Posted by T_R_D on April 5, 2004, at 13:35:51
In reply to Bipolar differences, posted by jms600 on April 4, 2004, at 16:24:02
> Can anyone tell me the differences between Bipolar I and Bipolar II??
Well, BPI is the wild and crazy, swinging from the rafters, with or without psychosis mania coupled with depressive states. It's the one we've all been taught to think of from the movies LOL. It does exist, however it as a more rare from of the disease (so the statistics say...) BPII on the other hand couples depression and manias that are more subtle...so much so that they are called hypomanias. That is me :) Mood cycling can occur infrequently, frequently (eg. 4x year = rapid cycling) or extremely frequently--ultra rapid cycling and ultradian cycling (several swings within one day.) Also, there is something called a mixed state where the two feelings of mania and depression coexist. An easy trap to fall into is to think that depression is the opposite of mania. It's not. One can experience both euphoric and dysphoric manias. It is thought that most suicide attempts and successes occur when people are in mixed states.
> Also whats the diffreence between Bipolar and Unipolar disorder??Okay, so above lie the basics of "Bipolar Disorder." Unipolar disorder is also commonly referred to as unipolar depression. Conversely, bipolar depression can consist of some hypomania with varying degress (majority?) of times the person feeling depression. This is also "me" but a lot of people use the term bipolar disorder and bipolar depression interchangeably.
> My P/Doc is augmenting my Prozac with Sodium Valproate (in a low dose) for GAD, Social Phobia and general nervousness etc. etc. However I have read that Sodium Valproate (which is actually given to epileptics) is used to treat Bipolar disorder/Manic Depresssion.
Yes, anticonvulsants are used to treat epilepsy and bipolar. They slow down firing in the brain via various poorly understood mechanisms--some being blocking sodium channels, excitatory neurotransmitters etc... I find it actually quite fascinating!
> I have done a few tests on the web and I am sure I am not suffering from Manic Depression, but just co-morbid depression and anxiety.
Sometimes "mania" can manifest itself as extreme anxiety, nervousness etc... (the whole euphoric/dysphoric thing.) That's why anticonvulsant therapy isn't really completely off the mark. It's just another alternative. It's all very confusing. Some diagnoses are very hard to pin down...for example, some signs and symptoms of BPD can look very much like ADD and vice versa. Also, one can mask the other, be comorbid etc...
Does that help you out at all?
Karen
poster:T_R_D
thread:332564
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040402/msgs/332913.html