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On what do you base this? And do you mean among the undiagnosed or those who take meds?
It's been a general observation that fewer people seem to report that blissful sort of mania that was once associated with the illness. More often now, it seems, people experience mania as an anxiety-ridden race to nowhere. The grandiosity is there but the joy seems to be missing.
Yes and Drs are often to blame for bipolar people going manic. Pushing whatever new drug the Big Pharma says to rather than what is best for the patient.
This is a huge problem when the source of the meds is a large industrial style affair. Two counties, both with huge populations shared one mental health program. One day a month a third of the customers came in and waited until they got to you. They timed it out for five minutes. This was supposed to be when they did an evalutation too.
I had been having trouble with one of the four or five I was on. But I'd done that, and was slowly, like a quarter a pill a day, backing it out. But something was causing me to suddenly and without warning to pass out. I had told a pdoc, who just said it couldn't be any of these....
When I'd backed out half of the dose, the pass out stopped, the zone outs stopped, and I just *felt* better. So when I had my appointment, I told them. I'd gotten comments about how I seemed to be doing good before that. This pdoc was shocked that I'd take my choice and health in my own hands.
Some of the doctors were supportive, or had figured out I was going to do as I planned, but generally the feeling I got was they believed pharma's claims over their patients's feedback, and when patients looked up the drug and discovered by its own documentation they shouldn't take it, they disregard that part.
And they wonder why patients don't cooperate.......
But the one thing which was NEVER mentioned in all the 'treatment' was nutrition, or things like low magnesium bringing on depression. But big pharma doesn't make big bucks off it.
This is true of ALL illnesses. The health care system can't make money off of you by telling you to change your diet. After my ex-GF told me about her bipolar, I started reading up on it and one of the things I came across was something called The Bipolar Diet. At first, I thought it was just another diet someone concocted just to make money off of people with BP. But as I read it, I realized it was actually just The Paleo Diet by another name. And if you understand the premise behind Paleo, then you know that it's all about how most of today's health issues are the result of eating processed food. I know from my own experience on Paleo, all of the health problems I had before like allergies, acne, and depression went away. I forwarded the link to my GF. I have no idea if she ever read it. Because she also had a weight issue, I didn't want her to think I was telling her to lose weight. So that's why I never brought it up after that. Last I talked to her, she was still on meds and still trying to lose weight. In retrospect, I kind of wish I had pushed her into adopting the diet. Assuming BP is a real illness and not just something made up by Big Pharma to sell pills, it wouldn't surprise if much of the problem lies with nutrition. A poor diet can lead to problems with the body so I don't see why it wouldn't also lead to a broken brain.
This is true of ALL illnesses. The health care system can't make money off of you by telling you to change your diet. After my ex-GF told me about her bipolar, I started reading up on it and one of the things I came across was something called The Bipolar Diet. At first, I thought it was just another diet someone concocted just to make money off of people with BP. But as I read it, I realized it was actually just The Paleo Diet by another name. And if you understand the premise behind Paleo, then you know that it's all about how most of today's health issues are the result of eating processed food. I know from my own experience on Paleo, all of the health problems I had before like allergies, acne, and depression went away. I forwarded the link to my GF. I have no idea if she ever read it. Because she also had a weight issue, I didn't want her to think I was telling her to lose weight. So that's why I never brought it up after that. Last I talked to her, she was still on meds and still trying to lose weight. In retrospect, I kind of wish I had pushed her into adopting the diet. Assuming BP is a real illness and not just something made up by Big Pharma to sell pills, it wouldn't surprise if much of the problem lies with nutrition. A poor diet can lead to problems with the body so I don't see why it wouldn't also lead to a broken brain.
Nutrition alone cannot cause or cure bipolar, but it is part of the program any good Dr. would stress. Nutrition, exercise, sleep, managing stress, things everyone would be healthier to be mindful of are more critical to pay attention to with BP (and other illnesses).
Fake, no it is real, BUT the person was correct about the over diagnosing of bipolar today. Lots of people who aren't even close to being bipolar are being diagnosed as such for very minor behaviors and even one single event.
It has been going on for awhile. In several studies almost half the people who where previously diagnosed as being bipolar weren't.
Last edited by High Altitude; 06-30-2017 at 08:56 PM..
Fake, no it is real, BUT the person was correct about the over diagnosing of bipolar today. Lots of people who aren't even close to being bipolar are being diagnosed as such for very minor behaviors and even one single event.
It has been going on for awhile. In several studies almost half the people who where previously diagnosed as being bipolar weren't.
Not surprising. Pharma and the mental health 'professionals' can't make any money from well people.
Recently while posting on a forum for bipolar disorder, I got into an argument with someone (troll) who claimed BP isn't a real illness. His primary argument was that the diagnostic criteria were too arbitrary, were open to wide interpretation and that the behavior that qualifies someone for a BP diagnosis could easily be explained away as either normal behavior or behavior indicative of someone developmentally immature. As someone whose ex was bipolar, this naturally hit a nerve. My ex was in her 40s and an accomplished professional. The idea that she had "failed to grow up" was offensive to me. But I can also freely admit that I can't be objective on this issue.
My ex went on huge spending sprees and maxed out credit cards. Most of us probably spend more than we should. We buy a sporty car that has leather and a nice stereo even though some basic compact would suit our needs. We go out to eat a little too often instead of just eating at home every night. We order stuff from Amazon that we didn't need. But we all exercise enough self-restraint. Troll claims that anyone who goes on spending sprees and gets into debt is like the kid in college who got his first credit card and hasn't yet learned how to discipline himself. My ex never cheated on me, thankfully, but others with BP are known to do just that. Troll says it's just a sign of people who don't take commitment seriously and have a hard time resisting temptation. Again, he likens it to kids in college who'll hook up with anyone hot that gives them the time of day. Weight gain isn't a symptom of BP, but a lot of people have the same attitude when it comes to weight. They think a person who's overweight just lacks discipline and doesn't want to exercise moderation. My ex was overweight, loved to go out drinking with friends, and rarely cooked. But she never made excuses and freely admitted that her weight gain was her fault. I can hear Troll saying she still acts like a kid in college who'd rather eat junk than cook something healthy.
Anyways, I still firmly believe that my ex had BP and that she wasn't "developmentally immature". But given how often mental illness is misdiagnosed or over diagnosed, do you think there's any truth to the idea that the manic phases some BP folks experience are really just an indication they haven't fully grown up?
I had it, now I don't.
It was real, now it doesn't exist.
Every alcoholic is BP. They all suffer depression, but they cause it themself.
My psychiatrist explained it like this, all these illnesses are part of a spectrum, we choose one label that fits best but they are all subjective and cannot be objectively defined. He said the label is for insurance purposes.
You can see now why I got into an argument with that troll. But I also have no doubt that much of what the medical establishment classifies as disease isn't really disease at all. I tend to be suspicious when doctors can't tell you the cause of Disease X, they'll prescribe Drug 1 for it, but won't be able to tell you exactly how Drug 1 works. When it comes to mental illness, this is especially true. How often do we hear the "chemical imbalance" line? That sounds pretty vague. In most diseases, you can point to a physical cause by doing an exam, running tests, etc. With depression, bipolar, and so forth, there are no such tests. Wouldn't it be nice if you could take blood work or a brain scan and say "here are signs something is wrong with your brain."
Its not organic in nature so they can't see it or find it in the blood.
Its a mind disease, or dis-ease.
Anti depressents are re-uptake inhibitors, they arrest the recycling of serotonin which leads to panic.
But the underlying problem causing it all is fear.
Get rid of the fear, see all the other symptoms dissolve like magic.
Its not organic in nature so they can't see it or find it in the blood.
Its a mind disease, or dis-ease.
Anti depressents are re-uptake inhibitors, they arrest the recycling of serotonin which leads to panic.
But the underlying problem causing it all is fear.
Get rid of the fear, see all the other symptoms dissolve like magic.
Nutrition alone cannot cause or cure bipolar, but it is part of the program any good Dr. would stress. Nutrition, exercise, sleep, managing stress, things everyone would be healthier to be mindful of are more critical to pay attention to with BP (and other illnesses).
The problem, specifically, with disorders like bp is that many patients get their meds from a factory style setup with the county or the like. They literally figured five minutes a person. Nobody ever ask about my diet. I got impatient looks when I *insisted* on asking questions. I don't know that pdocs are that well versed in nutrition. Nor did they ask about things like sleep, stress, and the like. They might ask how you were doing, but were thinking more of answers like "I"m okay" over I'm not sleeping. That would just probably get you yet another pill, never mind ask about why you might not be sleeping.
The group I attended (the DBSA Depressives and Bipolar assn) wasn't connected by doctor, you just chose to come. WE did talk about stresses and problems, and others like unacceptable side effects. And people were encouraged to tell them pro they needed to discuss it. If said pro didn't want to, the rest who'd had the problem were there. When I had a talk therapist for a short while, she did ask about daily life, sleeping, appetite and foods and general stress as factors which had to be taken into account.
The best thing we as patients can do is take note of sleep, eating and the rest so we know that something isn't right. And find organizations like DBSA which can help us find better ways.
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