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----- Original Message -----
From: Julie Fast


Bipolar Disorder FAQ



March 18, 2008


In This Issue
Bipolar Disorder FAQ



Useful Links

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Develop your plan and create peace of mind.

The Health Cards Treatment System gives everyone involved the tools needed
to educate and create an action plan for you and your loved ones.

You can learn to manage your life with bipolar disorder.

Medications alone are not enough.

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Did you know this information? It's essential that we educate ourselves
on every part of bipolar disorder. This is how we can make sure we, or someone
we care about gets the best treatment. Knowledge about bipolar disorder is power
over the illness!

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================================

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Julie A. Fast best selling author of Take Charge of
Bipolar Disorder and Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder and Get It Done When
You're Depressed is a critically acclaimed six-time author, award winning
bipolar disorder advice columnist, national speaker, and sought after expert in
the fields of bipolar disorder and depression. Julie's work specializes in
helping people manage all aspects of their daily lives -despite the
complications that bipolar disorder creates. To learn how to personalize a plan
to help yourself or a loved one find and create stability that ensures the
quality of life that we all deserve, visit: BipolarHappens.com
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There are questions I regularly get regarding bipolar disorder- what
better way to answer them than in a newsletter!

#1 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANIC DEPRESSION AND BIPOLAR DISORDER?

There is no difference. Manic depression is the old name of the illness.
The term bipolar disorder better represents the reality of the symptoms- as
there is a lot more to bipolar than mania and depression. When I first started
managing my own illness in 1998, I made the discovery that bipolar has many,
many mood swing symptoms outside of mania and depression including: anxiety,
psychosis, mixed episodes, paranoia (a form of psychosis), OCD and ADHD symptoms
and so many more! The diagnosis of 'bipolar disorder' represents the illness as
a continuum between the lows and the highs with many, many symptoms in between.




#2 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BIPOLAR I (ONE) AND BIPOLAR II (TWO)?

It's often difficult to know the difference between the two main types of
bipolar disorder. It can even be difficult for health care professionals to
explain unless they have had special training on the topic. When you know the
facts, you can see that the difference between the two is actually quite simple.

Bipolar I and Bipolar II (two) have the exact same symptoms in terms of
depression and both have mania. The difference between the two diagnoses is the
type of mania a person experiences. Bipolar I (one) has full blown mania while
Bipolar I has hypomania.

What is the difference between full blown mania and hypomania you may
wonder? The difference is intensity.

Full blown mania if untreated usually leads to a hospital stay- especially
if it's someone's first episode. This episode usually starts around the age of
20. The mania can start off mildly with a sense of creativity and then spin out
of control very quickly. When my partner Ivan had his first full blown episode
it started with agitation and confusion, then moved into a complete behavioral
change as he started to talk more than usual and couldn't hold a coherent
thought. The night before he went into the hospital, he wasn't able to remember
how to write a check or even have a normal conversation. He was seemingly very
creative, but it was agitated and not fun and very scattered. He talked over
people and moved around very rapidly. His face looked different and he talked
with a different voice. He had what is called dysphoric mania- in other words he
didn't feel very well! This mania was accompanied by severe psychosis.

Euphoric mania is the opposite of dysphoric mania. When it's full blown,
it's very dangerous as it feels so good. The person almost always refuses help
when they are really euphoric. When a person has euphoric mania, they feel no
pain and have no reasoning ability- and most importantly, they can't see the
consequences of their behaviors as they feel invincible. This is very, very
dangerous mania as it can just seem like excessive enthusiasm, creativity and
charisma from the outside.

All full blown manias lead to disasters and most people go into a deep
depression if medications are not used successfully.

Hypomania

Hypomania is much less intense and doesn't put a person into the hospital.
As with full blown mania, a person can have euphoric and dysphoric hypomania.
Extreme psychosis is rare with hypomania- though it's common to have grandiose
thoughts as well as negative thoughts. I get euphoric mania at the beginning of
my hypomanias. Nothing feels as good as euphoric mania- absolutely nothing- but
I always do something stupid and I always crash. I work very hard at preventing
hypomania.

As I say in my book Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder, it's essential that
you have a distinct diagnosis of either Bipolar I or Bipolar II as the
treatments for the two can be quite different! You have to know if you have full
blown mania or hypomania. No matter what form you have, the mania is serious-
you can make horrible and life altering decisions when you're full blown manic
or even hypomanic. Prevention is the only way to make sure this doesn't happen.

Julie


BipolarHappens.com

P.O. Box 86728
Portland, OR
97286
US


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