Signs of Bipolar Disorder.
Welcome back to health captor. In this article, I shall be helping those who suffer from severe depression and bipolar disorder to live a better life.
I will be treated in this article the top 10 signs of bipolar disorder that could tell either someone has this disorder or not.
But it’s important to know that many people experience and express their bipolar symptoms in different ways.
There’s no cookie-cutter textbook definition of symptoms so it can be a little slippery to grasp and often results in misdiagnosis.
It can be hard for those with bipolar to even explain exactly how they feel and especially at first. Often doctors will just group them into the category of general depression or anxiety disorders because those are the symptoms that are most noticeable to us. As many as 20 to 30% of people complaining about depression to their doctor are actually in fact bipolar.
Over 5 million people in the US alone are bipolar. So you are not alone, absolutely not!
In a nutshell, the primary indications of bipolar disorder are extreme mood swings between the highs of mania to the ultimate lows of depression. When we’re manic, we feel like we’re on top of the world flying high as a kite and almost have unlimited energy. Being manic can be really pleasant or a really uncomfortable experience depending on how each person goes through it.
Then there’s the dark side of bipolar where the lowest of lows kick in and it can result in paralyzing depression and sadly is a really big cause of people ending their lives. So it needs to be taken very seriously.
And then there’s also mixed states where you could have that unlimited energy but be depressed at the same time and this could be a problem because many times we feel horrible and actually have the energy or motivation to do something about it and that can lead to some very self-destructive behavior.
Top warning signs
So, here’s the top 10 warning signs that you might be manic and 10 that you might be experiencing bipolar depression. And if you bounce back and forth between these symptoms regularly, there’s a good chance that you might be bipolar.
- The first sign of bipolar mania would be feeling unusually happy or enthusiastic think about everything or almost chemically high for a long period of time and this can get so intense that people around us might even think that we’re on something or taking a stimulant.
- The second sign would be not needing to sleep as much or experiencing all-out insomnia. It’s almost like there’s no off switch to your mind.
- The third sign of bipolar mania could be just talking a lot faster or more than usual. Sometimes to the point to where people take notice and say something and this is often just the product of these racing thoughts or racing mind.
- The fourth sign is Feeling extremely restless, and this can result in impulsive behavior and hasty decision making or obsessing over things that we normally just wouldn’t.
- The fifth sign is Becoming easily distracted. Wait a minute! Are you getting distracted by almost everything? It could simply be a symptom of bipolar disorder.
- The Sixth sign is Sense of overconfidence in our abilities. Like we want to build a spaceship out of dryer lint or learn how to play the piano in just one day is really common of people that are going through bipolar mania.
- The seventh sign is engaging in really risky behavior like impulsive sex or hypersexuality, at the time going on big spending sprees, gambling with our life savings or other destructive behavior without any regard of the consequences. It just feels right at the time and then when we crash or come down we might look back and go holy crap. I can’t believe I did that!
- The eighth sign is An increase in substance abuse which often goes hand-in-hand with bipolar disorder. Examples would be excessive drinking. When you usually only have one drink or using drugs or pills that mimic, that’s the sensation of being manic and this is why drugs and alcohol can be a huge problem in the bipolar community. To take that one step further or a different side of this would be overeating or an addiction to unhealthy foods that can just be increased during periods of mania.
- The number nine sign is The inability to complete tasks which often can result in trouble at work or daily responsibilities at home. It’s almost like starting 20 projects all at once and having an equal interest in all of them at the same time.
- The tenth one or the final sign of bipolar mania and another dangerous side of mania can be experiencing over aggression or extreme irritability. Those with a predisposition for anger management issues can often find these feelings are really enhanced by mania. It can be a lot easier to lose your patience over little things and overreact to situations that just normally wouldn’t bother us very much.
Depressive Side Of Bipolar Disorder
So that’s the top ten signs of manic or mania or that side of things now let’s get into the polar opposite of those which is the depressive characteristics of bipolar disorder.
- The first sign of the depressive side of bipolar disorder would be uncontrollable sadness or strong feelings of hopelessness for prolonged periods of time. And these feelings can get so intense that it can be unbearable and often result in crying over things that normally might not bother us as much. We tend to dwell on or just be consumed by negative thoughts and this mental noise and discomfort can also lead to feeling pissed off at everyone and everything.
- The second one would be starting to withdrawal from those around us like friends or family or spouses. If you’re going through bipolar depression you might find yourself isolating in your room or not having any desire to go out when normally you would or you might be ignoring text messages all of a sudden or not even taking phone calls.
- The third sign of bipolar depression would be losing interest in activities or things that you usually enjoy. You might have started a new hobby recently that was everything to you and then all of a sudden you don’t want to have anything to do with it. You might not want to go to the gym or a weekly meeting that you usually enjoy. Things like that that might even be healthy for you.
- The Fourth sign of bipolar depression would be feeling majorly fatigued or extremely low energy. This can get so bad that it feels like mild flu or like you’ve run a marathon the previous day or have jet lag or something. It’s not fun and you might be sleeping 12 hours a day or even more because of that.
- The fifth sign is Talking a lot slower or quieter than usual and this is the polar opposite of the fast speech that I was mentioning earlier. You may have issues with concentration or memory or decision-making at that time.
- The sixth is the Physical pain. When your mind is suffering so greatly, these feelings can transcend into the body causing us to have body aches or headaches back pain strain on your eyes. Depression can literally be so painful. It physically hurts and it’s really amazing how connected the mind and body truly are.
- The seventh side of depression if you’re bipolar would be a lack of personal hygiene. We’re just the act of taking a shower shaving or brushing your teeth when you’re really depressed can be seemingly as difficult as climbing a mountain at the time.
- The eighth is Feeling like you’re never going to reach your goals or like you’re going to be stuck in this depressive hell so to speak forever when just last week or last month you loved your job and felt great.
Now millions of people deal with depression and eventually return to basically like a baseline state and people that are bipolar however are going to go through extreme opposites like absolute euphoria excitement and almost that chemically induced high feeling and excited about everything and then going from that to this absolute bottomless pit of desperation and despair. A lot of people deal with depression whether it’s situational or chemical and usually come back to like I said a baseline but with bipolar it’s the extreme polar opposite.
9. The Number nine is the inability to experience pleasure and this can really impact your sex life or intimacy with a partner. These periods can sometimes last for months or you almost feel like you’re asexual.
10. The last one and this is a sensitive topic and the most serious one of anything I’ve mentioned so far and that is thinking about or worse yet attempting to end our lives- Suicide.
So, people with bipolar induced depression can experience so much suffering that they have a strong preoccupation with death or can’t stop thinking about it. Heading in that direction, you absolutely must tell someone and I know that can be really hard to do but tell someone like a partner, a spouse, family member or a supportive friend or even called the countless suicide hotlines out there if you don’t want people around you to know that you have these feelings.
These people are professionals and they’re darn good at what they do it’s not these. These people really understand and they’ve helped a lot of people when they just didn’t want to burden or talk to a family member or friend and get them to worry about the feelings that they were having anyways.
So there’s a lot of things to consider and as I mentioned everyone’s different. There’s even different types of bipolar like type 1 type 2 rapid cycler is cyclothymia and more. So if you’re only experiencing a few of the things that are on these lists and every once in a while, you might be one of the 350 million people in the world with a form of depression.
Now if these lists sound like a user manual for your life or someone that you love then there’s a strong possibility that it might be bipolar disorder.
I’m not here to diagnose anyone. I’m just pointing out groups of symptoms that many bipolar individuals experience. So if you’re worried about it, please talk to someone and a doctor or medical professional would be preferable.
You don’t have to live like this. There are solutions out there and the first step and often the hardest one for people is just to realize that you might be and the hardest part after that is actually doing something about it when you feel great or manic. So do yourself a huge favor and those around you that love you and at least explore the possibility a little deeper.
If the things I said on this list resonate with you anyways, thank you so much for reading through. Take a really good care of yourself and keep on visiting our posts on this blog.
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