Bipolar Disorder, Two Extreme Cycles in One Maddening Disease

What is bipolar?

Bipolar disorder or manic depression is a type of mood disorder. This is a psychiatric illness that causes major disruptions in lifestyle and health within the life of the patient and their families. It is hard to deal with for both the patient and the families of the patient.

We all have mood swings to some degree but in patients with bipolar, their mood swings are extreme and last for a long time sometimes for months at a time. The depressive state seems to last longer for everyone. When they move between cycles quickly they are considered to be a rapid cycler and sometimes these extremes can happen on the same 24 hour period.

They call this bipolar because there seems to be 2 distinct and opposite phases they go through but with that high and low phases there has to be a middle phase when they are not experiencing the other two. Granted most of the time they are in the extreme phases, and rarely seem to go into the other one.

The Phases:

Mania phase is when they are on the up swing of the disorder. This phase has a feeling that everything is right in their world. Patients may believe they don't need their medicine, they are perfect in every way that they can do anything and they tend to spend money like it is going out of style. Many will go on shopping sprees with money they do not have. They do not feel the need to sleep and can literally stay up 48 hours straight and keep going. They do not have time to eat for it would take time away from their other more important issues such as discovering the cures for cancer or writing a best seller. They have grand ideas during this phase and they skip all normal act ivies during this time to accomplish their most important stuff.