Does Marijuana help Bipolar Disorder?
My answer is purely anecdotal. I was diagnosed with BD at age 22 in 1978. As a teenager in a liberal college town in the upper Midwest, smoking "dope" was a daily activity for most of my friends. I always felt vaguely uncomfortable and slightly paranoid when high and, honestly, not high. The level of potency in the MJ available in those days was nothing compared to what you get now, but one winter evening someone opened up a nickel bag of something smuggled in from Mexico. I got so high I witnessed the rest of the evening from a spot outside my body - hovering over my own right shoulder. I heard my friends talking in a foreign language that I could understand, too. Each them took on the physical characteristics of various animals. I was having a delightful time until one of my friends disagreed with me: she insisted she was not a frog and would not hop around like one when directed by me to do so. I suddenly became incredibly paranoid. Now they were speaking a language I didn't understand so they could plot against me. After a few minutes I thought I was going to suffocate and raced outdoors without a coat or mittens. I hid behind the snow-covered foundation bushes, terrified and shivering.Finally one of my friends became straight enough to realize my behavior had been very weird and located me. I had morphed myself into the color and texture of the bricks and couldn't believe he had seen through my disguise. I thought he must, therefore, be my spirit guide and allowed him to take me inside and put me to bed.Throughout my life I had experienced mild psychotic espisodes. Of course I didn't know that's what they were until I was 22. In fact, I thought everybody occassionly had strange interludes. But the degree of my separation from reality that night scared all of us. It was the last time I smoked MJ. I had enough trouble keeping myself together, I didn't need drugs on top of it. (Until powder cocaine arrived on the scene several years later.)The answers here are very enlightening to me. It seems perhaps my mega-dose of THC may have pushed me over the edge into a much more serious psychotic state than I had ever had before. Very interesting discussion. Thanks to all of the scientists and mental health professionals who have shed light on this subject.
Adhd vs bipolar disorder?
It is possible for a person to have both disorders. It is also possible for early b/p d/o symptoms to seem more like ADHD than bipolar. Often, the psych MD will go with the less severe diagnosis (ADHD) first in order to see if symptoms can be controlled rather than beginning on the course of medications for bipolar. Very often, people who have bipolar disorder have adverse reactions to psychostimulants (such as Concerta) as well as antidepressants. Most often, the SSRI a/ds (such as Prozac and Paxil) are not tolerated by people with b/p d/o, but "atypical" a/ds (such as Wellbutrin) may be well tolerated. Valid research indicates that b/p d/o does run in families. The symptoms of bipolar are much more severe than those of ADHD. To make matters worse, there is also a disorder known as "Cyclothymia", sort of a "bipolar--lite" that has fewer and less severe symptoms in the bipolar range. One of the features that b/p d/o has that ADHD does not have is the depressive cycling. Depression is not a feature of ADHD. Best suggestion--let your psych MD diagnose you. Don't worry so much about the category of your disorder. Take the appropriate medications that are prescribed for you, and your symptoms will begin to stabilize.
Does bipolar disorder get worse with age?
It can. Mood episodes (especially mania) cause ongoing brain damage. But of course, everything varies a lot by individual.We have four generations of bipolar in my family (mother to daughter), so I have an interesting perspective of how our symptoms change with age. Every family has a different set of symptoms, since different genes are involved for different families, but here’s our story.For all of us, our symptoms peaked around 25. That’s when I was diagnosed. That’s when my mother had post-partum psychosis. That’s when my grandmother talked to angels and demons. That’s when my great-grandmother went completely nuts. Looking at my mother, grandmother, and great-grand mother, I think their symptoms kind of plateaued after that. They have gone up and down as the years have gone by. They’ve also had periods of normalcy (in my family, those euthymic periods only last a few days or maybe weeks at a time).For us, I think significant life events have played more of a role in worsening our symptoms than age itself. Pregnancy is a bad, bad time (I am not having children, lol). Menopause just exacerbates everything. Anything like surgery, unrelated medications, other illnesses, and deaths in the family have all triggered significantly worse symptoms. However, we always go back to “normal” (whatever normal is for us) after a while.My grandmother is 80 years old and she has aged a lot in the past five years. She’s becoming a lot less resilient Her mood episodes seem to be harder for her to control. She’s forgetting things, she’s over emotional even for her, and she just generally seems out of it. I don’t know how much of that is just being 80 and how much of that is due to the long-term effects of untreated bipolar.My mother is just getting out of menopause, and she is also less resilient and less “with it” than she used to be. Again, I can’t tell how much of that is just because of where she is in life, and how much of it is because of her lifelong untreated bipolar.I suspect at least some of their decline is due to the brain damage caused by all of those untreated mood episodes.I am the only one in my family who has been treated. When I’m 80, I’ll let you know if I ended up any better off than my foremothers.
Can a child that is shaken develop Bipolar disorder?
I have multiple head injuries, one of which was from shaken baby syndrome. My first suggestion is to get him in to see a qualified psychiatrist to be evaluated. Tell him/her about being shaken as a baby so that that fact can be considered. I say that because I had symptoms of schizoaffective disorder and I was erroneously treated for it. I had a new doctor reevaluate my case and he changed my medication and my diagnosis as having psychiatric problems secondary to head injury. I would especially suspect that where you say that he is having behavioral problems. In a coup/contra coup head injury, the front of the brain strikes the bony ridge of the skull causing an insult. The frontal lobe involves impulse control. If your nephew is having problems with impulse control, it may be/have been a result of injury to the frontal lobe due to shaken baby syndrome. And it is treated differently than bipolar. I am speaking from experience, so print this answer out and bring it with you to the psychiatrist. If either you or he have any more questions, I will talk to you about it and even work on connecting his psychiatrist with mine as my psychiatrist has specific experience with head injury(ies). My e-mail and IM address is on my profile. I hope things work out and I hope that may be of help in this matter. Hang in there!
I might have bipolar disorder? Serious answers only please!?
Hi: you are wise to be concerned. I applaud your wanting to get help. Having parents who are bipolar definitely puts you at risk. Realize there are variations and degrees of bipolar disorder. Your paranoia may or may not factor into this. You could just be very aware and therefore vigilant of your own actions and reactions to other people and your environment. You may not be bipolar but could have some other mood disorder or, you could as I said, have a variation of bipolar disorder. The good news is this: there is treatment for this. Bipolar disorder is highly treatable. I suggest you get yourself to a psychiatrist (NOT a regular doctor) for assessment and then treatment if it is warranted. You already something is not right with you. Yes, while we all have our off days and bad moments, the fact that you have sudden mood swings for no apparent reason could be a sign of needing assessment and then treatment. Please do so. Bipolar disorder is very, very treatable. I see this disorder every day. People get well.