SHARING BIPOLAR.com

Living with bipolar disorder is a challenge, and dating someone with this illness is a challenge as well. If your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife is a manic-depressive, here is a guide to help you and your partner build and maintain a healthy relationship.

Step 1

First, learn as much as you can about bipolar disorder. Understand its origins as an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain, and how an imbalance of these important chemicals can manifest as unstable moods.

Step 2

Learn to recognise when your boyfriend or girlfriend is in a low period. The depressive phase of bipolarity is characterised by a general loss of interest in regular activities. There can also be decreased sexual appetite, irritability, or physical fatigue.

Step 3

Be patient and understanding with your partner when he or she is going through a depressive phase in the bipolar cycle. If he or she has prescribed medication, make certain the medicine is taken on schedule. Be kind and affectionate, even if your gestures are ignored, and remember that the phase is temporary. Keep in mind that sunlight and vitamin D can alleviate symptoms of depression.

Step 4

Learn to recognise when your boyfriend of girlfriend is in a high period. The manic phase is characterised by intensity of emotions and sensory experiences. Some bipolar people feel like they can do anything they set their minds to, no matter how impractical or dangerous. Your partner may experience increased libido, impatience, sleeplessness, creativity, or forgetfulness.

Step 5

Monitor your boyfriend or girlfriend closely during a high to ensure that risk-taking behavior does not get out of control. Your partner may be much more adventurous and fun during a high, but realise that it will not last.

Step 6

Although bipolar people cannot control their moods and emotions, they can still control their actions. You should not tolerate abuse, cheating, or illicit drug use from anyone, no matter the excuse. You should neither be guilted into staying in a relationship that is damaging to you. Take care of yourself first.

Step 7

Decide if you can handle your partner’s bipolarity long term. If your partner controls his/her bipolar disorder well and puts little burden on you, then you can probably sustain in the long run.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Bipolar disorder is not a condition that is generally considered to have direct nutritional considerations, like diabetes or heart disease. However, recent research has found that omega 3 fatty acids may lessen the symptoms of bipolar disorder. While research is still ongoing, studies have found that they lessen stress and aid in focusing.

Antidepressants and Weight Gain

There are special dietary requirements for people who take many of the medications used to treat bipolar disorder. Weight gain is a potential side effect of nearly all antidepressant medications. However it is not clear whether the weight gain is a direct effect of the drug or of the state of depression. Still, weight control should be a consideration for people who are being treated with antidepressants.
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• Overview
• Breastfeeding
• Medication and conception

Overview

• All four guidelines (BAP, CANMAT, NICE, and SIGN) concur that bipolar disorder has significant implications for reproductive health issues, particularly in relation to the teratogenetic risk caused by the medications being taken for the disorder.
• The figures published in the BAP guideline about the ‘risk of major congenital malformations’ differ slightly from those published in the SIGN guideline (BAP: the risk ‘in the general population is surprisingly high at 2% to 4%’; SIGN: ‘The overall risk of major fetal malformation in any pregnancy of approximately 2% is increased two or three-fold in women taking a single anticonvulsant drug’). The CANMAT and NICE guidelines do not give these statistics.
• Most significantly, the BAP guideline details that lithium and valproate can be continued during pregnancy, although preferably in slow-release formulations. The CANMAT guideline also argues that mothers can continue to take lithium as a mood-stabilizer, instead of other anticonvulsants. SIGN concurs with both guidelines in relation to lithium, yet mentions that ‘Valproate should be avoided as a mood stabilizer in pregnancy.’ NICE gives different advice: ‘Do not routinely prescribe for pregnant women: valproate… [or] lithium’, unless the woman experiences severe mania. In this case, ECT and lithium are preferred over valproate.
• SIGN is the only guideline which mentions that: ‘Benzodiazepines should be avoided in the first trimester of pregnancy’.
• BAP and NICE agree that ECT can be ‘safely administered to pregnant women’. SIGN and CANMAT do not mention ECT.

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