Posted by banga on April 28, 2005, at 14:53:20
In reply to Re: Bipolar 1? So confused!, posted by D minor on April 28, 2005, at 14:32:38
I don't think it is very important to consider specific subtype, at least for now. Whether it is hypomania or mania in the picture, you would be best advised to take mood stabilizers and no antidepressants.
Hypomania and mania are technically only distinguished from one another by:
***severity--if it causes SIGNIFICANT impariment in occupational and social life it is mania and not hypomania; (you don't *have* to have psychosis for it to count as mania)and***duration -mania lasts at least one week, hypomania at least 4 days.
*****BUT** if it is bad enough to need hospitalization, duration criteria go out the window and it is automatically considered mania.That'š the way the current system is structured. I could imagine that more important would be to understand the pattern of ups and downs--how often you are more up, when you feel more down, or whether it is a mixed bag all the time. This may help the pdoc to decide which mood stabilizer may be best. For example, supposedly Lamictal is best for people who are for the most part depressed in their illness.
So maybe if you want to get a better grip on what is going on, start charting your moods and feelings to see the patterns and tell your pdoc about them...
Good luck!
poster:banga
thread:490930
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050428/msgs/490986.html