Wiki article about Bi-Polar disorder - wondering if anyone can relate

by needproof 8 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  needproof

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder

  To quote the article:

  The Depressive Phase

  Main article: Depression

  Signs and symptoms of the depressive phase of bipolar disorder include (but in no way are limited to): persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, anger, isolation and/or hopelessness, disturbances in sleep and appetite, fatigue and loss of interest in usually enjoyed activities, problems concentrating, loneliness, self-loathing, apathy or indifference, depersonalization, loss of interest in sexual activity, shyness or social anxiety, irritability, chronic pain (with or without a known cause), lack of motivation, and morbid/suicidal ideation.[5]

  ***************

  Now I can't help but think I have those symptoms at times, but then, don't we all? Surely every one of us have experienced these feelings?
• 

  purplesofa

  http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.bipolar-screening.html

  Screening for Bipolar Spectrum Disorders

  This questionnaire is a designed to screen for the possibility of a disorder in the bipolar spectrum in individuals, 18 or older, who have had at least one depression severe enough to have caused them distress and/or interfered with their functioning at home, work, school or in their interpersonal relationships.

  Print out the questionnaire below and indicate your answers. Information on how to interpret the results follows the questionnaire.

   GBSS 5.0 The items below refer to how you have felt and behaved over much of your life. If you have usually been one way, and have recently changed, your responses should reflect how you have USUALLY been. Circle one of the numbers under each item using the following scale: 0 = Not at all 1 = Just a little 2 = Somewhat 3 = Moderately 4 = Quite a lot 5 = Very much ================================================================================== 1. At times I am much more talkative or speak much faster than usual. 0 1 2 3 4 5 2. There have been times when I was much more active or did many more things than usual. 0 1 2 3 4 5 3. I get into moods where I feel very speeded up or irritable. 0 1 2 3 4 5 4. There have been times when I have felt both high (elated) and low (depressed) at the same time. 0 1 2 3 4 5 5. At times I have been much more interested in sex than usual. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6. My self-confidence ranges from great self-doubt to equally great overconfidence. 0 1 2 3 4 5 7. There have been GREAT variations in the quantity or quality of my work. 0 1 2 3 4 5 8. For no apparent reason I sometimes have been VERY angry or hostile. 0 1 2 3 4 5 9. I have periods of mental dullness and other periods of very creative thinking. 0 1 2 3 4 5 10. At times I am greatly interested in being with people and at other times I just want to be left alone with my thoughts. 0 1 2 3 4 5 11. I have had periods of great optimism and other periods of equally great pessimism. 0 1 2 3 4 5 12. I have had periods of tearfulness and crying and other times when I laugh and joke excessively. 0 1 2 3 4 5 Copyright (C) 2003  Ivan Goldberg, MD

  How to interpret your score
• 

  needproof

  Im going to try that, thanks :)
• 

  CaptainSchmideo

  That description fits my Father-in-Law to a Tee.

  When he cycles up,up,up, he goes for days without sleep, jabbers on at 1000 miles a second, wanders around town intimidating hapless bystanders (he's been banned from just about every restaraunt in town, as well as the community center), he's pretty unpleasant to be around when he gets like this. ANNNND he live two blocks from me, so I get to deal with all this, while his other kids moved as far as they could get to when they left home.

  He has tried the medications, but they bring him so far down that he's almost stuporous, so he stops taking them, and whoosh! right back up again. He's not a JW, but my Mother-In-Law is (very, very devout). It's fortunate for him she is so devout, because any other wife, and he'd be waking up one day with a knife in his chest. I can't stand to be in the same room with him for more than an hour, I can't imagine what it is like to live in the same house. It has been taking a toll on her physically and mentally for years, but she has herself dug in as part of her faith.

  We tried to intervene on him one memorable Christmas season (the holidays are the WORST), when he was sleeping in the back of his pickup truck in the front yard, grilling steaks in the backyard at 3 am, videotaping the neighborhood kids, and leaving a very disturbing collage of knives and concentration camp photos arranged for his wife to find. Even after all this, we did not have enough to get him restrained and hospitalized without his voluntarily doing it.

  And then people wonder how that Korean kid managed to get hold of guns, videotape his death song, and then go out and kill a bunch of innocent bystanders. Because we are powerless to make people like this get help. Insurance companies won't cover mental health issues adequately, the police won't get involved pro-actively, because, legally, there is nothing they can do.

  Sorry, had to vent. Summer's here, and his cycle is starting up again. Wonder if I can move in the middle of the night, with no forwarding address?
• 

  flipper

  Needproof, sounds more like clinical depression (without the manic phases). If it starts happening a lot, or lasts more than a few days, believe me it's worth getting medical help. When your'e in it it feels so real, after it passes it can blow you away that you were thinking that way. Wish you the best flipper
• 

  needproof

  Hi Flipper,

  I have toyed with the idea of seeking medical help for a time now. A few weeks back it got so bad that I had tears running down my face at night and I swore that I would seek help since it was tearing me apart. I couldn't stand to be pumped full of pills, perhaps therapy would be a suitable option?
• 

  flipper

  Needproof, I've had clinical depression most of my life, didn't get therapy until my late 20's. Therapy helped a lot, but I would still have episodes (when things were going well otherwise). I avoided medication until my mid 30's - my therapist also wasn't big on medication, unless absolutely necessary. She was the 3rd therapist to recommend it - they all 3 had said I was doing everything right in therapy, learning well, taking care of myself. So good chance it was chemical imbalance - time to try the drugs, as sometimes I was suicidal. Even with running 25 miles a week, good diet, vitamins, all that. Best move I ever made. However, once I would feel better I would go off the meds very gradually, every time depression came back. I did that for about 7 years. So now I've stayed on for about 6 years straight - life is so much better. You miss so much when your own brain chemicals are poisoning you. Can you tell I feel strongly about this? It's like my mission in life - I hate to see anyone going through that, and I try to help a little with my own experiences. Also, you might not need much - I'm on a smaller dose than most people need - don't notice any side effects. I'm still pretty emotional in general, don't feel like it dulls my senses or anything like that - I can get pretty pissed or weepy but when there's a reason for it rather than just out of the blue. Please take care of this, keep posting, let me know how you are.
• 

  jaguarbass

  I am a detention officer and I work with Juveniles, Last week I had to spend the night in the hospital with a youth that we cut down off the wall, hanging. He tried to kill himself, but we caught him in time. We cut him down revived him and took him to the hospital. He's in jail so we have to stay at the hospital and keep him in custody. This boy and many other mentally disturbed youth had some common behaviors that I have long noted and suspected regarding mental imbalances.

  #1 He lives in a neighborhood where crack is a major element, He might be a crack head. He told me he has taken acid,lsd, mushrooms and ecstacy.

  #2 He told me he goes 2 or 3 days at a time without sleeping, He doesnt like to sleep. Might be a crackhead.

  #3 He doesnt like to eat regular food. He loves candy,

  #4 He's in to pain and peircings, and self mutilation carving names and symbols onto his body, While on drugs and having sex his girlfriend bit his left nipple off. When he sobered up he cut his right nipple off so he'd have a matching set. He's only 16 the tatoos will come as he becomes a better thief and can afford them. Since I'm describing him, did I say he had a mohawk. It looks pretty cool.

  #5 He listens to death metal music and watches slasher films.

  #6 He doesn't believe in God, he said we were just a bunch of dots, atoms and that scared him. So he tried to kill himself. Also he didnt like the voices in his head talking to him.

  After discharge from the hospital, he spent a week baker acted in a mental health facility. Now he floats through our jail after taking his twice dayly chemical cocktail. The state doesnt want him concious enough to try to hurt himself again while in custody.

  What I see from him and others, if you want to have a screw loose. Dont sleep, eat crap, and put crap in your head. And you too can be bipolar and shizophrenic, with immaginary people and voices talking in your head.

  I asked him do you think you are crazy because you dont sleep, eat nutritous food, take drugs, listen to depressing music and watch slasher films?

  Or do you not sleep, eat properly, take drugs listen to death metal and watch slasher films because you are crazy?

  Truly, I bit my tounge and did not use the word crazy as that would be unprofessional, I said in place of crazy, have these difficulties you are experiencing.

  I said young man, you are the pilot of your soul, You have to take control. You have to take care of yourself and put good things into your body to get good things out of it.

  He told me, I was the most helpful person who spoke to him out of all the doctors and counsellors he had seen in his juvenile delinquent career.

  He was a very nice respectful kid.

  The next time I saw him he was like Jack Nicholson, in one flew over the cuckoos nest, doing the thorazine shuffle
• 

  ninja

  I will have a word with myself and get back to you on this