Bipolar Disorder Test

Are you trying to make a diagnosis of bipolar disorder? If so, you need to know what bipolar disorder test you should be going for.

For a start, there are a few ways you can get a diagnosis. You can do it through a professional diagnosis or a self-questionnaire. Before you make your choice, do note that bipolar disorder can be difficult to diagnose.

In fact, it has been estimated at up to 70% of patients with bipolar disorder has gotten at least one inccurate psychiatric assessment. Sometimes the time between the appearance of the first symptoms and the time an accurate diagnosis is received can take more than ten years.

It is not easy to diagnose bipolar disorder as it is easily mistaken as depression. The mania and hypomania are often overlooked as just ordinary emotions. Other common misdiagnoses include schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia.

That said, it also means that while you can use questionnaires and screening tools, you should not rely on it alone to make a diagnosis. These tools can be found easily online and they merely help to rule in or out whether someone has the likelihood of the illness.

Win Bipolar Disability Benefits

At this time, you may be wondering if there is a lab test that can determine if one has bipolar disorder. Unfortunately the answer is no. While there has been active research on bipolar disorder, there is presently no lab test to do that. Of course, things may change as there are many exciting advances in the field of brain research.

There is definitely bipolar disorder test you can make use of but do note that getting an accurate diagnosis is important so do seek professional medical help if you are unsure.

Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder

Manic depression symptoms or bipolar disorder symptoms refers to signs where the sufferer exhibits disturbances of moods that switches between a manic phase and a depressive phase repetitively. Mood in this case refers to a sustained emotional state.

In the real world, manic depression comes in different forms. Different people having manic depression will exhibit different symptoms. A mood state is considered as a disorder when prevailing emotional states swing so wildly that they are out of proportion to the situation and as such the person is not able to function well in life.

While bipolar disorder is treatable, it has no cure yet. A person can recover by learning to manage their symptoms so that they can continue to lead productive lives. Here are some prodromes of bipolar disorder.

During the depressive phase, some of these symptoms include having very deep negative moods often with thoughts or attempts at suicide. It is also accompanied by eating disorders, lack of interest in activities enjoyed in the past, reduced interest in sex, decresed self-esteem and reduced sleeep.

During the manic phase, common warning signs include having high or euphoric feelings accompanied by many grand or over-ambitious ideas or plans, excessive amounts of energy, having unnaturally high self-esteem and self-belief and increased sex drive which may lead to promiscuity and aggressive sexual behaviour. Very often you can find these patients becoming extremely irritable and easily distracted.

The key to contolling the disease is to identify bipolar disorder symptoms. For most people, it would be easier to identify signs of mania than of depression. Depite that by catching these symptoms early can help reduce and even prevent this illness from getting out of hand.

Natural Remedies For Bipolar Disorder

If you do not learn to take charge of the disease, the disease will take charge of you. I don’t have to have said that in regard to any particular disease; it is true about every disease under the sun. However the stark reality of it in relation to bipolar disorder is such that if you are able to stare it in the face, you’d never be able to deny the truth.

Up to fifteen percent of people who suffer from bipolar disorder commit suicide at some time during the course of their suffering. Of those that are left, close to half actually contemplate it, and some have tried to kill themselves too. You have got to admit it; bipolar disorder is not a condition that you want to be too lenient with.

Realizing that, another hurtful truth is that conventional medicine really does not have all the answers to this condition. There is psychotherapy that actually does help treat bipolar disorder, but it is hardly enough. There are also lithium medications that consist of mood stabilizers lithium carbonate and lithium citrate, natural mineral salts that help to control both the mania and the depression of bipolar disorder. However, they have side effects of virtually destroying your kidneys after you have used them for too long. Even during medication, lithium can cause you severe insomnia, loss of appetite, increased thirst and urination, and a number of other things you may not like.

If you decided to go the way of valproate and carbamezapine, you’d be better able to deal with the mania, but you will have no defense against the depression of your set of symptoms because they only can help to dampen your severe manic episodes. You may have heard of Depakene and Tegretol; those are their respective trade names. Traditional antidepressants also are no good for dealing with bipolar disorder because they’ll more than likely trigger manic episodes or worsen your bipolar disorder by causing you to suffer the rapid-cycling nature of the disease.

The first natural cure for bipolar disorder is learning to control your thinking. It may have a strong genetic influence, but bipolar disorder boils down simply to your thought process getting out of hand. What you need to do is to become acutely aware of your thought process so that it does not drag you around at will anymore. Once you know the thoughts that often send you off on a spin, learn to avoid them and focus instead on things that are bright, breezy and positive. Did I mention possible?

Enhancing your energy and elevating your mood is definitely an option for dealing with bipolar disorder. To do that, you need a healthier diet than what you are already consuming. You may want to start with a diet detox; cease to eat what you are eating now and eat nothing but vegs for a week. When you return, start to take a whole lot more water, more vitamins, and a whole lot less carbohydrates and heavy calorie stuff.

Finally, the balance you need to help deal with your bipolar disorder is to be found on exercise. Listen; there cannot be any compromising here. If you are going to heal and stay healed of bipolar disorder, you cannot be too carefree about your exercise regimen. Days that you don’t work out may generally spoil the entire program. It’s not a lot of options, but keep these three up, and you will find one day that you have not even had a manic or depressive spell for years.

Next Page »