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.
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.
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.
Could this kill us? I doubt it.
We are more likely to die from liver failure due to all the meds it has to filter over our lifetimes.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-05/uoc--ssb050603.php
If you are medicated, keep regular appointments with pdoc and therapist you will be better off if not medicated from what I read.
love
Harold Shipman