lydiamarie Posted September 19, 2004 Share Posted September 19, 2004 'manic-depressive illness, often seasonal, is recurrent by nature; if left untreated, individuals with this disease can expect to experience many, and generally worsening, episodes of depression and mania.' 'manic-depressive illness is relatively common; approximately one person in a hundred will suffer from the more severe form and at least that many again will experience milder variants, such as cyclothymia. One person in twenty (five percent) will experience a major depressive illness. Men and women are equally likely to have manic-depressive illness, in contrast to major ddepressive illness, which is more than twice as likely to affect women. The average age of onset of manic-depressive illness (18 years) is considerably earlier than that of unipolar depression (27 years).' from the book 'touched with fire: manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament' by Kay Redfield Jamison, THE authority on bipolar disorder (although she prefers the term manic-depressive, incidentally) when i was 18, i was diagnosed with cyclothymia. by the time i started college my (new) psychiatrist said i had type II, and last fall i was told that i definitely have type I bipolar disorder. it was no surprise to me; that was just after i experienced a horrifying psychotic episode. that's what a cup of coffee will do to me... Link to post Share on other sites
meanon Posted September 19, 2004 Share Posted September 19, 2004 Meanon, save me some hunting? What about Type II Bipolar? I get the impression that it's more common than Type I by a fair bit. Yes it is. I think it's 1% type 1 and estimates including the rest vary from 3% to 8%. http://www.cpa-apc.org/Publications/Archives/CJP/2002/march/inReviewCadesDisease2.asp As the article points out, there has been a broadening of the BD diagnostic criteria to include other aspects of the bipolar spectrum (e.g. hypomania and cyclothymia). A consensus has yet to be reached on the approach to (and definition of) the bipolar spectrum. This means that clinical practice will vary from country to country. Link to post Share on other sites
lydiamarie Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 some people are even starting to consider borderline personality disorder as part of the bipolar spectrum (i'm not sure if this is in public literature or just in the journals that i've read. if anyone wants to see the articles, i can dig them up-just ask). apparently it (borderline personality) responds to mood stabilizers. that somehow strikes me as odd, although i suppose it shouldn't; what we name all these disorders and where we draw the line are a bit arbitrary. we get diagnosed based on behavior, and not necessarily cause (because the causes are oftentimes unknow). i wanted to give you all a couple of links as well: depression and bipolar support alliance: http://www.dbsalliance.org/ treatment of bipolar disorder- a guide for patients and families: http://www.psychguides.com/Bipolar_2000_Guide.pdf the second link says (among other things) that some of the atypical (newer) antipsychotics are suspected to have mood stabilizing properties. one such drug is in symbyax as a sidenote, let me say i'm a bit annoyed that borderline personality disorder uses bp for shorthand. that leaves those us with bipolar disorder in a bit of a spot. if they had let us remain calling it manic depression, we could have the lovely md-although that would get a bit confusing, for example: lydia marie, md. hehe. here's where i state that i'm not a medical proffessional, for those of you who didn't get the joke or haven't read any of my posts before... Link to post Share on other sites
Author supermom Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 Thank you for those links! Thank you all for your support! It means a lot Link to post Share on other sites
Author supermom Posted September 21, 2004 Author Share Posted September 21, 2004 I can finally breathe today! I really think the Symbyax is working. For the first time in a long time I feel normal (neither real happy or real sad). I also noticed on my trip to Phoenix I was more relaxed in my driving (not too relaxed ) but when I got into Phoenix we were at a stand still for almost 10 minutes, and I was just there singing to music. When I started driving I realized I didn't freak out! I'm usually cussing after a minute - very impatient but for real! I didn't get upset about it. The downside at this point, getting better, but at first it was almost like I had no emotion. Just blah. It still felt better having no emotion than depressed emotion. I don't feel anxious - like something bad is going to happen. From your posts it seems I have more of the bipolar II disorder. Had blood drawn yesterday to rule out my thyroid, and I go to the doc on the 30th for a check up. Thanks guys so much for your support! ~Supermom Link to post Share on other sites
meanon Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 That's great news, supermom. Don't worry too much about the non-emotion. The older class of drugs tended to leave people feeling numb but I most find the newer ones do not have this effect. I'm fairly sure yours is of the newer generation. Things are looking up Link to post Share on other sites
lydiamarie Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 i always find that when i start on my meds again i feel a bit dead-emotionless. but after a week or two that feeling goes away and i just feel like me. what makes the meds worth it? (other than decreasing the frequency of the horrible blackness of depression and the frighteningly real psychotic episodes) it's that day that you wake up in bed and smile. and you feel your lungs fill up with air. and you smile. and you just know that it's okay. you're going to be okay. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts