Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by delusion and hallucinations. Often times patients will hear voices that are not actually present. They can also experience tastes and smells that are not real. A schizophrenic person’s delusions and hallucination defy logic and reason. This opposition to logical objectivity can make it difficult to communicate with them. Disorganized thought processes and speech can also damage communication skills and make it difficult for those suffering from schizophrenia to maintain a normal life.
Due to risks of self-harm or harming others, patients made need hospitalization. The usual course of treatment is a combination of antipsychotic drugs and psychotherapy.
This disorder is more frequent in men than women. Typically, onset occurs in the late teens or throughout the twenties.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is characterized by changing moods of extreme high and extreme lows. The extreme highs, called “manias”, are periods where the patient maintains an extremely optimistic outlook. Their energy level and motivation is at its highest. Manic people tend to take on a multitude of responsibilities, regardless of whether or not they can maintain them, and appear to operate at a much higher energy level than the average person.
The extreme lows of this cycle are called depressive moods. Eventually, bipolar patients will come down from their high in the manic state and hit an extreme low. They experience symptoms of depression including sadness, a great lack of motivation and lethargy.
Bipolar disorder, like schizophrenia, can be diagnosed at any point throughout a person’s life. It occurs equally as frequently in men and women and is extremely treatable.

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder is a post from: Bipolar II

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“It’s very hard living with a loved one who has Bipolar II Disorder. Not just because of the ups and the downs you will witness them going through but also for the stress it puts on you and everyone else who cares about that individual. And that is probably the hardest part; the fact that you do care about them.

I know this all from firsthand experience dealing with my best friend who has Bipolar II Disorder. If we weren’t that close it wouldn’t affect me as much as it does, but the truth is she isn’t only my best friend, she is something of a sister to me.

When we were younger I never thought anything was wrong. She was crazy, funny, fun to hang out with and she had a lot of energy, but all kids are a little hyper and excited. Then there would be the times when she seemed moody or tired. I just wrote them off as a kid being a kid and acting a little immature. After all any child can seem moody when they are tired or just not getting their way.

However, something was wrong. I began to notice it when we were teenagers. Her mood swings were becoming more evident and more of a problem for me. One night we would go out and have a blast, and the next night she would be a complete jerk. She would ignore me or anyone else trying to talk to her, and complain that everything we did and everyone around was lame, or un-cool. Then she would withdraw from our friends, sometimes for a couple of days at a time. Being a teenager myself I didn’t see that this was Bipolar II Disorder and again just thought she was back to being a jerk. But then we would hang out and have a blast and she would be so funny and nice that I would forget about all the other bad days.

Things continued this way, pretty much into our senior year of high school when I finally became fatigued with her temperamental attitude and weird mood swings and decided that she just wasn’t worth hanging out with anymore.

One day after not really talking much, aside from the casual “hey” we exchanged in our high school hallway, she called me up. I picked up the phone kind of reluctantly. We chatted for a while and then she told me she was bipolar. She mentioned it very casually actually, I guess she was uncomfortable with this and hadn’t told many other people. I asked her a couple of questions because I was confused. Like you haven’t tried to kill yourself or anything and your never suicidal so how are you bipolar? She explained that with Bipolar II Disorder the hypo-manic episodes aren’t as extreme as type one, so while she never stood on a table in the middle of class screaming with excitement she also never sat at home with a pair of scissors dreaming about ending her life.

Now that I know this and have known her for years it just becomes easier for me to expect the worst and enjoy the best. Although, unlike people who don’t know, I know that the best times are actually just as much a result of the Bipolar II Disorder as the worse times.”

True Story: Living With Someone With Bipolar II is a post from: Bipolar II

The mood changes are basically going from depression, a feeling of extreme low, to hypomania a feeling of happiness, or a high. It can be had to deal with at times, and is even fatal if not diagnosed and treated properly.

Part of my treatment includes taking medication. When I found out I was going to have to take a mood stabilizer I began to research medications for Bipolar II with the least side effects. Obviously, I did not want to experience any side effects worse than the actual mental illness that was impairing me, at the time, on a daily basis.

Most of my search results online, and talks with doctors all pointed to lithium as on of the medications for Bipolar II with the least side effects.  The side effects can be mild and even fatal if not used properly, but most important is that they aren’t even prevalent in everyone that uses lithium for bipolar II disorder, in fact not many patients actually experience the side effects at all.

Lithium is essentially a salt pill, so one of the most minor side effects is a slight gain of weight, basically water retention, and I did experience this in the beginning but I shed the weight easily being I was young and healthy at the time that I started taking the prescription. Another one that bothered me was that I would have to get up to pee occasionally in the middle of the night. However, for what its worth, having to pee sure beats feeling like the world is crushing you and you cant breath around people.  Another side effect is bloated ankles; I’m assuming this is also due to water retention although I don’t know because I never experienced this one myself.

Some of the more severe side effects are kidney failure and disease. However, this is only due to excessive use over long periods of time and is not something that many bipolar II sufferers using lithium will ever have to experience granted they are using their medication properly.  Another of the more serious side effects can be a thyroid problem, but again this is due to over use over a long period of time.

I actually haven’t experienced an episode in a long time, however since the medication does not affect me negatively I keep taking it as a precautionary measure. My doctor recommends this and calls it maintenance medicating, he tells me that a lot of bipolar II sufferers do this and that it is a healthy way to keep my moods stabilized and to avoid having a huge episode at some point in the near future. Lithium is definitely one of the medications for Bipolar II with the least side effects, and a safe way to pursue a happy and healthy life and avoid the negative effects the illness can cause.

Medications For Bipolar II with the Least Side Effects is a post from: Bipolar II