Postcards from the Funny Farm

My hope in this series is to produce a paradigm shift in people’s attitude toward bipolar.  Remember when you were a kid and your parents said you were going somewhere really special?  Depending on your age, it could have been grandmother’s house or a flight to a 3 day stay at Disneyland.  Remember feeling your mood rise instantly beyond what is normal?  Well … that is normal.  Unfortunately for bipolars, their brain can experience this transition for no apparent reason at any random time.  You might think that it’s a good thing, how can it be bad to shoot up to a high mood right?  Well, when there are no logical reasons to be in such an elevated mood a bipolar person can succumb to all sorts of crazy activity … some of it potentially damaging, even deadly.  The brain is a fragile and delicate instrument and for those afflicted with bipolar, life is filled with all sorts of heavy duty work.

In a highly elevated mood, bipolars can experience what is called “grandiosity.”  This is one of the most malicious of all symptoms.  It has been described as a flight of ideas, the feeling one can conquer the world.  You don’t see yourself as Napoleon as a schizophrenic might, but you see yourself as like Napoleon out to conquer the world and you never feel as if you can lose.  This is one possible symptom of a manic episode.  The manic episode can last several days and I have even read of famous bipolars who experienced these for months or more.  This has an effect on blood pressure, spending, sleep habits, etc.  The manic episode has a profoundly devastating effect on relationships, jobs, family, and finances.  I read of one man who went to 20 stores over a 2 days period without sleeping to buy every Buzz Lightyear action figure.  When the episode passed, he realized he had maxed many credit cards in this manic acting out.  Bipolars in a manic state can be very offended and angry if you confront them.  Often this can lead to a straight jacket and a paddy wagon to a hospital.

Then there is the depression.  Just like on a globe there is a South pole and a North pole that are diametrically opposed, so the moods of a bipolar are polarized.  If you remember having a dog or pet die, you remember sinking moods.  Some drops in mood are inevitable in normal brains.  In biopolars they attack viciously with no regard for reason.  For bipolars, ones mood will drop from being manic to being in the utter depths of despair.  I know many people reading this understand depression.  We call this “unipolar.”  The psyche and mood of a person stays down too long and that produces debilitating issues for the depressed person.  For the bipolar person it can be multiple times worse due to all the damage one has done while manic.  Depending on how severe the episode, the bipolar may not even remember the insane theings she/he did while manic.  In a depressed state she/he is ill-equipped to pick up the pieces and get their mood back to normal.

It is like the mood thermostat is broken.  You might set it on “calm” but it fluctuates out of control without any mercy whatsoever.  The brain of a bipolar lacks the natural ability to adjust moods.  Thank goodness for bipolars, there is a wonder drug called Lithium that we will discuss in a future post.  Lithium acts as a repairman who can make the thermostat work a heck of a lot better than without.  As I discuss how Lithium works, I think you will be shocked and amazed to hear about the stigma that keeps many individuals and families from taking this drug.  The same way a Cat5e patch cable connects a computer to a network, si Lithium enables the bipolar to function in society. I’ll explain how it was discovered as a drug for bipolars and why anyone diagnosed with bipolar should talk to their psychiatrist about getting it if they haven’t already.  Lithium is the thermostat fixer for bipolar.  There is hope, thanks to Lithium.