Blog – SharingBipolar

Bipolar Patients could be on the wrong drugs!

Admin April 9, 2019 News 0

A quarter of patients with bipolar disorder are being prescribed drugs which could make their symptoms worse, a new study has claimed. Research led by Glasgow University has found many bipolar patients are on a combination of medication which is out of line with clinical guidelines. The study shows a decline in the first recommended treatment for people with the mental health condition. Experts have described the findings as a “concern”. Lithium prescribed on its own is the recommended first treatment for bipolar disorder. But the study of more than 23,000 patients across Scotland ... »

Mental health trust pays damages over man’s death

Admin October 3, 2017 News 0

A mental health trust has paid out damages over the case of a man with bipolar disorder and a history of lighting fires who was trapped in a blaze at his cluttered tower block flat. Bob Crane, 61, a well-known character in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol, had been cooking on open fires at his seventh-floor council flat for more than a year because his electricity had been cut off. Concerns were repeatedly raised that Crane was putting himself and his neighbours at risk, but he died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning after his cooking fire got out of control. Crane’s son, Alex, ... »

Mood Stabilisers – An Effective Option for Older Adults

Admin October 3, 2017 Medication, News, Research 0

Two standard medications for bipolar disorder were effective in controlling symptoms at doses tailored to older people in a clinical trial of treatment in adults over age 60. The findings are an important step towards filling an existing gap in evidence-based guidance for treatment of bipolar disorder in older adults. People with bipolar disorder experience marked shifts in mood and energy; manic episodes are a hallmark of the illness. Mania is associated with severe disability and can be life-threatening. The disorder affects an estimated 2.6 percent of Americans, including older adults. Whil... »

A Short History of Bipolar

Admin August 14, 2012 General 0

The terms used for the bipolar extremes, ‘melancholy’ (depression) and ‘mania’ both have their origins in Ancient Greek. ‘Melancholy’ derives from melas ‘black’ and chole ‘bile’, because Hippocrates thought that depression resulted from an excess of black bile. ‘Mania’ is related to menos ‘spirit, force, passion’; mainesthai ‘to rage, go mad’; and mantis ‘seer’, and ultimately derives from the Indo-European root men- ‘mind’ to which, interestingly, ‘man’ is also sometimes connected. (‘Depression’, the clinical term for melancholy, is much more recent in origin and derives from the Latin deprim... »

Body clock may hold key for BD treatment

Admin May 29, 2012 News, Research 0

Scientists have gained insight into why lithium salts are effective at treating bipolar disorder in what could lead to more targeted therapies with fewer side-effects. Bipolar disorder is characterised by alternating states of elevated mood, or mania, and depression. It affects between 1 and 3 per cent of the general population. The extreme ‘mood swings’ in bipolar disorder have been strongly associated with disruptions in circadian rhythms – the 24-hourly rhythms controlled by our body clocks that govern our day and night activity. For the last 60 years, lithium salt (lithium chlo... »