User:Breighlee.t/Treatment of bipolar disorder


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Bipolar Disorder is a serious and debilitating mental health disorder. It causes patients to experience extreme highs and lows, including mania and major depression. Bipolar disorder may have a "crazy" stigma surrounding it, but it is more than just being crazy, it physically alters your brain. It has been proven that patients with bipolar disorder have have less total brain volume, grey and white matter, and more cerebral spinal fluid.

The emphasis of the treatment of bipolar disorder is on effective management of the long-term course of the illness, which can involve treatment of emergent symptoms. Treatment methods include pharmacological and psychological techniques.

Sufficient sleep[edit]
If sleeping is disturbed, the symptoms can occur. Sleep disruption may actually exacerbate the mental illness state. Those who do not get enough sleep at night, sleep late and wake up late, or go to sleep with some disturbance (e.g. music or charging devices) have a greater chance of having the symptoms and, in addition, depression. It is highly advised to not sleep too late and to get enough high quality sleep.

Omega-3 fatty acids[edit]
Omega-3 fatty acids may also be used as a treatment for bipolar disorder, particularly as a supplement to medication. An initial clinical trial by Stoll et al. produced positive results. However, since 1999, attempts to confirm this finding of beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids in several larger double-blind clinical trials have produced inconclusive results. It was hypothesized that the therapeutic ingredient in omega-3 fatty acid preparations is eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and that supplements should be high in this compound to be beneficial. A 2008 Cochrane systematic review found limited evidence to support the use of Omega-3 fatty acids to improve depression but not mania as an adjunct treatment for bipolar disorder.

Omega-3 fatty acids may be found in fish, fish oils, algae, and to a lesser degree in other foods such as flaxseed, flaxseed oil and walnuts. Although the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids remain debated, they are readily available at drugstores and supermarkets, relatively inexpensive, and have few known side effects. (All of these oils, however, have the capacity to exacerbate GERD—food sources may be a good alternative in such cases.)