I am sure a fair few of you who read this know a bit about Bipolar...You might even know people who live with it daily...I must admit that until it touched my life I never really knew alot about it...For those of you who don't Bipolar disorder is charactorised by swings of depression, mania and times where there is mixed symptoms...My cousin was diagnosed when she was in her 20s but all I thought it meant was that she was a bit crazy (and I am ashamed to admit that thought) She was always eccentric and was either  happy, high and excited or  tired and down and having thoughts of how terrible her life was...

Now I live with this every day...The rollercoaster ride that it has my eldest child on is one of highs and lows that is like no other experience I have had in my life...Bipolar in teens is so different to bipolar in adults... Kellzacar sent me this article and I wanted to share my thoughts and some of the information in it so you can maybe understand the actual disorder a little better...Maybe even look at a teenager whom you think that is too much for your child to have as a friend and think twice...Not be so judgemental...(I am not saying everyone is like this but I do know how easy it is to judge I too have done it)

Teenage years are so hard...You remember them don't you?...The rejection we felt when a boy/girl dumped us and how we thought we were going to die from the pain?...The pain we felt when we didn't fit into the image that other kids did?...The feeling of falling in love with our first boyfriend/girlfriend and how we thought the love would last forever?...For some of us losing our virginity and thinking that he/she was the one we would be with forever?...I can see you are all smiling now over those thoughts so let me tell you a bit about how life is in this house for my teenage son...First try to imagine those feelings 100 times more intense...

Bipolar in teens

Bipolar disorder is an illness...Its signs usually begin to show up in the teenage years but most of the research and studies that have been done on this illness are done in adults...Recently there has been some reseach done on this in teenagers...To me and others who have been touched in some way by this disorder this is probably the most sensible and wonderful thing that could have  been done...

Teens that have bipolar get longer lasting and faster changing symptoms than adults with it...It is estimated that 1 in 100 children have this disorder...There are three different types of bipolar which I will now name and explain to you... Bipolar is often known as manic depressive illness...Here are the three sub types of this disorder for the study I have linked to this article...
Bipolar 1 This one is full blown mania and major depression
Bipolar 2 This one has less severe bouts of mania(hypomania) and major depression...
Then there is Bipolar NOS that is defined as having symptoms consisitent with elated or irratable moods that affect the daily life of the person..plus two or three other symptoms like changes in sleep and appetite, Difficulty with concentration and/or inapprpriate social behaviour...

My son has bouts along with alot of people on medication for a mental illness of saying I do not need this medication so he will go off it and live on the high that can last for a short time or even up to a week with him...It is not until he hits rock bottom that he decides that the medication needs to be taken again...When he hits rock bottom he is so depressed that he can try to hurt himself or just lie in bed for days...the medication does not fix him but does make his highs and lows less intense...

This research that has been done has showed that in an adult bipolar swings can go for months and sometimes years where as with teens they found that the time between the swings can be just weeks or days....

Please if this interests you read the article I have provided below...It makes for a very interesting read...

I just wanted to share this article with others and a bit of input from my own personal experiences with it...I fear everyday that my son will not beat this disorder and one day he may just be so low that he will do the unthinkable...Or that on one of his highs his risk taking behaviour will be too risky and again he will hurt himself...

These are jsut my thoughts and feelings...
Have a great day
Cheers
Angie