Posted by jane d on November 28, 2002, at 12:33:12
In reply to Bipolar and Obesity, posted by IsoM on November 27, 2002, at 12:15:58
> ... after reading an abstract on the association of weight with bipolar, I got thinking, & realised that *everyone* of my friends who are bipolar (only 5, so a very small sample) are overweight too - some are very obese.
>
> When I know a person well & like or love them, I completely forget about any physical appearances so the realisation that all my bipolar friends are overweight hit me as a surprise. I know there are bipolar people who aren't overweight, but the abstract suggests it's a minority.IsoM,
Of course you may have more overweight friends just because you are so accepting of it but I bet the association is a real one. Could you post a pointer to the specific abstract? I'd really like to see it. I suspect that medications are a big part of it. The same association has been noticed with schizophrenia and antipsychotics and some of the same drugs are used in bipolar. Atypical depression is often associated with bipolar and that includes overeating and oversleeping.
I'm not bipolar under the current definitions although I suspect that I will eventually be classed that way (recurrent, atypical depression without hypomania). I was overweight long before I started using any medication. One thing I've wondered about is whether part of my problem is the very inconsistency of my reaction to food. Sometimes I can rely on my appetite to tell me when and what to eat but, sooner or later, with another bout of depression, that ability goes. I'm hungry all of the time. Then, just when I've resigned myself to struggling to live with a calorie counting notebook, I switch back and it becomes unnecessary.
Jane
poster:jane d
thread:32791
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20021120/msgs/32805.html