch from one extreme to another. From extreme MANIA to extreme DEPRESSION. Its an extreme high to an extreme low. These mood swings can last several weeks or months. You may be unaware of your moods rapid change or change in behavior but people around you may notice. The frequency of these episodes can vary, everyone is different, you could have more highs than lows, for some, there are periods in between episodes where your mood is normal.
MANIA
MANIA is the feeling of happiness, it’s an extreme high. Your feeling overjoyed and full of energy. Your full of great ideas and plans, your almost invisible in a way you don’t feel you need sleep or food. You’re going a mile a minute, talking fast, getting easily distracted, you say or do thing out of character in this hyper state.
This state is dangerous because it leads to a person making rash decisions or actions that could have a negative effect on your life.
DEPRESSION
DEPRESSION is the extreme low, the feeling of sadness and worthlessness, feeling full of self-doubt and despair, you retreat from your life, the person will lose their appetite have trouble sleeping, lack of energy.
This state is dangerous because it can let to taught’s of self-harm or suicide.
When it comes to treating a person with bipolar, you first have to be assessed by a specialist and officially diagnosed, like all mental illness every person is different it’s not a case of one treatment fits all, for the best outcome you need to seek help that’s the right fit for you.
TREATMENT
Bipolar can be treated with medication which can prevent episodes of mania, these are called mood stabilizers. Long term treatment with medication can reduce the chance of relapse.
Therapy can help with dealing with the depression, I’m a huge advocate for therapy, talking will help you deal with your feeling and help you work through it and give you a better understanding and teach you ways to cope.
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Making a change in your lifestyle can also help. Eating well, add exercise into your daily routine, take up a hobby you enjoy. Have that activity or place to go that is positive and makes you feel good will help.
Thank you so much for checking out this blog I really appreciate it and I hope you’re enjoying the content, leave me comments and let me know what you think. If there is a topic you would like me to focus on please let me know in the comments. If you would like blog updates please subscribe. xx Paula xx
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