Liv, has been living with bipolar disorder for more than 10 years and along the way, has learned about himself as much as about the disease. Here are some of the things she learned about the disease:
#1
Bipolar disorder is more than just "mood swings." For me, it is when all your emotions are added, are superfluous. When you are sad, you meditate on suicide, and when you are happy, you are in ecstasy. I can often experience anger for the smallest of things: A plate breaks and I feel worthless.
#2
Bipolar disorder can often be inherited genetically. However, in some cases it can be caused by a traumatic event in a person's life. For me, it was none of the cases. As far as I know, there is no root of bipolar disorder in my family and I did not have a traumatic event in my life that caused it. It was the New Year I experienced my first depressive episode. It lasted two weeks. Doctors diagnosed me years later that I had bipolar disorder and could not determine where it came from, or if it was genetic.
#3
Those with bipolar disorder are more likely to suffer from other illnesses. As someone who lives with bipolar disorder, I also face other problems like anxiety and stress. In addition to these, there are also physical symptoms like severe migraine, which causes me temporary pain and blurred vision.
#4
There are many types of bipolar disorder. I was diagnosed with three types of bipolar disorder. The first is cyclothymia, also known as bipolar light. People who have this disorder have mood swings, but not very severe. This does not mean that they do not fight less than other sick people. People sometimes think that the less you show signs, the less problematic it is, but this is not always the case.
The second is bipolar type 2, the one I was officially diagnosed with when I was 20 years old. We have more depressive episodes.
The third is bipolar type 1, where people usually suffer from mania, which in this case is defined as "hypomania". People with this type of bipolarity may have "mixed" episodes, where they experience mania and depression at the same time.
Source: Bipolar UK
