Living In Today's Society With Bopolar Disorder - Everyday Health Blogs

Living In Today's Society With Bopolar Disorder - Everyday Health Blogs

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No RX's... Natural answers

I have not written any thing about natural forms regarding depression or bipolar disorder. RX drugs are not always the 'end all be all' to solve these disorders. Besides cognitive and other therapy's I'd like to offer up some information on vitamins that may help you. In writing this I express that if you do need to see a Dr. please do. Also some Dr's will help by going through the journey of finding the right combination of vitamins or vitamins and RX drugs.

Food and your style of living has a major part to play in your over well being. A regular schedule of activities, sleep and dietary needs is important. Dietary needs exclude large amounts of sugar and caffeine.

Moving on to vitamins. Keep in mind that vitamins are forms of drugs also and you should be well informed about them before taking high doses or have a Dr. overlooking you. Omega-3 fatty acids.... You can buy this in a capsuale and get it from eating fish. Some companies make a combination of Omega oils that are for depression. In the past I have found it helpful with depression. It is also helpful for bipolor disor, anxiety, post traumatic disorder and others. For more information go to http://www.consumerhealthdigest.com/omegafattyacids.htm

Vitamin D. This is a vitamin you get from the sun and it helps your mood. In some places, during the winter, there isn't a lot of sun. There are a lot of different studies on how much you should take per day of this vitamin. Since it is water soluble, it is safe to take a max amount. The min amount every one should take is 1000-2000 IU. It will also help you with cancer and flu's. You can not get this supplement in your normal diet. For further information go to http://www.naturalnews.com/Vitamin_D.html http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_a_Vitamin_D_deficiency_mimic_bipolar_disorder http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/mentalIllness.shtml

5htp, it's like an ati-depressant. It helps the serotonin balance in the brain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-Hydroxytryptophan

Vitamin B. It is essential for nerve stimulation and for metabolism of carbohydrates to give brain energy as well as body energy. Deficiency symptoms include mood disorders, anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, night terror etc. http://www.depression-guide.com/b-depression-vitamin.htm

A study that started in the University Of Calgary and is now studied threw out north America is that people with mental illnesses, including depression, lack vitamins. To put these vitamins in the body in extreme high doses, helps the brain function. This company is called True Hope. The main vitamins are A,C and D's. This is what I'm going on right now. I'm lowering my RX drugs as I increase my doses of theirs. They have online help as well as an 1-800 line available. The site is www.truehope.com

If you have had sucsess with a natural way of dealing with your disorder please contact me.

Homeless Myths

From my point of view I see some things differently. I get frustrated on how homeless people are viewed and treated. Friends of mine make comments like, 'get a job' and treat them like they are beneath them.

The city I live in has a lot of homeless people I'm ashamed to say. One day thought about this asking the question why. I had to do a little research. Most homeless people have mental disabilities. They may look well and able on the out side to you but there is a lot of other issues going on that disable them from keeping a job and living within our society. Some people see them begging on the street and all they think is, 'they want to get money to buy drugs and alcohol.' Well, that's true! It's self medication and often the only way people survive. If you want, buy them food.

Many view abusing drugs will give you a mental disorder and that may be the case for some but most of the time if some one is abusing, it's the symptom. It's hard in this society, mental disorders are shuned and the symptoms are not common knowledge so it's difficult to know if you have a problem. It's so hard to find help and when you do it may take a while for you to feel better. Drugs have an immediate fix.

You'll never understand how close you are to those look down upon until it's happened to you. Most people live pay check to pay check. A few bad months..... a mental break down... and that's you on the side walk. It pretty much happened to me and thank God I had family that was able to take care of me and support me.

Some one said to me the other day after I shared my views, 'most of them don't want help.' I got so mad. First of all, there is no actual real help out there and how would you know what help is when you have never seen your world any different. My city shut down our main mental institute and the homeless population rose tremendously. I didn't know what normal was until I got help. Mental disorder is a different mental state.

I think it's important for people to be aware of these issues for a number of reasons. Treat every one like a human because you'll never know how one smile or nice word will affect some one. Being empathetic towards a person, making them feel as if you look at them with no judgement can do a world of good. Knowledge about this can be golden. If some one gets help early on it's very easy to treat and a lot less painful. It's like cancer, if you catch it in the early stages you have more options on treatment and a greater survival rate.

Skipping Medication

Earlier this week I had the flew. I couldn't keep anything down. I know that some people with mental disorders don't need to take medication but those who do depend on it every day and when the daily dose is missed, that disrupts mental balance for up to a week.

Obviously, not keeping food or fluids down means not being able to take my medication. Fortunately I had a place to stay during this time where I had some one by me if I went into either a manic or depressive episode, they could take care of me. It's important that if this happens to you that you can talk to some one about your situation so they can keep an eye on you, even if it's your Doctor.

I can't express how important it is for you to find a friend, family member or be close to your Doctor for reasons such as these.

Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder

Some people reading this may not be completely aware of what bipolar disorder is and the effects it has on people who have it and others around them. There are so many people who suffer from mental disorders and don't even know it or are misdiagnosed. When I have to give a quick explanation it's, most people's moods fluctuate up and down within a grey area but when you have bipolar disorder the fluctuation raises above and below that grey line.

Being manic has many stages from feeling like you can do anything like being over confident, or gives a high feeling. When I'm highly manic my mind starts to race and can't hold thoughts for long and I can't concentrate or sleep. Sometimes when I'm in public like a mall, it feels as if everything around me is on fast forward, I can't hold on to a particular thought or event.

The depressive or low feeling comes out in various ways. Often people think depression is a state of not wanting to live. Most depressive people don't have symptoms like that. It feels hard to get out of bed in the morning a feeling of low energy during the day, no motivation, over sleeping or a foggy head, those can be signs of a minor depression.

To go into further details I'll list more of the symptoms...
Manic
-Feeling unusually “high” and optimistic OR extremely irritable
-Unrealistic, grandiose beliefs about one’s abilities or powers
-Sleeping very little, but feeling extremely energetic
-Talking so rapidly that others can’t keep up
-Racing thoughts; jumping quickly from one idea to the next
-Highly distractible, unable to concentrate
-Impaired judgement and impulsiveness
-Acting recklessly without thinking about the consequences
-Delusions and hallucinations (in severe cases)

Depressive
-Feeling hopeless, sad, or empty.
-Irritability
-Inability to experience pleasure
-Fatigue or loss of energy
-Physical and mental sluggishness
-Appetite or weight changes
-Sleep problems
-Concentration and memory problems
-Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
-Thoughts of death or suicide

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/bipolar_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm

The following web site has a test you can take that will give you an idea if you have bipolar disorder.

http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/bipolarquiz.htm

Often people are afraid of some one with bipolar disorder. This disorder can be treated in various ways so the person's mood stays within that grey area. It can be difficult talking to some one when their mood changes. I suggest when you know a person is manic keep your voice low and if the manic person is over whelmed or stuck on one thing that is causing stress or you know isn't healthy, try changing the conversation to some thing that focuses their attention on a lighter or humorous topic. This will decrease their stress b/c once the mind is in a bad loop of thoughts it's hard to get out of.

Some times when people are depressed they need others to push them out in a strategic way, to do some thing about it. It may just be finding a Dr to go to or other help like getting them out of the house. At my lowest point I needed some one to help me with every day things, taking stress off of me so that I could focus on getting the help I needed. Some of these things were making sure my bills were paid, helping me research options like Drs, counsellors, etc. or even being checked in on to make sure I was going out and knew I had a person I could call and talk to when I needed. It always helps to have a person that knows a little bit about what your going through even if it's only what's researched.

A surrounding environment has a huge effect on people especially some one with bipolar disorder. Friends and family should be aware of this and try to facilitate it. My previous blog entry states some sites to go for further information regarding this subject.

Effects Of The Enviroment On Bipolar Disorder

I had an interesting conversation today about what causes a mental disorder or where does it come from, specifically bipolar disorder. My view is that all of us are born with a brain that mechanicaly works differently than others, being bipolar or having other conditions like ADD may be natural, God given gifts and it's our society that creates this atmosphere where it becomes the disorder.

I spent some time in Uganda, Africa and society is a lot different there. There isn't the pressure to fit into a mould and success isn't measured by the same standards as we have in our society. I saw people flourish in this environment and not have to struggle through life trying to figure out who they are. What I learnt is to find my own talents and improve on them, not fight against them. I often heard as a kid, 'You can do anything you want to'. No I can't and I really shouldn't try unless I have the burning passion and/or talent needed.

Coming back to my conversation with my friend. He felt that all of us are born with this difference in our brain, normally called a chemical unbalance, and if we were placed in any enviroment from A-Z we would still feel and act the same way as we do now.

The evidence in studies show that nutrition and the home, work or other environments affect a person with bipolar disorder greatly and sujests that ones genes play a part. It is recommended that some one with a mental disorder should have a stable, low stress and scheduled environment. There is a lot of data that referes to the fact that people have triggers when being bipolar. Symptoms you never had can be triggered by a major event leading you to your diagnosis or you can be triggered into having an episode.

If this is true then there is a possibility that when some one with bipolar disorder is in an environment without stress and is eating healthy food, like where I was in Africa, they may not suffer as many or no side effects in which their bipolar disorder wouldn't interfere in their life.

The following are some of the web pages I received my facts from.

http://www.foodforthebrain.org/content.asp?id_Content=1713
http://www.healthyplace.com/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-treatment/how-triggers-affect-bipolar-disorder-gsd/menu-id-67/
http://www.phobias-help.com/bipolar_disorder/Causes_of_Bipolar_Disorder.html

Statistics

Recently I posted questions about some stats regarding mental disorders. Even after I put away my notes with the answers to the question, I had a difficult time answering them. I didn't get the right answers. The results are shoking

The correct answers are as follows,
-Over the last 19 yrs, what percentage of North Americans have been diagnosed with a Mood Disorder? 9.5%
-Do cases of Anxiety Disorder quadruple cases of Depression Disorder? Approximately 40 million American adults ages 18 and older, or about 18.1 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have an anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. Even though it's close, the answer is no.
-What is the median age of onset for a mood disorder? 30yrs.

In America, the estimation of people that suffer from mood disorders is of 1/4 of the population and has become the leading cause of disability in North America. Recently the awareness has grown a little but we still have a long way to go, especially in the area of acceptance with all parties involved.

In my point of view which is based on stats and logic, it is that acceptance and knowledge is a key towards help. More than 90% of people who commit suicide have a mental disorder so this is a concern we should all have.

I have taken the information from, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml.

When Stress Makes Stress

At a point in my life I had to remove myself from anything that caused me stress. Because of my situation this is what I needed to do at the time. It's also a great coping mechanism for any one who feels overwhelmed with the stress of life.

There is a point that it's healthy to remove yourself from 'triggers' or situations that you know will lead you down the path, focusing on stress. Once you have finally learnt how to say NO to all those people that encourage you in the wrong direction, when is it time to even out that pendulum?

I have things in my life that creates stress and most of the time I will put it out of my mind if it's not an initiate matter. Recently I've had excruciating back and neck pains. Long story, short, I had a stressful problem that I couldn't deal with. Without me knowing, internally this creating more stress, enabling me from solving other day-to-day problems and tasks that other wise would be simple.

Once I addressed the original thing that caused all this stress, immediately my neck and back hollered an appreciation.


Most people call this procrastination but it's more than that if you have a mental illness. How do we begin to solve this problem? Do you have a suggestion? So far with most of my inabilities, the most I've learnt is that when I can see what I need to change, that's most of the battle.

A Coctail Of Heat And Medication

It's been so hot where I live the last little while. A lot of medication that is taken by bipolar people will increase your body heat and make you sweat so it's very important to make sure your drinking enough water. In the summer there are many people that take any kind of medication, being overcome with a bad case of heat stroke.

From magazines, medical reports I've read and my own personal experience, drink at least twice as much water that you would normally drink when the weather is warm.

Confident Passion, Discoouragment Then No Action

Most of the time when I talk to people and even write on this computer, I feel confident about the direction of where my thoughts are taking me. I know I need to stand up for myself and others with this illness so that I won't be caught in a stagnant place.

Often people around me have grown to expect nothing from me, including any growth while learning how to live with Bipolar Disorder. When I'm weak I buy into this. Every thought, goal or passion I had can melt when there is a combination of others discouragement and my moments of weakness.

If your a loved one of some one who has Bipolar Disorder and they show a desire to move forward in life, my suggestion is to constantly be positive even though sometimes you know there ideas aren't that good. Don't be totally fake but find positive things to say and make them feel encouraged. I feel as if I'm alone in my battles, my family is looking out for my best interests but only pointing out why my ideas won't work. I need to do things when I have passion for them or else I won't do it.

It takes 10 positive words to counteract 1 negative one.