Bipolar Support Group

I know I read about this when I was first diagnosed but as I am reading about people they are mentioning whether they are bipolar 1 or BP 2. I don't know if my pdoc has told me? What is the difference and is it important, in relation to your treatment?

MelissaA

Good morning Melissa.

The major difference between bipolar I and bipolar II are as follows:

bipolar I: "is mainly defined by manic or mixed episodes that last at least seven days, or by manic symptoms that are so severe that the person needs immediate hospital care. Usually, the person also has depressive episodes, typically lasting at least two weeks. The symptoms of mania or depression must be a major change from the person's normal behavior."

bipolar II: "is defined by a pattern of depressive episodes shifting back and forth with hypomanic episodes, but no full-blown manic or mixed episodes."

Here's the link I used from NIMH:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar- disorder/complete-index.shtml[url]

To answer your question of "...and is it important, in relation to your treatment?" - for me, if gives me an idea of what I am dealing with. For me, it is also important to identify the symptoms so that the symptoms can be treated. Bipolar I or II is just a 'label', if you will. Treatment symptomology is more important and achieving functional stability.

I hope this helps.

Post edited by: hypnagogic, at: 04/24/2012 06:54 AM

I like the version of the descriptions provided by hypnogocic but wanted to mention that some pdocs do recognize mixed episodes as part of bipolar 2 (just not with a full blown manic portion). When I was first hospitalized for bipolar and alcohol addiction they labeled me as bipolar 2 despite clearly indicating mixed manic in descriptions. This is all despite what the DSM-IV says.

After my second hospitalization I was put in the acute care psych unit as opposed to the dual diagnosis unit and by that time my elevated mood episodes had worsened to such a degree that they finally assigned the bipolar 1 diagnosis. Differences included lack of coherent thinking, severe outburst of an extreme kind (necessitating either 911 to be called and, at the hospital, injections to sedate me), and psychosis. A couple of times at the hospital I had a staff member shadowing me for part of the day.

I have had brief full blown manic blips with hallucinations and delusions that didn't lead to the hospital. Pdoc believed me when I reported these, particularly once when I called and left a message for him during a particularly frightening paranoid episode. When he called back a few hours later I was elated again (and he heard it) and he gave me an appointment later that evening. But this was only for brief blips. The longer term full blown mania/mixed mania resulted in about 6 of my 10 hospitalizations.

Hows this for an analogy, please correct me if I'm wrong. if hypomania were a person, they would be driving down the freeway doing 100mph without a seat belt and texting. If mania were a person, they would be on the rooftop hood surfing doing 100mph down a dirt road and singing at the top of their lungs. As for the treatment, when my pdoc switched me from 2 to 1 he kept me on the same meds. I'd gone about 6 months unmedicated.

I think there are a lot of stable people out there speeding on the freeway while texting, but I do see your point.