A Bipolar 2 Patient With Its Symptoms
Most of us are familiar with bipolar in general but not many know or have any idea about bipolar 2 or type 2 and its symptoms. According to the definition of (DSM-IV), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, type 2 disorders comprise of one or more highly persistent depressions accompanied by at least one hypomania or elevated mood. One of the key differences between disorder 1 and 2 is that the latter reaches only the level of hypomania but not the mania episodes. If you experience severe manic episodes you are probably in category one.
Headache
Many doctors get confused when diagnosing the disease, because its boundaries are immense. Practitioners can often be mixed up with the different symptoms they encounter. At times just dealing with one patient, symptoms can go from mania to mixed feelings with a lot of people going from type 1 to 2 without fitting into any one. When doctor misdiagnose a patient they end up either under or over medicated which can make them dopey or down.
Hypomania and its Symptoms
Shifting to a full manic state or depression cycle, hypomania is a part of bipolar disorder. The only good thing about this disorder is they do not get themselves into the kind of serious trouble that a bipolar mania do. With behaviors hovering on the edge of being unacceptable, they tend to call attention to themselves a lot. People with the symptoms can be highly humorous, entertaining and very pleasant people to be with, but they can quickly be hostile and irritating. Feeling fatigued or distressed is the hallmark of staying too long with a person with hypomania symptoms.
Rating yourself using a Chart
Try and rate yourself every chance you get with a mood chart say from 10 to 1, 10 is the high of the highest (mania) and one being lowest of low (depression). The number 5 is when you’re feeling normal and not experiencing either depression or mania. Only rate yourself at least once a day when your mind is clear and also important to take note of what medication you took and at what time of the day because like most bipolar patients it can be hard to remember. Rating your mood swings 2 to 3 times a day can be ideal for the doctors to have an idea of where your mood is swinging. Always look for past behaviors compared to the ones you’re going through. Keep up your mood chart for a while say 4 to 5 days and the result can be given to your doctor to determine the best medication for you.
Other Information
Read up from pamphlets available at your local mental health centers if you want to know more about what symptoms you are going through. The internet also has a lot of information on bipolar, its treatments and online support.