Bipolar medication treatment
A number of medications are available to treat bipolar disorder. The most common are mood stabilizers like lithium and anticonvulsant medications. Many people who have bipolar disorder keep taking these medications for years or decades after their last mood swing to stay healthy. This is called maintenance therapy. During a period of depression or mania, a person may need other medications, like antipsychotic drugs and sometimes antidepressants.
Bipolar medication and weight gain side effects
Obesity and weight gain in bipolar disorder patients are partly related to prescribed drugs with a strong effect by clozapine and olanzapine. Lesser but still relevant weight gain is caused by quetiapine, risperidone, lithium, valproate, gabapentin and by some antidepressants. Ziprasidone, aripiprazole, carbamazepine and lamotrigine do not seem to cause significant weight gain.
Adding carbamazepine to my lamotringuine dose might prove to be benefical: increasing mania decrease and removing one more cause of weight gain. Changing and eliminating meds was one of the things I did a decade ago, when I was actively working on losing weight. All of the working out I did would have been for naught if my metabolism was still at a low state.
Bipolar symptom
Symptom of bipolar disorder are characterized by recurrent episodes of depression, mania, and/or mixed symptom states. These episodes cause unusual and extreme shifts in mood, energy, and behavior that interfere significantly with normal, healthy functioning.
Bipolar Disease Manic symptoms include:
* Increased energy
* Severe changes in mood, either extremely irritable or overly silly and elated
* Overly-inflated self-esteem; grandiosity
* Decreased need for sleep, ability to go with very little or no sleep for days without tiring
* Increased talking, talks too much, too fast; changes topics too quickly; cannot be interrupted
* Distractibility, attention moves constantly from one thing to the next
* Increased sexual desire or high libido, increased sexual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors; use of explicit sexual language
* Increased goal-directed activity or physical agitation
* Disregard of risk, excessive involvement in risky behaviors or activities
Because of item #6, I'm now wondering if I'm more manic than ADHD. Strattera helps, however it may just as well help a manic with the same symptoms. I have never understood 'overly-inflated self-esteem' or 'grandiosity'. If anything, my self-esteem is pretty low, since I'm always concerned how others think of me due to making so many mistakes when I was younger and being picked on/criticized by my peers and my mother . If it's referring to my thinking I'm often, if not usually, right about things, I can then understand that definition somewhat. If I go by the following definition of grandiosity, then I'm still at a loss; I'm usually told this falls under pressure of speech, my talking all of the time. Some of that is also what I would characterize as my 'thinking out loud', from my internal thinking processes not having developed completely, per Dr. Barkley. [That in itself lends to the credence of ADHD being part of what makes me up]. What I don't understand is why 'pressure of speech' is defined separately within bipolar. Isn't the 'rapid speaking' part of the manic itself? I've done this all of my life (being manic all of my life) so it does not seem as much of an 'ailment' as it is defined to be..
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Bipolar Depression symptoms include:
* Loss of energy
* Persistent sad or irritable mood
* Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed
* Significant change in appetite or body weight
* Difficulty sleeping or oversleeping
* Physical agitation or slowing
* Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
* Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
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