Understanding Bipolar and the Brain
I hear a lot of casual conversations where somebody wrongly uses the word "bipolar" to describe their friend or partner with mood swings. Mood swings are not the same as bipolar.
Bipolar Disorder is a mental health condition characterized by 2 extreme moods. Mania and depression.
During mania, parts of the brain that don’t typically talk to each other end up connecting. New innovative ideas are born. Creative energy is booming. It feels great. It lasts anywhere from days to weeks to months.
Mania is fascinating. Typically during this manic state, people feel really freaking good. They have an increased level of energy, happiness, and creativity. A ton of famous artists have bipolar disorder. Beethoven, Van Gogh, Frank Sinatra, Kurt Cobain, and Carrie Fisher just to name a few.
The downside is that sometimes the manic state keeps going up up up until it spirals out of control. The increase in energy leads to a lack of sleep. Eventually blackouts occur. For obvious reasons this is dangerous.
With mania, hospitals pump the patient full of potent antipsychotic medications. This will continue until the patient is brought back down to a more sedated place.
The flip side to bipolar, is the depressed state. After coming out of a manic state, people are more depressed. Think about it. If you had been sleeping two hours nightly for a few weeks, you’d be pretty tired too when you came back down. Essentially, their bodies are demanding that they catch up on all the sleep that they lost during the mania.
Depression is a drag. Less energy. Increased sleep. Loss of that creative jolt. Depression usually sucks. It's worse with most prescription antipsychotics.
So where does naturopathic medicine fit in? Well there's lot of things you can do to support your brain in both the manic and depressed states. Both can be fine tuned. And sometimes the manic state can be controlled to allow creativity without the spiraling out of control.
Typically patients come to me wanting to reduce or eliminate their medications. This can be done with a ton of brain support. And a gentle stimulus to heal the brain using natural medicines. What is important to me as a doctor is the individual experience for each patient in their different moods. Some in mania become sexually aroused. Some spend a lot of money. Some get very spiritual. These differences are all important for finding the right natural medicine. The goal is to find an exact match in the natural world.
Natural medicines can be incredibly quick and effective, but also a lot gentler than the potent antipsychotics typically used when someone is 5150’d. Antipsychotics certainly have their place in our pharmacopoeia, but they don’t work for every single person all of the time.
Beyond natural medicines, lifestyle choices are important. Stress is a huge risk factor for triggering mania. Managing stress is huge.
Sometimes, the spring season is a risk factor. The increased daylight hours mean your brain is producing less of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. Spring is a bad time to take a trip to Vegas. Reduced melatonin in your brain, mixed with the flashing lights of the casino make it impossible to know what time of day it is. It’s a huge risk. Now, if you absolutely have to go to Vegas for your brother’s bachelor party, then make sure you have all the right medicines at your disposal. And under no circumstances is consuming alcohol and drugs a good choice in Vegas.
The beauty of natural medicine is its individuality. There is no one-size-fits-all in medicine. People diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder have things in common. But they also have things that separate them from each other. The goal is to fine tune.
Perhaps when manic there is increased creativity, but pharmaceuticals limit your creative passion. Perhaps when depressed you get really irritable. Pharmaceutical antipsychotics don’t pick and choose the areas of the brain that they target. They are more a blunt instrument that overarchingly depresses the brain. The genius of natural medicine is its targeted approach.
