Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder

Types of Bipolar Medication

Bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar affective disorder and manic depression, is a lifelong mental illness. The condition is characterized by mood swings that go from extreme euphoria and excitability to periods of deep depression and sadness....

Bipolar Manic Depressive Symptoms

Bipolar disorder, also called manic depression or manic depressive illness, is like living on a roller coaster. Mood swings are severe, going from extreme highs to depressive lows for weeks and even months on end. Bipolar disorder doesn't just...

5 Ways to Recognize Different Forms of Bipolar Disorder

Some people with bipolar disorder switch from manic to depressed and back again with startling frequency. While rapid cycling bipolar disorder is technically classified as having at least four mood changes within a year, many people with this...

Weight Loss & Lamictal

Weight loss may be a rare side effect of lamotrigine, or Lamictal. In people with bipolar disorder, lamotigine may lead to weight loss among those who are obese, according to a 2006 study published by Charles L. Bowden and colleagues in the...

Signs & Symptoms of Manic Depressive Disease

Manic depressive disease, also known as manic depression and bipolar disorder, is a mood disorder where symptoms typically begin between ages 15 and 25, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Patients with manic depressive disease...

Bipolar & Progesterone

Bipolar disorder is a severe mental illness causing debilitating symptoms that can have a drastic impact on your life. Interestingly, a form of bipolar disorder, known as rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, is often diagnosed more frequently in women...

Different Mood Swings

Bipolar disorder or manic-depressive illness can cause extreme mood swings. Approximately six-million adults in the United States are affected by this serious mental illness, according to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). The...

Common Side Effects for Lithium for Bipolar Disorder

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the 1970s, lithium was the first mood stabilizer for mania, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Lithium is effective in treating the manic symptoms of bipolar disorder,...

Common Drugs to Treat Bipolar & Anxiety

Bipolar disorder and anxiety are two different psychological disorders that affect quality of life. Bipolar disorder, also called manic depression, is a mood disorder in which the patient cycles between mania, an abnormally elevated mood, and...

Bipolar Disorder & the Effects on Sleep

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that derives its name from its symptoms: The patient has mood shifts between mania (elevated mood) and depression (lower mood). Both mood phases have sleeping problems that range from not needing sleep to...

Conditions in Which Mood Stabilizers Are Used

Mood stabilizers are the medication of choice for bipolar disorder: they treat the highs (mania) and lows (depression) of the disorder. The medication is also used during the maintenance phase, where the patient has a normal mood; mood stabilizers...

Bipolar Disorder Medication Warnings

A mood disorder that causes patients to cycle through high and low moods, bipolar disorder affects 5.7 million American adults, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Medications for bipolar disorder diminish the severity of...

Key Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, also called manic depression, affects more than 10 million people in the United States, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Treatment includes medication and psychotherapy. Early-onset bipolar is the name...

What Are the Origins of Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a form of mental illness that produces high and low mood swings. It is broken into several forms. Bipolar I is the traditional form known previously as manic-depressive disorder, and is characterized by long periods of...

How to Use Melatonin to Treat Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a medical and mental illness that impacts your mood, behavior and daily level of functioning. This illness causes mild to severe bouts of depression and mania or mixed episodes of both. During manic episodes, sleep deprivation...

Characteristics of Soft Bipolar

Characteristics of soft bipolar--included in the Bipolar Disorder II family--are recognized as a part of the bipolar spectrum disorder. Outlined by psychiatrist Dr. Arnold Lieber, the inclusion acknowledges what patients and psychiatrists have...

What Is Bipolar/Manic Depression?

Bipolar disorder, also referred to as manic depression, is a mood disorder that affects 5.7 million adults in the United States--about 2.6 percent of the population, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The age of onset is...

Melatonin As a Sole Treatment of Bipolar Disorder

Sleep disorders occur frequently in people with bipolar disorder, a psychiatric disorder characterized by extreme mood changes. Around 10 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness....

What Are the Causes of Mood Swings?

One day a person is feeling happy and calm, but another day he is sad or angry for no apparent reason. These are mood swings, which can be caused by different biological changes. Mood swings can be a result of hormonal changes, such as those that...

How Does Valproic Acid Work for Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar Disorder consists of episodes of either mania or hypomania and of depression. There are a variety of bipolar disorders, categorized depending on whether someone has more episodes of mania or depression and how frequent these bouts are....

Choline Bitartrate & Depression

Depression is a serious mental health disorder that can cause a significant impact to your ability to function and affect your feelings of well-being. While a number of treatments may offer some relief from symptoms of depression, dietary...

Medications for Severe Bipolar

Severe bipolar disorder can manifest in different ways. Sometimes, severe bipolar illness means that the behavior of the person with the disorder is disruptive to those around him or leads to harm in the person with bipolar disorder. Another way...

Alternatives to Topomax for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a form of mental illness characterized by alternating episodes of profound depression and exaggerated euphoria, or mania. In a depressive phase, an individual can find it hard to carry out normal daily functions, and may feel...

How Does Lamictal Work for Bipolar Disorder?

For many years, those with bipolar disorder had few treatment options. If lithium was ineffective or caused unwanted side effects, there were few directions to turn. These days, many drugs initially synthesized to control seizures are now being...

Fish Oil and Brain Development

Oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, sardines and tuna are sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are considered essential to good health. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), omega-3 fatty acids are essential for physical...

Diet for Bipolar

Diet's role in bipolar disorder is currently being researched. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition characterized by mood changes that disrupt normal functioning. While diet may be associated with the disorder, it should not be considered...

Treatment for Bipolar Insomnia

Debilitating by itself, insomnia compounds other aspects of bipolar disorder. Lack of sleep wears down resistance and makes a person with bipolar disorder prone to the other symptoms of mania: poor judgment, mood lability, irritability and...

Choline & Inositol for Depression

Depression is a common mood disorder that can have a significant impact on your life. The World Health Organization reports that depression affects around 121 million people worldwide. Several types of depression are known, including major...