This blog is not meant to substitute for treatment. If you believe you have Bipolar Disorder, please seek help immediately. Without effective treatment, this illness is progressive and gets worse over time.
People who have Bipolar Disorder generally experience episodes of depression as well as episodes of mania or hypomania. They do not have to experience depression to be diagnosed, however.
To be diagnosed with depression, the patient must experience 1. Sadness/depression most of the day nearly every day for two weeks or more. Or 2. Anhedonia is a lack of interest, motivation, or pleasure in activities that one has been interested in at some point in the past. (Also, most of the day, nearly every day for 2 weeks or more).
A patient must have 5 total symptoms or more that they also experience most of the day, nearly every day for two weeks or more (These include the core mood symptoms above). Those symptoms could be: 3. Insomnia or hypersomnia, i.e.; sleeping too little or too much (2 hours change in sleep qualifies); 4. Increase or decrease in appetite/weight; 5. Loss of self-esteem, helplessness, hopelessness, or inappropriate guilt; 6. Tired/fatigued during the day; 7. Difficulty concentrating or making little decisions like what to eat or wear; 8. Agitation or psychomotor retardation i.e.; restlessness or talking slowly or quietly, moving slowly, sluggish; 9. Suicidality or just having thoughts of death.
Hypomania= four to six days and less severe of the symptoms which follow;
Mania= One week or more and more severe of the symptoms which follow;
If a person is hospitalized, there is no restriction regarding number of days.
Symptoms:
- Euphoria
- Expansiveness
- Irritability
To qualify as this mood state, one of these three moods must be present.
- Increased self-esteem or grandiosity (believing you can do a lot more than usual or beginning to think you are extra special or someone else in particular, like an actor, Jesus, etc.
- Distractibility (being distracted by little things or by your own thoughts
- Racing thoughts, or thoughts bouncing around a lot
- Agitated, restless, or an increase in goal-directed activities
- An increased desire to do exciting activities which have the potential to be dangerous, (drugs, extramarital sex, unprotected sex, spending more money than is affordable, dangerous sports)
- Pressured speech, talking louder, faster, or a need to talk more than usual.
To have mania, one experiences 3 symptoms in addition to Euphoria or Expansiveness for 1 week or more and this interferes significantly with one’s ability to work, maintain social relationships or other responsibilities (or is very distressing). With Irritability, one experiences 4 total symptoms.
To have hypomania, the same criterion applies except the time is shorter, a minimum of 4 days.
To have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, one must experience at least one of the high-energy moods or a mixed episode, which is not described here.
Dark therapy is one relatively new treatment option, which seems to be helping my patients and has been shown in 15-20 research studies to help the participants. There are two components to this. One is to get black-out curtains for your bedroom. It is also wise to wear a sleep mask when the glasses are removed to protect you from any light that passes through cracks in the curtains. The next step is to buy a pair of “blue-blocking” safety glasses. They are inexpensive and cost under nine dollars online.
The only glasses I am sure will block 100% of blue light are Uvex Ultraspec 2000 S0360X.
After they arrive, you must wear them from six p.m. to bedtime. Any time you wake up and will be exposed to light you must wear them. You can remove them at eight am. Keep track of your symptoms and the hours you wear the glasses. Most people see improvement as their symptoms lessen within six to twelve weeks. Sometimes (particularly in mania) they help within three to seven days.
Good luck and remember to call a professional for help! There are many things to learn to help stabilize bipolar disorder and it truly helps to have guidance from a therapist.