Bipolar Disorder Research

This was something I posted in a discussion for my Pathophysiology class.

Bipolar affective disorder, formerly known as manic-depressive disorder, is a mood disorder with a cyclic pattern between a depressive state, a normal state, and a manic or hypomanic state. Type I bipolar disorder presents with full mania, Type II presents with hypomania. Bipolar disorder used to be classified as a psychosis, however not everyone with bipolar disorder presents with psychotic manifestations and thus it was re-classified as a mood disorder.

Scientists believe that the mutation for bipolar disorder occurs on the 13th chromosome. Recent studies conducted by J.A. Badner and E.S. Gershon have shown that the chromosomal regions 13q32-33 and 22q11 are believed to confer susceptibility to this disorder.

Bipolar disorder usually onsets at puberty, but there are childhood onset cases and sometimes it can be triggered later in life. It affects people of all races equally. There is no way to tell that a person has bipolar disorder by looking at them. Bipolar II can be misdiagnosed as unipolar depression as the hypomanic state does not present with the extreme behaviors of the manic state. In my own case, I was misdiagnosed as having unipolar depression with anxiety until I was 38 years old, when in fact I have Bipolar II.

A person having one parent with bipolar disorder has a 25% chance of manifesting the disease at some point in their life. If both parents have bipolar disorder, the chances rise to 50%.

Bipolar disorder can be treated by a variety of medications. One of the medications is usually a mood stabilizer such as Lithium. Each person is different and will respond differently to medications. I am personally unable to tolerate either antidepressants or sedatives and thus only take Lithium. Other people may not be able to tolerate Lithium but might respond well to other mood stabilizers or to antidepressants. Some mood stabilizers, such as Depakote, are also anti-seizure medications. Pharmacologically speaking, Lithium is a unique medication and is not classified as anything but a mood stabilizer.

References: The American Society of Human Genetics

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1180266/

Polymorphisms at the G72/G30 Gene Locus, on 13q33, Are Associated with Bipolar Disorder in Two Independent Pedigree Series

Eiji Hattori, Chunyu Liu, Judith A. Badner, Tom I. Bonner, Susan L. Christian, Manjula Maheshwari, Sevilla D. Detera-Wadleigh, Richard A. Gibbs, and Elliot S. Gershon

The Hell of Panic Attacks

An online friend's daughter is going through severe panic attacks and could use some kind support.

I wrote this and am sharing it here in case it might be of use to someone who is going through this kind of ordeal. There is no hell quite like the hell of panic attacks. Those of you who have never had one can consider yourself fortunate.

I'm sorry your daughter's going through this. At the time that I was sexually assaulted, I was also bipolar but didn't know it. I went through a similar thing.The attack triggered constant, ongoing panic.  I would have panic attacks on and off for about 5 hours a day. I have paradoxical reactions to most medications. Most anti-anxiety meds actually backfire on me in a serious way.  I took tons of the anti-anxiety herb Kava Kava, which actually isn't recommended because of its potential to impact the liver at high doses.  5 HTP might help and it is readily avialiable, but its actions are more subtle.  For me this debilitating cycle of panic went on for about  a year. Then the times between panic attacks became longer and longer.

In 2002, when my paternal grandmother died, I began experiencing panic attacks again. Again the doctors tried medications but they only made things worse. The only thing that helped was biofeedback.  I learned to breathe differently and a variety of techniques to refocus my mind. The only time that this hasn't helped was when I started having panic attacks due to the fact that my doctor raised my dose of Levothyroxine from .25 mg to .75 mg, and blamed the resulting high blood pressure on the fact that I'm a large person instead of looking at my medications. It turns out that I can't tolerate thyroid medication either. It created an artificial state of hyperthyroidism and took three months to entirely clear my system.

I don't know if anything I've told you here might be useful. I hope it might. Outside of asthma attacks, panic attacks are, in my opinion, the absolute worst thing to go through.

The Real Cheesemeister is Back

Can we all please forget that "other" Cheesemeister that took over my body during the past day?

I kind of feel like I had a nervous breakdown or something because right now I just can't understand my actions. I have been under so much stress with work, my microbiology class, my parents, helping my son go to his certification class an hour and a half away every day for 2 weeks (he doesn't drive) and trying to complete a short story for a compilation book to benefit breast cancer, plus PMS, I think I just snapped and got a bad case of the paranoids. 

 

I used to go off like this a LOT before I got on Lithium. And I think it's more the borderline personality disorder than the bipolar to blame in this case. Borderline personality disorder is (in my opinion) the result of learned behavior during a dysfunctional childhood. One feels unheard and neglected and only extreme behavior tends to get a "rise" out of one's family. Although studies indicate that the oxytocin levels in people with borderline personality disorder are abnormal. People with this disorder have trouble bonding in healthy ways. At our worse we engage in histrionics (like I did over the past day) and drive others away.

I will be forever grateful who anyone who can forgive me for this insane behavior. And yes, I feel like it is a form of temporary insanity.

I'm glad to be back to abnormal.

The (sheepish) Cheese