Manic Depression

[FaithHopeTrust]

Recently my mother told me the truth behind her mothers death. Ever since I was little she had told me that She was sick and died. Well sick is true; she was.

 

It turned out that my grandmother was a manic depressive and shot herself a month before I was born. Ever since my mom told me I have wondered if it could be hereditary. I'm really scared that it could be and that I could possibly be. If anyone knows or has information could you help me?

[DN]

link removed

 

Check out this website, it may help you.

 

It says that it can run in families - so if you ever feel any of the symptoms described you may be well advised to seek early help from a specialist in the field.

[imagi]

I didn't look at the website.. but I'm a really big nerd when it comes to knowing random things about psychological disorders.

 

There's a hereditary component to bipolar disorder, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have it. People who are related to people with bipolar also have a high chance of 'having' unipolar depression (without the mania). It's just as strong a link between bipolar and depression as it is between bipolar and bipolar.

 

But don't presume that means you'll have bipolar disorder or even depression. It increases your chances, but doesn't necessarily predict it.

[Napoleon Bonaparte]

I am manic depressive. I am of the most severe forms -- 1. Have been hospitialized 5 times for it and other situational depressions.

My grandmother was and had to be institutionalized quite often (my grandad always said he regretted marrying her after she was dead but he was pretty irritable about everyone in general)

My dad was bipolar, a psychiatrist who killed himself.

There are five types. 1-2 most severe. The rest are milder and most people probably never realize they ever have them.

If two manic depressives mate there is a 50/50 chance each individual offspring will suffer from some form of it.

For each couple where there is one normal partner and one bipolar the chance is only 15%.

Most people begin to really experience the full effects of it in their early twenties.

Side effects-- well let's just say if you have the depression part you'll know cuz it'll be like hell you never experienced. The manic side is often compared to a euphoria which several doctors told me is a little like a cocaine high -- symptons include narcacissm, invincibility, frequent spending, irritability, hyper active, paranoia, rage, difficulty with emotional attachments, and you can go with very little sleep during certain parts of the month.

Manic depressives generally when untreated have trouble in relationships of course cuz they are difficult for people who haven't been there to understand. They also have very high suicide rates.

There is a lot of mystery behind it and its specific definitions but basically it is caused by low serotonin followed by squirts of high serotonin and offset fellow neurotransmitters dopamine and endorepherine (a sort of adreniline). Read Kay Redfield Jamison's books, any of em, if you want a real idea.

Finally, creative and unusual people have been in high numbers manic depressive.

Famous manic depressives include: Jim Carey, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ernest Hemmingway, Edgar Allen Poe, Mike Tyson, Abraham Lincoln (and probably his wife) possibly Shakespeare (if he was anything like Hamlet who has a pecuilar degree of manic depressive symptoms) and I have long suspected: Lenny Bruce and (as have many professionals i later read) Nietszche and Adolph Hitler of also being manic depressive.

Any more questions?

[playfull06]

Napolean Bonaparte:

If I do think I may have it at some point the syptoms wouldn't really be recongizable until my twenties? The only person I know in my family to have manic depression was my grandmother so is there a greater chance of me having it or less?

[Napoleon Bonaparte]

Play

It often manifests itself most strongly after early twenties but you should have felt 'something' by now. If you don't feel THAT bad then you probably don't have it. How often have you felt suicidal ideation? Manic?

As long as both your parents didn't have it it is most likely you don't and if you aren't feeling any of those things that strongly you probably don't.

[playfull06]

I'm not sure if I really have felt all that suicidal or manic but I just have bad mood swings like one minute i can be happy go lucky, bouncing off the walls and the next i can just be totally upset and out of it...

[Napoleon Bonaparte]

Could be hormones. Otherwise it's mild. What do you mean by upset?

If you really want to know you should go get diagnoised. I can often tell when I get to know people well better than some doctors but I am not a physician and I can't actually see and hear you and I don't know you. Go check with a shrink.

[playfull06]

by upset I mean really sad or angry.. I just space out sometimes and dont really know what im doing. I'll think about getting checked on....

[Napoleon Bonaparte]

Play don't think about getting it checked out. I made that mistake and never got checked out when I was your age and it nearly killed me and cost me a lot of fun oppurtunities when I was in my late teens. Don't play with this. It is dangerous.