Bipolar Disorder And Side Effects Of Lithium – Treating Bipolar With Lithium Therapy

There are a lot of people suffering from bipolar disorder in the United States today, and the numbers keep rising. The condition is very dangerous because it has you switching back and forth between extreme moods in a way that you cannot control by yourself, and in a way that could lead you to harm yourself or someone around you whom you love or who loves you.

Treating bipolar disorder these days is also getting easier than it used to be at one time. However, before any psychologist or psychiatrist ever embarks on treating a patient, they have to diagnose the condition properly first. You see, bipolar disorder is just one of many other psychotic conditions that are known to severely affect your personality. If a lot of care and attention is not taken, you could be misdiagnosed, and you could end up worse off than you are because you got the wrong treatment or medication for your set of symptoms.

Added to the foregoing, you have to realize that some bipolar disorder medications have side effects that could be harmful. A careless or carefree diagnosis may worsen your condition if you were suddenly and needlessly to be exposed to the side effects of one of the drugs that are used to bipolar disorder.

Let us take a look at lithium therapy, for instance. The substance lithium carbonate has been proven and used for a long time to treat patients suffering from bipolar disorder. It has the effect of shortening or delaying both the manic and the depressive episodes of bipolar disorder. This medication takes only about two or three weeks to become effective, but you are going to have to be taking it as directed by the physician for that duration. Also, you must see to it that you take your lithium treatment at a time when you are ‘normal’ on your manic-depressive scale. This way, you may never get the mania or the depression.

Catch time: lithium has side effects. Lithium carbonate causes increased thirst in several bipolar patients, and nausea. Into the bargain, you may have to deal with increased urination, vertigo and lightheadedness, muscle weakness, and loss of appetite. Worse still, after prolonged use of lithium carbonate as medication for bipolar disorder, you could end up with kidney damage.

Win Bipolar Disability Benefits

With all of these, it becomes risky to consider lithium carbonate therapy as treatment for bipolar disorder in children. However, after a few tests, the doctor may consider it safe to commence with the treatment. If the child’s kidneys are in particularly good condition, there may not be that much harm done.

Lithium has been used in the treatment of bipolar disorder since the middle of the last century. In particular, lithium carbonate and lithium citrate are well known mood stabilizers that can help to alter the rhythmic cycling of the brain. If the doctor says it is ok, you had better believe it.

Effects Of Stress And Bipolar Disorder

The genes you inherit from your parents are perhaps the most likely reason why you have bipolar disorder at all. However, things have to happen to you to cause you to slip into mania or into depression. In my experience, I have found that these triggers are usually well hidden in the surroundings and you can stumble upon them at any time. You must watch out.

All kinds of personal stresses that you come across day to day in your home or anywhere else you happen to haunt can cause you to have episodes of bipolar disorder. The good thing about it is that you might be able to see these triggers about a mile away, and you should at that time choose to walk away from it before it takes you.

One of the most infamous triggers of a manic-depressive episode in a bipolar disorder sufferer is failure. It is a fact that there aren’t a lot of people on this earth who can handle failure too well, and patients of bipolar disorder are not on the good side of that list. If you suffer, you should have someone or something that helps you check how much your emotions are tied into what you do so that if you fail it won’t break you.

Because you are manic-depressive, you can unwittingly bring a rift between yourself and your spouse. Unfortunately, this can also trigger off the mother of all depressions in you. It is not a secret at this time, but a marital failure is one of the most potent triggers of bipolar disorder known to man.

You may want to keep an eye on the amount of work-related stress you allow into your life. It is inevitable that you will have some emotional investment in what you do, but because it can trigger a manic episode, or even a depressive one when you suffer from bipolar disorder, you have to at least control it. Promise me you’ll try at least.

People with a genetic vulnerability to bipolar disorder are often the ones most affected by the triggers of the condition. Other kinds of patients are susceptible too, but not quite as badly, and so you have to pay special attention to what factors you expose yourself to when you suffer from this condition.

Every woman who has kids goes through the prenatal development phase of life. When they also suffer from bipolar disorder, they may slip into either mania or depression when they get to that point of their lives, and they may not ’slip’ out of it in a hurry. Such a trigger is inevitable, though, but you can take medication to control it.

Natural Treatment For Bipolar Disorder – Light Therapy, Diet And Exercise

Nature is man’s own best medicine. You may not have realized that just yet, especially if you grew up in a Western society and have known no other means of getting your healing than the clinics and hospitals all over town. However, when you are suffering from a condition like bipolar disorder, may realize that there are many medications and procedures to ‘treat’ the condition, but no psychologist will ever guarantee you a cure.

It’s not because the medications don’t work; it’s just that more is needed. In the next few lines, you will find out about natural remedies and cures that you can take to deal with your bipolar disorder. Once you know them and use them right, you may either be able to end the rapid-cycling episodes, or you can at least keep the mania and the depression further and further apart by delaying them, which is not so bad when you come to think of it.

Light therapy – Light therapy is most often used to treat the kind of bipolar disorder known as Seasonal Affective Bipolar Disorder. In this condition, patients feel depressed when the weather or the season is dark and gloomy, such as in winter; and they feel excited and manic when the season is bright and sunny, such as in summer. Very simply, doctors prescribe that they spend more time outdoors, and that when they are indoors – especially at night – they should stay near an artificial source of bright light. With a few medications, light therapy works like a blow to the head to cure bipolar disorder.

Diet – It is found that a fish diet is extremely helpful for treating bipolar disorder. Fish contains a substance Omega-3 that practically works in the same way as lithium and valproate for depression and bipolar disorder. During experiments conducted by Peet & Horrobin to determine the effectiveness of Omega-3, it was found that a lot of the test subjects experienced less disturbances in their sleep cycles, decreased depression, lassitude and suicidal ideation. The best part of this natural remedy for bipolar disorder is that there are no known side effects. You will find Omega-3 abundant in mackerel, tuna, and salmon.

You also may want to try diets that are rich in minerals such as vitamins A, C, and E. Watch out for chemical additives in food, and keep an eye on your cholesterol level.

Exercise – Exercise is a natural remedy for bipolar disorder that you cannot deny. You need to improve the cardiovascular activities in your system so that your body is better balanced and you handle stress better. You may not know of it, but when your circulation is not all that, you are asking for things like depression to take over your mind. And if you allow depression in when you are suffering from bipolar disorder, mania is never far behind.

Treating bipolar disorder by natural remedies comes no harder or tougher than that. However, you will do well still to have a word with your physician before you embark on the natural treatments. They work well, but if the doctor thinks you can also use conventional medication, they may just be right.

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