What is bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder includes three conditions — bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymic disorder — that each cause changes in your mood and energy levels.
This brain disorder was once called manic-depressive disorder, a name that reflects mood swings from low-energy depression to high-energy mania. However, your symptom severity differs within the three bipolar disorders.
Bipolar I disorder has more extreme mood swings between major depression and mania, and it’s often severe enough to require hospitalization. By comparison, bipolar II disorder is defined by at least one major depressive episode and at least one hypomanic episode.
Hypomanic episodes have the same symptoms as full-blown mania, but they’re less severe and seldom disrupt daily life.
Cyclothymic disorder involves frequently occurring mood swings. However, your symptoms are less severe than either bipolar I or II.
What symptoms develop during mania?
During a manic episode, you experience symptoms such as:
- High activity level
- Difficulty sleeping
- Racing thoughts
- Rapid speech
- Irritability
Bipolar mania often leads people to engage in risky behaviors such as drug or alcohol abuse and spending too much money.
What symptoms develop during bipolar depression?
Bipolar depression causes the same symptoms as major depressive disorder, including:
- Feeling sad and hopeless
- Losing interest in activities you typically enjoy
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Eating too much or too little
- Difficulty concentrating
- Thinking about suicide
Many patients with bipolar disorder experience depression before their first episode of mania or hypomania.
How is bipolar disorder treated?
Bipolar disorder is a serious and recurrent condition that requires ongoing treatment with a combination of medications and psychotherapy.
The first line of treatment consists of mood stabilizing medications. Your doctor may also prescribe antidepressants. However, antidepressants may not help everyone with bipolar depression.
How does ketamine treat bipolar depression?
Ketamine is a safe and effective treatment for depression, including bipolar depression. When the team at Austin Ketamine Clinic administers ketamine using an intravenous infusion, the medication restores normal levels of a brain chemical called glutamate that regulates mood.
Most patients respond quickly to ketamine infusion therapy, seeing results in 2-3 weeks, with a series of six treatments.
After your initial series of six infusions, you may need a booster infusion every 4-6 weeks to maintain your results. After completion of the initial series, most patients are prescribed a regiment of ketamine to help maintain progress between treatments to be utilized at home. In addition, between appointments, your provider stays in touch with you and uses software to monitor your mental health. The team at Austin Ketamine Clinic is there for the long run, staying in touch with you to monitor your mental health and ready to offer support if your symptoms return.
If you struggle with bipolar depression, call Austin Ketamine Clinic or schedule a complimentary consultation online.
