Seek medical opinion on bipolar mood disorder

Q “I have been on treatment for suspected depression for about four months now and my friends claim I have become hyper in my actions. Is this normal during such treatment?”

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These are indeed strange times. The English language has changed in the last few years to the extent that some words have developed a new meaning.

I refer in this regard to your use of the word ‘hyper’, in your question. In the traditional sense, the word was used to describe things that were above normal.

A person with above-normal blood pressure was said to have hypertension.

Similarly, a person whose thyroid gland was performing above the norm was said to suffer from hyperthyroidism. Concerning behaviour, a similar concept is to be found in people said to suffer from ADHD, where the full condition is called, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, again emphasising the above normal level of physical activity. You do not explain the word and yet we all seem to understand the context.

In your question, therefore, you expect us to understand that you have used the word in the relatively new way, to mean that you have, following a period of treatment for depression become unusually energetic as opposed to the low energy so common in people diagnosed with depression.

You are in one word telling us that you are now very active, doing many things at the same time and have much pressure on your time. You are also in very high spirits perhaps. Now that you have swung from one pole to the other, you might have qualified for the diagnosis of a bipolar (two poles) mood disorder. Put simply, you have been to both the low and the high of this one condition.

Doctors categorise this condition further but for now, we will leave it as is.

In your case, however, there is the possibility that the manic episode could have been as the result of the use of antidepressants, a situation that is not uncommon in clinical practice, and which makes the point of the importance of keeping in contact with your doctor during treatment for depression.

Some people when the depression lifts continue to get medication from the chemists, leading to this complication. Careful monitoring is the key to the prevention of this complication.

A bipolar mood disorder is a condition we used to call manic depressive illness.

In the last few years, the condition has achieved semi-celebrity status as some famous men and women have been diagnosed with the condition.

In 2018, Mariah Carey went public saying that she was diagnosed with the condition in 2001.

Before that, she had, like many before her, lived in denial of the diagnosis, a situation that stood in the way of adequate treatment.

Robert Turner is the founder of CNN and he has, for many years lived with a bipolar mood disorder.

One of the most famous men to have lived with a bipolar mood disorder is Sir Winston Churchill the wartime British Prime Minister who when depressed, perhaps as you talked of the black dog that took away all his energy led him into states of deep sadness and despair with feelings of deep hopelessness. He spoke of sleeping all day, loss of appetite and poor concentration.

The opposite was the case during manic episodes. He was able to publish 43 books and serve as Prime Minister.

He was very active, creative, and full of energy, and perhaps like you might be, in your hyper state, slept very little.

In a typical manic episode, the person gets the feeling of great joy and happiness, and nothing in the word seems impossible for him.

In that state, he has many plans mostly grandiose that are mostly beyond the realm of current possibility.

The ideas come out at great speed and the speech is accelerated sometimes beyond comprehension, as the ideas come out faster than the man can utter them in words.

Like Churchill, many authors, artists and musicians have done great work during such episodes. When severe, however, such persons can be destructive on account of extreme irritability and aggressiveness. It is in such states that hospitalisation becomes the only option.

Just for completion, there are times that manic episodes occur in the context of the use of drugs such as cannabis or alcohol and in yet other cases could be due to other medical conditions. As you can no doubt see, it is not enough to Google the condition and makes a diagnosis on yourself. It is always better to seek a medical opinion in the case of a manic episode.