The Correlation Between Bipolar Symptoms and Medication

March 6th, 2009 Posted in Anxiety and Depression

Someone who has bipolar can experience either a good feeling or an extremely bad mood. This cycle can last from anything between days to months. It can be so intense that it will interfere with the person’s disposition or ability to function. This will explain the correlation between bipolar symptoms and bipolar medication.

With almost all forms of diseases, medication alone is not enough to effectively control the symptoms of bipolar. Many people think that bipolar medications are the keys to treating the disorder. This however is not true. Medications only find a relief to the symptoms of the disorder. They minimize the disruptions caused to the sufferer’s daily activities and normal functioning. Bipolar is a serious health problem that needs more than medications to cure it.

Signs and Symptoms

There are usually four classifications to bipolar symptoms. The feeling of heightened levels of energy, creativity and euphoria comes about in the mania or manic phase. The less severe form of mania is hypomania. Here, patients experience a state of feeling euphoric, energetic and productive without losing touch with reality. The next phase, bipolar depression, is categorized by irritability, guilt, unpredictable mood swings and restlessness. The last is mixed episodes. It features symptoms of all three. The problem with this is that it also poses a high risk of suicide.

The symptoms of bipolar disorder often come in unpredictable pattern and vary from person to person. While these can occur over a certain period of time or even in a lifetime, there would be a need for bipolar medications to manage the disease and keep it from affecting the patient’s normal functioning.

Popular Medications Available for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a form of chemical imbalance in the brain. To manage its symptoms would mean establishing equilibrium with the chemical synthesis that occurs in the brain. Here are a few of the bipolar medications and symptoms.

Tricyclics, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and lithium are commonly used anti-depressants used to manage depressive bipolar symptoms. However, lithium is more widely used because of its ability to even out mood swings and prevent manic attacks and flare-ups.

To stabilize moods, medication and anticonvulsants are also used. People who do not respond to lithium usually go through this course of action.

Antipsychotic medications are also used early to treat and mange mania. This is also used when other medication do not work out.

Other medications include benzodiazepines and calcium channel blockers.

Medications do not cure

Medication for bipolar disorder is one of the available psycho therapeutic medications that help control the symptoms of bipolar medication. It is used to compensate and correct the malfunction in the body caused by the disease. However, they do not actually treat bipolar but rather help ensure that the patients adjust and benefit from his chosen methods of psychotherapy. To lead patients on the road towards recovery, thoroughly monitor bipolar symptoms and medication intake.