Research shows bipolar disorder may damage the brain over time. Experts think it's because you slowly lose amino acids. They help build the proteins that make up the insulation around your neurons.
Bipolar episodes decrease brain size, and possibly intelligence. Grey matter in the brains of people with bipolar disorder is destroyed with each manic or depressive episode.
Our results indicate that volume decrease in frontal brain regions can be attributed to the incidence of manic episodes. In a longitudinal structural MRI study of bipolar disorder, Abé et al. reveal a reduction in volume of frontal cortex in patients who experience manic episodes, but not in those who remain well.
When left untreated, the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder will often increase in severity and may lead to suicide; there is a high suicide rate for people with the disorder. When treated, it's possible to control the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder and enjoy a more stable and fulfilling life.
There is no cure for BD but psychotherapy and prescription medication such as antipsychotics, mood stabilizers and benzodiazepines may alleviate symptoms. The brain of bipolar patients shows changes such as reduction in volume and neuroprogression.
Signs a Manic Episode Is Ending
Slowing down and feeling less urgent and pressured all the time. Feeling more tired and getting more sleep. Being able to think more clearly, even if your memories of the manic episode are fuzzy. Making fewer impulsive decisions.
With proper treatment, along with support and self-care, people with bipolar disorder can live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Although there's no cure for mania, medication and talk therapy (psychotherapy) can manage your condition in most cases.
The prevalence of mania tends to decrease with age even more than depression. Mood symptoms in general decline with age, and the balance does shift more to depression. It's not that depression gets more common, it's that mania declines even more.
MRIs and CT scans can provide detailed images of the brain and its structures. But currently, doctors don't use them to diagnose bipolar disorder. Detecting bipolar disorder is typically done through a diagnostic interview with a mental health professional.
Well, researchers believe that depressive and manic episodes are the most common causes of memory loss in patients with bipolar disorder. During manic episodes, the individual may operate at high speeds, making it difficult for them to hard code new information into their memories.
Mania can be a dangerous condition for several reasons. People may not sleep or eat while in a manic episode. They may engage in risky behaviors and harm themselves. People with mania have a greater risk of experiencing hallucinations and other perceptual disturbances.
Mania lasts for a week or more and has a severe negative impact on your ability to do your usual day-to-day activities – often disrupting or stopping these completely. Severe mania is very serious, and often needs to be treated in hospital.
“Untreated bipolar disorder can worsen with age, with both the frequency of mood episodes and their duration,” says Thomas Scary, MD, MA, staff psychiatrist, Rittenhouse Psychiatric Associates in Philadelphia. “This is true even with treatment, but to a lesser extent.”
If you have mania, you'll probably need to take medicine to bring it quickly under control. Your doctor will also likely prescribe a mood stabilizer, also called an “antimanic” medication. These help control mood swings and prevent them, and may help to make someone less likely to attempt suicide.
People in the grip of mania also have increased energy, sleep less, and experience extreme self-confidence. At first glance, this may sound good and even desirable. However, during these times of mania, people with bipolar disorder often take dangerous risks, run up their credit card debt, and wreak havoc in marriages.
Magnesium. Magnesium may help ease manic episode symptoms of irritability, anxiety, and insomnia for people already deficient in it.
You'll typically need mood-stabilizing medication to control manic or hypomanic episodes. Examples of mood stabilizers include lithium (Lithobid), valproic acid (Depakene), divalproex sodium (Depakote), carbamazepine (Tegretol, Equetro, others) and lamotrigine (Lamictal). Antipsychotics.
Mania may sometimes lead to psychotic episodes, which can trigger a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. Bipolar may worsen with age or over time if this condition is left untreated. As time goes on, a person may experience episodes that are more severe and more frequent than when symptoms first appeared.
Sometimes, if caught early enough, people experiencing mania can be kept out of the hospital. However, most episodes of mania require hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital for safety and stabilization. Any emergency room can initiate a hospitalization.
In many cases, it can help reduce symptoms of bipolar disorder, as well as lessen the increased risk of certain health conditions associated with bipolar disorder. For people with bipolar disorder, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America recommends working out for 30 minutes, 3 to 5 days per week.
The life expectancy for someone with bipolar disorder is approximately 67 years old. A 2021 study researched the effect of bipolar disorder on longevity and found that: risk of death is 2.6 times greater than the general population. the average life span is between 8–12 years shorter than the general population.
This was a question recently asked of me, “can people with a mental illness, like bipolar disorder, live alone?” The answer to me was obvious – yes! Absolutely. Of course a person, even with a serious mental illness, can live alone.