Non-medical and healthy ways to cope with mood/excessive energy while in manic state

[yuRang]

Hi, I would like to know non-medical and healthy ways to cope with mood/excessive energy while in manic state. I know someone who is suffering from bipolar disorder, and meds and prevention methods aren't always working for her. When she has manic attacks, she becomes very energetic and easily irritable. She cannot help herself and requires additional medications for that. When that happens, she gets very upset and will deny any pharmacological ways to calm her mood. I would like to offer her non-pharmocological but healthy ways to cope with her mood while in manic episode. She has mentioned running laps has helped her to use up her energy before. I am not creative enough to come up with other ideas. What might be the other ways that could help her?

[cowgirlnerd]

Bulldozer - THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Mistress Nomad - you are delusional and somewhat dangerous to make comments you have made.   If scheduling were the only thing we need - along with talk therapy - do you REALLY think we wouldn't choose those methods?  We do more than you could ever imagine (if you were BP you might understand) to alleviate our symptoms and episodes.  You act like we WANT to have them - trust me, we don't!  This is not a will induced condition.  

Yes, schedules and sleep patterns are imperative.  We strive to maintain them at all costs.   I truly believe that if I had not received the proper care including medications I would be dead now.  Period.  

[bernie40]

To MistressNomad

How is cowgirlnerd wrong?  I cannot see that she has written anything that is wrong.

cowgirlnerd has made some very valid points and given some very valuable advice.

To: yuRang

The problem with not medicating is that the chances are high that the BP will get worse, this can take years to manifest but when it does its damn hard and harder still to try and get back to some kind of normality - I am talking from my own experience here of not accepting medication, I just about survived for 10 years before it hit me big time.

There are some very interesting articles on research in to the "Kindling Effect", this research is constantly being updated - I do not have a link to hand but if you type in "Kindling Effect" it will lead you to a variety of writings by various professionals within psychiatry.

The word "minority" is the key word (MistressNomad's), there may well be a few people who cope well without medication, however you are risking a future of worsened BP requiring more medication than you would have needed earlier on.

There is a very good site which shows brain imaging to prove how the brain is impacted by BP, it also shows how this is reversed when taking medication.  The part of the brain most affected is that which controls cognitive skills.  Many people with BP find the loss of cognitive skills hard to deal with so it is good to finally see some hard evidence that shows that this can be made better.  The site also offers lots of other advice and research and is well worth reading, www.psycheducation.org/mechanism/MechanismIntro.htm

MistressNomad does make some very relevant points regarding routines - good sleep routine, regular meals and exercise, as these are also important in maintaining good mental health, but these alone will not stop a manic or depressive BP episode.

At the end of the day it is a personal decision regarding medication, be sure to educate yourself as much as possible and remain flexible.  It can take many attempts to find the right balance.

Good luck and best wishes

[RebootJive]

cowgirlnerd is wrong - There is a significant minority of bipolar people who can cope successfully without meds most of the time.

What is she good at? Does she do anything creative? If she draws or writes, she could carry a sketchpad to let her ideas flow into. Setting a daily routine helps derail mania. Also, if she gets 2 or 3 good nights of sleep, it is almost a sure thing that her mania will start to lose grip. She may have to take a sleep aid for the first couple nights, but after that it should come much easier. Sleep deprivation feeds mania.

Getting exercise is good. What about  going to the park, climbing trees, running around, stuff like that?

She should avoid any sort of drug or alcohol. She should avoid skipping meals or sleep or work/other commitments. It's important she keep herself at least a little bit on a routine.

Best of luck.

[cowgirlnerd]

When you are manic - you don't know what you are doing a large part of the time.  That and the realization that mania feels good.....if you can imagine being in a dark hole and getting to come out and feel energized.  Sometimes, we don't want that to stop.  SO, we do anything to get it to keep going, but also, we don't always know it's going on at that exact moment....we feel better...that's all we see.

Honestly, non-pharmocolgical methods probably won't work.  Mania is a chemical reaction to an inbalance in your brain.  You can work on methods to relax your friend (yoga, long walks, healthy busy activities, etc.,) but the main thing is to keep her safe during the mania.  It's an uncontrolable thing and if you haven't experienced it personally, it's hard to understand.  Try to talk to your friend and don't be accusatory (Paranoia is huge in mania), but be calm and recommend some things that she might enjoy.  

Myself, I do the long walk, like you mentioned the laps, and clean like a wild woman (my husband came home one time and I had moved every piece of furniture in our house).  Maybe a trip to an antique mall, a hike (don't get to remote, because you don't know what's going to be a trigger and you need to get to the hospital if it goes bad), or a bike ride, or something. ANYTHING to burn up some energy and get her to SLEEP.  Sometimes we can stay up for DAYS with no sleep.  It's important to get her back on a sleep regimen - it helps during mania and depression.

You are to be commended to try to help.  Good luck.