Johnny's Demise
Johnny has been pretty wide awake for the last few months. You can't seem to stop his extremely chipper mood. For a teenager headed off to college, he seems pretty involved with four different clubs, three sports teams and five volunteer events each month. "I can handle it all!" he says. And maybe it is a good thing, compared to five months ago when you could hardly get Johnny to eat a meal with the family, get out of bed or even go to school. Such is the life of a bipolar sufferer.
Bipolar Defined
Bipolar disorder, as defined in the "Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV-TR," is a mood disorder that involves both manic and major depressive mood swings. These states don't normally cycle on a daily basis. Instead, people with bipolar disorder that are untreated with medication will go for months at a time in one of the two major moods, with a tough transitioning period from the ups to the downs.
When a bipolar person is in the manic mood, he will have a lot of energy and may want to get involved in several activities, like the fictional Johnny in the introduction. If the condition is accompanied with antisocial behavior, you could soon find this person doing dangerous and sometimes criminal activities. For family members, either situation may be tough to deal with. A family member may be happy to see a relative happy and wide awake, but they could also find themselves trying to keep pace with a bipolar sufferer in the manic state.
Mood Swings and Family Dangers
The manic mood also does not always means a person is happy. In fact, the myth about depressed people that are suicidal is that they are likely to kill themselves in low moods. The truth is that people in the low phase don't have the energy to do it, unlike bipolar sufferers in manic moods. This could be another worry that families may have with bipolar members, should a major family event happen like job loss or loss of home.
Another issue is trying to convince the bipolar member to stay on medications. Medications for bipolar sufferers are notorious for having bad side effects. Although medications like Lithium and Topamax can effectively control the manic and depressive mood swings, bipolar sufferers have often complained about tremors, diarrhea or detachment.
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