Bipolar Symptoms and Bipolar Medication Detailed
Pharmaceutical companies have been aggressively campaigning and raising awareness of bipolar disorder to the public. Although radio and television has been limited in the information they can convey to the public, a lot of people have come to hear and know about this illness, but have not really understood this sickness or its medication.
Understanding some of the basic bipolar symptoms and bipolar medication treatments is very important before delving into the comprehensive. For both the common bipolar symptoms and medications, a brief overview is provided.
From overly high/and or irritable to sad and hopeless and then back again bipolar disorder causes dramatic mood swings, often with normal mood in between. Severe changes in behavior and energy go along with these changes in mood. The periods of highs is called mania and lows depression episodes. Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings from mania to depression. The pattern of highs and lows varies for each person. For some people, episodes of mania or depression can last for weeks or months, while for others, mood swings are shorter and more frequent. Coping with bipolar disorder and the mood swings it brings can be difficult. Symptoms of bipolar disorders and its brief overview are as follows:
Bipolar Disorder - Manic Symptoms
-Being excessively irritable these people experience delusions of grandeur and euphoric feelings of being “high” that can lead to overly optimistic.
-When in this state of illness patients have a lot of energy but has difficulty in concentrating, sleeping, making good judgments or decisions. Understanding what is being said can be difficult because speech is so rapid.
-With thoughts experienced as racing. The “racing thoughts” of bipolar disorder are also sometimes described as “crowded thoughts”.
-Sufferers may go on spending sprees or engage in behavior that is quite abnormal for them.
Bipolar Disorder – Depressed Symptoms
-Extremely low energy levels combined with feelings of hopelessness, sadness, or despair.
-Difficulty maintaining proper sleep patterns. Often, the individual is excessively tired or irritated.
-Excess shame or guilt pervades one’s thoughts.
-Loss of or increase in appetite.
-Always contemplating suicide.
Medication Treatment for Bipolar
There is no standard, uniformed combination of bipolar medication that will deliver the same results in different patients when it comes to the pharmaceutical treatments of bipolar disorder. To aid in the calming effects of bipolar disorder, however, there is a finite pool of drugs that are utilized. Included in these drugs are anti anxiety, mood stabilizers/anti-psychotic and anti depressants drugs.
To help raise the individual’s mood and energy levels, anti-depressants are prescribed. Wellbutrin, Effexor and Zoloft with other anti-depressant medicines are the most prescribed drugs given to patients with bipolar.
The most prescribed drugs to calm down the mania side of the bipolar illness are Lithium, Risperdal, Seroquel, and Geocodon. These anti-psychotic and mood stabilizer drugs are used to restore and calm down patients or tone down people with bipolar manic disorder.
Some psychiatrists as a treatment for bipolar disorder have fallen out of favor with anti-anxiety drugs. But there are others who still prescribe Xanax, Ativan and Klonopin to bring down excessive highs and panic attacks in bipolar patients.
These drugs are prescribed in various dosages and combinations. Monthly visits with a psychiatrist are then conducted to determine whether the treatment should be modified or continued.
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