What Are The Symptoms Of Being Bipolar?

I have decided to tell you exactly what are signs and symptoms of being bipolar, to avoid confusions in the future.

What Is It Like To Be Bipolar?

Since bipolar disorder – or manic depression as it’s also called – causes all kinds of psychotic symptoms, like mood swings, sometimes it can be hard to tell whether this is happening naturally or due to the mental illness. This is especially true in adolescents, who can be hard to follow even when they are not suffering from a mental illness.

Do you remember being really tired and worn, and in a bad mood sometime? That is for example one symptom of a bipolar disorder – that happens naturally to everyone sometimes. The problem is, that with manic depressive people these “lows” are paired up with periods of being in a very good mood, so called “highs”. They often don’t even know what is happening to them, or why.

Since the “highs” – the manic periods – can be very high, it is always suggested to administer medication to people with this mental illness under supervision, since the patients who are in depressive episodes easily get low on energy. Low enough for them to not want to get out of bed. Often these symptoms are paired with thoughts of suicide, especially in adults.

What Are Symptoms of Being Bipolar?

Symptoms of Being Bipolar – Depressive Symptoms

In depressive periods, the patient will experience the following symptoms:

- They will feel very low on energy, to the point where they don’t want to get out of bed,
- They will feel they are incapable of doing anything, and that they are worthless,
- They will feel extremely sad, anxious,

- The things they have enjoyed earlier now don’t interest them anymore,
- They have difficulty concentrating their attention on anything
- They may experience spontaneous crying that is difficult to control,
- Quite often these feelings are paired with feelings of guilt as well,
- They may be incapable of making simple decisions

- They will want to be in bed sleeping all the time, while experiencing insomnia at the same time,
- They will experience bulimic symptoms – might gain or loose a few pounds at a time, caused by changes in appetite
- They often see no other way out then to end their own life.

Manic Periods – Signs of Being Bipolar

In these periods:

- The patient will feel extremely happy and excited,
- They will experience an extreme lust for sex,
- They will feel restless in general, and talk a lot,

- Their attention will be easily distracted, and their thoughts will be racing,
- They will experience an extreme lust for sex,
- They might do things that they regret later – quitting their jobs for example
- They might beleive they are capable of things they are not to the point of being delusional

- Sometimes they will without any apparent reason switch to being hostile, or jumpy, or in a bad mood generally,
- The patient will not want to sleep so much in these days, and will experience a great increase in his/her energy,

Need For Outside Intervention

When they are in their depressive phase, the manic depressive patient will interpret any failure in anything they do as a sign of incompetence to the point of suicidal thoughts. This can be extremely dangerous. Also they can suddenly become extremely enthusiastic and in a good mood over just about nothing. These changes can happen in a matter of days – sometimes even less.

The patients rarely know what is happening to them – it is the responsibility of the ones who live around these people to help them notice something is wrong and seek the help of a doctor.