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Are you feeling really "down" sometimes and really
"up" other times? James' story:National Institute of Mental Health
"I've had times of feeling "down" and sad most of my life. I used to skip school a lot when I felt like this because I just couldn't get out of bed. At first I didn't take these feelings very seriously. "I also had times when I felt really terrific, like I could do anything. I felt really "wound up" and I didn't need much sleep. Sometimes friends would tell me I was talking too fast. But everyone around me seemed to be going too slow. "My job was getting more stressful each week, and the "up" and "down" times were coming more often. My wife and friends said that I was acting very different from my usual self. I kept telling them that everything was fine, there was no problem, and to leave me alone. "Then, all of a sudden, I couldn't keep it together. I stopped going to work and stayed in bed for days at a time. I felt like my life wasn't worth living anymore. My wife made an appointment for me to see our family doctor and went with me. The doctor checked me out and then sent me to a psychiatrist, who is an expert in treating the kinds of problems I was having. "The psychiatrist talked with me about how I'd been feeling and acting over the last six months. We also talked about the fact that my grandfather had serious ups and downs like me. I wasn't real familiar with "bipolar disorder," but it sure sounded like what I was going through. It was a great relief to finally know that the ups and downs really were periods of "mania" and "depression" caused by an illness that can be treated. "For four months now, I've been taking a medicine to keep my moods stable and I see my psychiatrist once a month. I also see someone else for "talk" therapy, which helps me learn how to deal with this illness in my everyday life. "The first several weeks were hard before the medicine and talk therapy started to work. But now, my mood changes are much less severe and don't happen as often. I'm able to go to work each day, and I'm starting to enjoy things again with my family and friends." Many people who have bipolar disorder don't know they have it. NIH Publication No. 02-5085, January 2002 Back to Article List |
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This Week's Bipolar NewsArtist faces her demons in gallery show Atypical antipsychotics in bipolar disorder: the treatment of mania In a sense, everyone is bipolar to some extent, doctor says Click here for all Bipolar News. |
Featured Article:The Three Worst Things That Bipolar Disorder Causes - Part 1Anyone who has bipolar disorder would agree that there are many bad things that the disorder causes for them; such as: having to take medication every day for the rest of their lives, having to change their whole lifestyle to accommodate the disorder, having to go see doctors and therapists and psychiatrists, etc. However, the three worst things that bipolar disorder causes are:
Click here to read the entire aritcle
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