Bipolar Disorder Support Group

Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.

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chemical imbalance DOES kill

cb72
cb72
I don't know why the other thread evolved that far. The question indeed was:

Could the chemical imbalance ALONE kill you without taking physical actions?

It is documented that, in the age before lithium, people frequently died of mania, presumably due to exhaustion. I got this from one of Kay Jamison's books. It takes a lot of mania, but it happened in asylums relatively frequently. If it could happed 100 years ago, surely it can happen today too, to some poor unmedicated soul.

So the answer is YES.
deleted_user
deleted_user
It's important information relevant to this thread. This is not a thread about sweetness and light. It's about Bipolar and death. It needs to be spoken about because it is a reality. There are books devoted to this topic. If you don't like the thread, read something else.
deleted_user
deleted_user
i cant take this shit...i might just die...lol
deleted_user
deleted_user
Yeah...thanks for the information dancingd. I still don't really know a lot about this. But I'm learning as I go thru all you guys :D
but yeah...it might sounds stupid, but does anyone know at what age it really starts to show that your brain is slowing down?.....errr idk if I made sense...im really exhausted... but thanks
deleted_user
deleted_user
That would make me depressed Sanity!!!!
deleted_user
deleted_user
I am just beside myself right now!! I have chronic insomnia on top of so-on etc........ Been up for 4days now.. 3rd time this month!! I am PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY SOO UNHEALTHY!! Don't know if I can fight another round< It's really-really killing me!! NO JOKE!! {Joley}
deleted_user
deleted_user
My brain has always been pretty slow!! Don't know when it started. At birth??
deleted_user
deleted_user
Ahahha I meant for people with a normal brain. JK ....you don't seem slow anyway RKB. From reading yur other posts :]
deleted_user
deleted_user
well actually you can damage your brain from too little sleep...
deleted_user
deleted_user
I can ask my pdoc tomorrow. I'd kinda like to know the answer to that question too.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Uh oh. Too little sleep? I'm toast!
cb72
cb72
I think I damaged my brain from too little sleep. I basically didn't sleep at all for ~4 months due to hypo-thyroidism and post-partum mania. This continued for another year and a half, just not as badly. Now it's been almost two years of trying to get better, and I'm better, but I'm still closer to the sleep-deprived, brain-damaged state I was in, then to my pre-pregnancy scientifically apt mind.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Prior to being diagnosed in '94, I was on a long manic trail that ended with me being hospitalised for physical & mental health treatment.

Due to not eating, sleeping, drinking alcohol 24/7... I was clinically dead !

Not the recommended way to die....this was chemical imbalance alone.
deleted_user
deleted_user
The point is if you get the proper treatment you can live a long and fulfilling life!!! No need to be paranoid. This is directed to individuals who don't seek treatment or who abuse themselves.
deleted_user
deleted_user
#74

Exactly !
cb72
cb72
And it is also directed to non-BP people who would like to minimize the illness, or mental illness in general. Also to those who decide how much $$ to allot to what medical research. You may wonder how this is going to get to them, but folks, I have to say, I served on a panel last year, and I did get a chance to give a mini-lecture on mental health, and I did raise the score on the grant application by doing so, thus increasing the chance on getting funded. Just doing my duty. :)