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Posts Tagged ‘depression’

Even doctors have a hard time diagnosing bipolar disorder. What distinguishes bipolar disorder from unipolar depression is that the affected person experiences states of both mania and depression.

Here are a few other reasons why manic depression is so difficult to diagnose:

1. Bipolar disorder expresses itself along a wide continuum, with some people experiencing a little mania, while others experience quite a bit.

2. Plus, when manic depression shows up early in life, the first few episodes are much more likely to be depression, rather than mania, which usually shows up later in life. Therefore, the patient will be diagnosed as having unipolar depression rather than bipolar depression.

Because a bipolar diagnosis requires a manic or hypomanic episode, many patients are initially diagnosed and treated as having major depression.

The severity of the mania determines how the disorder is classified. Mania is generally characterized by a distinct period of an elevated mood, which can take the form of euphoria. Many people report needing very little sleep while going through a manic episode, and some can go for days without sleeping, while at the same time experiencing a lot more energy.

Hypomania is generally a mild to moderate level of mania, characterized by optimism, elevated speech and activity, and decreased need for sleep. While mania can interfere with the normal living of life, hypomania generally does not.

A person diagnosed with manic depression would usually have at least three of the following seven symptoms.

1. An unrealistically high sense of self esteem, along with grandiose thoughts and feelings

2. Reduced need for sleep

3. Extreme talkativeness

4. Extremely rapid flight of thoughts; feeling the mind is racing

5. Inability to concentrate; easily distracted

6. Dramatic increase in social or work-oriented activities

7. Poor judgment, as manifested by uncontrollable spending sprees, increased sexual indiscretion, and misguided financial decisions.

The classic tool for working with manic depression symptoms, lithium has been a lifesaver for many who suffer from manic depression. Often times, lithium is combined with various antidepressants such as Paxil or Zoloft. Lithium is not tolerated in a good percentage of affected individuals.

Lithium increases brain levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, and this helps relieve manic depression symptoms. Valproic acid and Lamictal are two other mood stabilizing medications used to relieve manic depression symptoms.

Antipsychotic medications are also used to help alleviate manic depression symptoms, in cases where lithium and other mood stabilizing drugs are not enough.

Zyprexa, an antipsychotic medicine, is approved by the FDA for schizophrenia, acute mixed or manic episodes of bipolar disorder, and maintenance treatment in bipolar disorder.

Zyprexa can cause extremely unpleasant side effects such as diabetes, severe anxiety, tardive dyskinesia, (where your muscles spasm uncontrollably - sometimes irreversibly) and excessive weight gain. Loss of libido is another common side effect from taking Zyprexa.

Various other antipsychotic medicines are also used for bipolar, such as Abilify, Risperdal, Seroquel, and Geodon.

Symbyax is classified as an antidepressant, but it’s actually a combination of Prozac and Zyprexa. Like all other drugs, especially those used to treat mood disorders, Symbyax comes with potentially serious side effects, such as fatigue, loss of libido, and weight gain.

5-Hydroxytryptophan (5_HTP) is an alternative to prescription antidepressants that has been shown in scientific studies to be as effective without the debilitating side effects so common with depression medications. 5-HTP can be safely combined with lithium to reduce manic depression symptoms.

Hair samples of manic patients contain elevated levels of the heavy metal vanadium. Upon recovery, the vanadium levels fall into the normal range.

Those with unipolar depression have normal vanadium levels in their hair samples, but elevated levels in their blood. Their levels also return to normal upon recovery.

Vanadium appears to play a major role in determining mood. One double-blind crossover study produced significant clinical improvement in manic depression symptoms by reducing vanadium levels. Their secret? They achieved this startling result by providing a common food supplement to the patients that changed the chemical structure of vanadate to the less harmful vanadyl.

To find out how they did it, go to this site on manic depression symptoms.

An anxiety or panic attack is one of the most terrible conditions a person can ever go through. These can be very devastating at times and are very unsettling to your course of activities. People who go through anxiety attacks get intense, inexplicable fear that something dreadful is about to transpire. They have pain in the chest area and many times have trouble breathing. In many cases, anxiety attacks can become so rigorous that the sufferer will often choose not to go out lest he or she gets an attack while far from home. It is essential to deal with anxiety attacks the soonest, since looking right through them can just make matters worse.

Relaxation is fundamental to handling anxiety attacks. Most attacks arise from avoidable worries or concerns, so an individual should learn to sort these out so they don’t take a hold of the emotions. Try holding up your retorts to anxious situations by pausing to relax and breathe deeply. Be conscious that breathing becomes shallow when an individual is undergoing anxiety, and this may indicate the beginning of an attack. When you are conscious of this, you can control your mind to switch straight away to relaxation skills and start breathing more slowly and deeply. You will be astonished at how deep breathing strategies can divert your mind far from anxious thoughts.

Certain settings can likewise be a trigger factor for anxiety and panic attacks. It could be anywhere but usually it is a place that makes you feel uncomfortable, such as large crowds at shopping malls or amusement parks. Staying away from any location that you know can set off an an attack is vital until you get your emotions under your command.

Food substances such as sugar and caffeine can also provoke anxiety attacks, so if you are vulnerable to having one, keep your intake at decreased levels. Foods that heighten your blood sugar and adrenaline can hasten your heart rate and initiate an attack. Know which types of food you consume cause feelings of anxiety and pass up on them. You will experience the great difference when you do.

More than anything else, dedicate exclusive time to provide for your wants. Most often, anxiety attacks are a consequence of some unresolved needs. You can do this by doing something you really love, such as a much loved hobby that relaxes you and gives you fun. Devote uninterrupted time for this hobby often. If you can make it, do it quite regularly. Take long strolls or discover some other activity that you really like doing to make you divert your mind from the attacks. At the same time, work your way to controlling what triggers your anxious episodes and face them squarely. Study more about anxiety and learn that there are natural techniques for getting these under your control.

Learn how to dominate your feelings and it will make a huge difference on how you feel. You need not put yourself under the bondage of anxiety and panic attacks and let them control how you live your life. On the contrary, you can actually control them. The the linden method is among the natural methods you can start on to say farewell to anxiety and panic attacks for life!

Everybody feels depressed infrequently, but there are those that cope with depression on a daily basis. It is a disorder it’s a very complex issue, as it has a few factors. While some incorrectly think it is a medical problem, mental, biological, genetic, and social elements perform a part in depression too. Because of that, Anti Depression medication is only a part of what is needed to effectively handle the disorder. In most cases, guidance and support are also obligatory. Understanding this is the first part in getting relief from the continuous struggle that you might be dealing with.

Even though it is essential to realize that support and guidance play a massive role in handling and overcoming depression, it is also good to realise how an Anti Depression medication works. Essentially, they work by helping revive balance to chemicals in the brain that could be leading to the difficulty. Tricyclic antidepressents affect serotonin and norepinephrine levels of the brain and are engineered to target brain cells as opposed to transmitters. They generally have more serious side effects, so they are used when more modern options like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors don’t work.

SSRIs are built to increase the brain’s serotonin levels and preserve norepinephrine transmitters. There are not as many side-effects as the older style Anti Depression medication options, so they are generally prescribed first. It’s really important to consider the indisputable fact that complications might outweigh the benefits of the medications too. Common side-effects are things like dizzy spells, hysteria, constipation, nausea, headaches, sweating, restlessness, dry mouth, gut rot, or tremors. In numerous cases, people will not experience the side-effects and will have superb results with the medication they are taking. In some cases, the side effects will be sufficiently bad to to deserve stopping use of the drug.

It is important to be educated about the Anti Depression Medication options because it will help you to appreciate that they’re not miracle tablets that may right away cause you to feel better. Even the types that are efficient might take 2 weeks to start kicking in. They a part of the solution for dealing with depression, and if you take them while getting the support you need, you can beat it.

Learn More About Depression Treatment Medications.