Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 1112694

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Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 7:26:25

If clues from genetic studies are correct, bipolar and unipolar disorders are genetically distinct. If this is the case, it might be possible (although terrible) to have both bipolar AND unipolar disorder. This could be the case if one parent had bipolar and the other had unipolar. Now, you might say that the two disorders combine to simply create 'bipolar', but they may not. For example, the machinery for bipolar depression might be more related to ion channels and unipolar related to monoamines (or other linked unipolar mechanisms. For example, episodes might present as mixed states, or particularly severe / resistant depression requiring treatment with mood stabilizers and antidepressants.

Linkadge

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder? » linkadge

Posted by undopaminergic on November 29, 2020, at 9:56:45

In reply to Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 7:26:25

> If clues from genetic studies are correct, bipolar and unipolar disorders are genetically distinct. If this is the case, it might be possible (although terrible) to have both bipolar AND unipolar disorder. This could be the case if one parent had bipolar and the other had unipolar. Now, you might say that the two disorders combine to simply create 'bipolar', but they may not. For example, the machinery for bipolar depression might be more related to ion channels and unipolar related to monoamines (or other linked unipolar mechanisms. For example, episodes might present as mixed states, or particularly severe / resistant depression requiring treatment with mood stabilizers and antidepressants.
>
> Linkadge
>

Well, my depression seemed entirely unipolar all the way from 1999 to 2007. Then a few times, mania manifested. Does that mean I have both, or does it mean unipolar transitioned into bipolar?

I haven't been manic for years. Does that mean I'm no longer bipolar?

-undopaminergic

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder? » undopaminergic

Posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 12:57:14

In reply to Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder? » linkadge, posted by undopaminergic on November 29, 2020, at 9:56:45

Hey,

I think it would be very hard to detect somebody that had both bipolar and unipolar. However, their disorder would likely be somewhat harder to treat (as you would be simultaneously trying to target bipolar and unipolar pathways).

Linkadge

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by Lamdage22 on November 29, 2020, at 13:41:21

In reply to Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder? » undopaminergic, posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 12:57:14

I feel kind of in between the two. Been hypomanic mostly on Nardil, but also on Venlafaxine+Wellbutrin. Never without antidepressants though. The diagnostic manual is not perfect, it is made by humans.

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by Christ_empowered on November 29, 2020, at 15:22:30

In reply to Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by Lamdage22 on November 29, 2020, at 13:41:21

my wild guess would be that such people would fall into depression-heavy bipolar I or II of some sort...

and their treatment would probably (guessing, obviously) focus on preventing (hypo)mania (surprisingly...a lot easier than treating depression, it seems) while not exacerbating the tendencies towards depression, and also...

well, since unipolar and bipolar depressive states, if they are in fact brain diseases, would operate by different mechanisms...

i would think (assume?) the treatment for the low end would need regular readjustment.

for example: if such a person had a diagnosis of Bipolar I, most bad depressive states...

then some low ends might respond to, say, wellbutrin. some low ends might involve more agitation and anxiety, so then the shift would be towards an ssri drug, perhaps an 'atypical.'

i'd personally be afraid that such a person might be even more sensitive to neuroleptics than standard issue bipolar I or severe depression people. to that end, i would think (assume?) ongoing treatment would look more like old school treatment of bipolar I...

an anti-convulsant and/or lithium, all the time...limited use of benzodiazepines and most antidepressants (I would think wellbutrin, maybe, might be a viable long term option), and above all else: careful, minimal use of tranquilizers, no matter how 'atypical,' probably with an emphasis on low(er) potency agents to minimize eps and td risk

just...random thoughts. truth be told, minimizing neuroleptic use is always a good thing, especially in vulnerable groups. i also wonder about stimulants..or at least dopamine agonists, that kind of thing...if those drugs would maybe be a better option, during some low episodes, than most antidepressants? a shrink told me once that it was sometimes better to keep people on uppers and stabilize around that, rather than resort to conventional antidepressants...she said the results were 'more predictable' (?). i don't get it, and i don't know if that's data driven, or intuitive, or...what, honestly.

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder? » linkadge

Posted by Phillipa on November 29, 2020, at 17:20:45

In reply to Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 7:26:25

Link why not genetic testing first? Phillipa

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 18:47:27

In reply to Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by Christ_empowered on November 29, 2020, at 15:22:30

Yeah, it would be particularly hard to treat. You'd have 2 diseases operating (interacting, clashing and possibly worsening each other). If you only treated with mood stabilizers (which usually don't work in unipolar depression) you'd stay depressed. If you did treat with antidepressants, you might hit the unipolar targets, but possibly aggravate the bipolar. It would be pretty scary and messed up.

I have wondered if this could occur. Although I have found nothing in the literature, I don't see why it's not possible. If your mother had BPD and your father had MDD (and the two diseases were genetically separate) it could be possible to inherit both sets of f*ck*d up genes.

Linkadge

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by rjlockhart37 on November 29, 2020, at 19:21:18

In reply to Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 7:26:25

my grandmother had unipolar depression, but that was earlier in her life, but i rermeber she would get up someteimes and just stare out the window for 10 min, that's a long time to just stare, but unipolar is on mom's side, don't think manic depression is on father's. But when i was a kid i had mood swings, and i would get in these psychedellic thinking moods how i percieved the world, and be depressed, hard to explain. I should of been on lamictal, or lithium and prozac when i was a kid, but they had me on ritilin. I acutally am not bipolar, but it's very rocky to say because i have mild symptoms, of mood swings, but there not as appear in diagnosis.

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by Lamdage22 on November 29, 2020, at 20:29:51

In reply to Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by rjlockhart37 on November 29, 2020, at 19:21:18

Maybe that is some sort of double depression then

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by Lamdage22 on December 19, 2020, at 21:29:47

In reply to Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by Lamdage22 on November 29, 2020, at 20:29:51

I think you can have mental problems without fitting neatly into a specific category the diagnostic manual. It is not perfect by any means. Sometimes several diagnoses fit to some degree. Or it has characteristics of several diagnoses but none of them really fit. Does that mean you are healthy? I don't think so. It means that the diagnostic manual is not perfect.

 

Re: Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?

Posted by Skeletor on December 20, 2020, at 7:18:58

In reply to Can you have bipolar AND unipolar disorder?, posted by linkadge on November 29, 2020, at 7:26:25

It's a spectrum disorder...


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