Bipolar
disorder affects at least 1 in 70 people. Bipolar disorder can start as early
as adolescence, or as late as the fifties.
One
difficulty can be diagnosis of bipolar disorder in adolescence. What adolescent
doesn’t have raging hormones? Looking back, of course I cried when the person I
liked starting dating someone else, or broke up with me for no reason. On the
other hand, the backstabbing friend that starts spreading rumors. I think as a
girl, these can tend to be normal or common reactions. Alternatively, what about about the
moodiness, as a boy, and dealing with the raging hormones, resulting in anger.
The
National Institute of Mental Health conducted studies on mental illness, and
concluded that 48% of all adults in the United States will at some point in
their life will have a diagnosis if a mental illness. Although this is only one
study, it really surprised me how high this statistics is! Like me, many
individuals will be diagnosed with multiple psychiatric disorders, which
usually referred to as “co-morbidity or co-occurrence.”
It
is not uncommon for those who eventually are diagnosed with a mental illness,
to initially try to grin and bear it, and try to “deal” with it on their own.
Sadly this rarely works. However, upon receiving treatment, the sense of relief
is tremendous.
While
it took my psychiatrist a few years to “officially” diagnosis me with bipolar
disorder, statistically the onset age was accurate. Multiple research studies
out there suggest the median age of onset is between 20 and 25 years. At the
time of my first hospitalization, I was 23 years.
I
have always wondered why it takes so long for the initial diagnosis of bipolar
disorder. I think in my case it’s because my bipolar is mixed and rapid
cycling, so if the doctor sees me depressed he or she would probably diagnosis
me with major depression. Sometimes when I am so depressed, it is hard to see
the ups at that point in time. In my opinion, diagnosing bipolar is becoming
easier to spot and the gap between initial symptoms and diagnosis of bipolar is
becoming smaller.
While
receiving initial treatment is great, the next step is not so simple. It is at
this point I find and continue to find the most difficult. Discussing the type
of medication. When somebody is diagnosed with Bipolar or any other mood
disorder, other issues concurrently might be diagnosed. There includes alcohol
and substance abuse, ADHD, and an increased risk of suicide. These are the most
common, but it is not unusual that there are also other co-morbid diseases.
Unfortunately,
for me I have a SEVERE case of Bipolar I. My full diagnosis is Bipolar I, mixed
state, ultra rapid cycling, with psychotic features. Yes, I know that is a
mouthful. When psychiatrists look at mood disorders there are a number of
“specific clusters” the doctor assess. This is just a brief description, but
for me this was used to help aid in the diagnoses of my bipolar. I was not
diagnosed with bipolar right away, which is not that uncommon. I presented
initially with depression, than mania, and after 4 years of observation during
hospitalization, my psychiatrist finally gave me the mood disorder diagnoses.
In
a future blog, I will discuss in detail the more common symptoms that can lead
to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
