To treat your bipolar disorder, you need to see yourself as an
Olympic athlete, you need training not just for yourself but
also for members of your family. Yes, they need to get involved
with your bipolar depression. The reason is that they, too, need
to see and recognize the triggers of your bipolar disorder,
especially the factors that may disrupt your sleep, thereby
triggering your depression or mania episodes.
Train yourself to keep a regular sleep schedule, and they need
to see to it that you abide by it.
Anxiety is a common experience of a bipolar patient. Anxiety may
be another cause of your sleep disorder. Due to anxiety, you may
want to use alcohol, drugs or tranquilizers to overcome your
anxiety disorder. These substances may seem like a solution, but
they only aggravate the problem. For example, if you use alcohol
to make yourself become drowsier in order to fall asleep more
easily, the alcohol may also deprive you of a deeper and more
restful sleep needed for your bipolar disorder. These substances
have side effects, and you need to think long into the future
when it comes to what you put in your body.
Because you have bipolar disorder, your brain is different from
that of others. Naturally, you may also want to treat your
disorder mood swings by eating foods that enhance your energy
and elevate your mood. All these years, you may have developed a
craving for junk food - what is known as "comfort food." Your
mood swings are often linked to regular fluctuations in your
blood sugar level. "Comfort food" offers you little comfort over
the long haul. The reason is that junk food, usually loaded with
sugar and empty calories, may temporarily fulfill a craving
brought on by sudden tiredness and irritability, but they also
cause your energy and mood to fluctuate, creating episodes of
depression and mania.
Therefore, one of the key factors in treating bipolar disorder
is to use food to balance your mood, rather than using food as a
quick fix to get you out of a mood swing.
Your neurotransmitters - dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin
- regulate your mood. These neurotransmitters are built from
amino acids, which enter your body in small amounts. In
addition, your body does not naturally make them, and
accordingly they need to be obtained from your diet. Studies
have shown that one of the most effective ways to control
bipolar disorder is through the diet: eating pure protein
without carbohydrates; eating complex carbohydrates with no
protein. It is important to increase your energy level without
affecting your blood sugar level. If you eat properly - avoiding
junk food - you may not only regulate your neurotransmitters but
also require lower doses of medications, which can mean fewer
unpleasant side effects for you.
However, knowing is one thing, while doing is another. The
temptation to use food and drink loaded with caffeine and sugar
to boost your mood is irresistible to a bipolar patient. That is
why you require the discipline and training of an Olympic
athlete to help you stay on course, and members of your family
should serve as your coach to ensure that you will not deviate
from the training schedule. You need their support as well as
their firmness to help you persevere in your combat against
bipolar disorder.
Contributed by:
www.RethinkYourDepression.com
Copyright (c) 2008 Stephen Lau
