Coming to Terms with Adolescent Bipolar Disease

Depending on who you talk to, some terminologies people use to call bipolar by are bipolar disease, bipolar illness, bipolar disorder, bipolar symptoms and medical condition or morbidity.

What is a Disease?

A disease is “A pathological or medical condition of mind or body,” according the English Dictionary. On the other hand an infectious disease is the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites and prions which are a known abnormal protein. If an infection does not cause a clinically impairment of normal functioning, it is not considered a disease. The more popular forms of disease which are non-infectious are cancer, heart disease and diseases caused by genes.

Clinically Impaired

When adolescents are hit with bipolar disease, one of the most obvious signs and growing evidence is that individuals have mental impairments, even during periods of symptom remission. Bipolar disease falls in the impairments category like Alzheimer dementia and schizophrenia, but they are not as severe.

Cognitive impairment

It is unclear how common cognitive impairment among adolescent bipolar diseases occurs. A big number of patients complain of neuropsychological problems (a psychological processes and overt behaviors linked to the brain). Because adolescent bipolar sufferers do not complain of cognitive or mental problems, there is a possibility that neuropsychological impairments may be more widespread than our experience suggests.

Time Frame

What is the time frame for each episode to occur in a person with bipolar disease? We are all different so there is no time frame in this ongoing illness. It can go from manic to calm to depressive to calm again. For some it can be 2 days manic than 3 to 4 weeks all good calm and normal and 5 days depressing and 1 week of calm and normal again. This bipolar disease can last from a few minutes to one whole year with some experiencing "normalcy", which is a lack of problematic symptoms. Other Individuals can experience periods of double or mixed episodes in which symptoms of depression and mania are either present, or a person may transit from one episode to the next without a symptom-free period.

Important Guidelines
Alcohol: be careful, it can inflate the bipolar disease.
2. Promiscuity:  high to very high sexual libido especially when in the manic episode.
3. Medication: Doctors usually go through trial and error to find the right combination of drugs.
4. Suicidal: For some it is the only way out of the situation. Look for injuries especially cuttings on the body.
5. Forcing: Do not force patients to do something they do not want. You may find yourself facing a tiger.
6. Clarity: be really clear with your doctor about what symptoms are bothering you for them to address and diagnose it properly.

Heart Breaking

For many mental health conditions, symptoms of bipolar can overlap. A lot of people with adolescent bipolar disease have to be amazingly strong. The darkness that sometimes wells up out of people struggling with bipolar illness can be incredible. But even more difficult is the sharing of hopes, dreams and love with someone like this and then watching the person you love melt away and replaced by a completely different stranger.

Final Words

Bipolar disease cannot be cured but it can be controlled. For those adolescents suffering from this bipolar disease it is important they and their families be surrounded by a good support network in those difficult times. More importantly, medication must be taken at times allotted so the disease does not add stress to others and also break up existing strained relationships.