Bipolar gets worse with age?

[edmbigrl]

Someone told me they heard stats that go something like this:

60% of ppl with bipolar get worse with age
30% of ppl with bipolar improve with age
10% of ppl with bipolar remain the same

That really scares me! Are the odds that I get worse with age?

[AJ]

The answer might be... that we don't know.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12230082

[paul m]

Hello Edmbigrl. I got worse with age. While bipolar affected me from my early teens, it was not as all consumeing as it was later in my life. In fact I did not seek treatment for my mood swings until my mid-30's and held an executive job. By my 40's I was out of control and had tried to commit suicide and could no longer work at all.

My son couldn't work at 21, but now (6 yrs later ) does work and seems to have his bipolar under control. My uncle worked all his life, is now 75 and I'm still the only one who even knows he has bipolar(plus his doc).

It is my belief (and I certainly have no hard evidence to back this up), that three main factors affect the course of our illness.

1) How severely we are smitten in the first place. Some people have very severe forms of bipolar and they are very hard to treat.

2) How young we are when we recieve PROPER medical care. Just as an older person has more trouble coming back from a broken hip, it is equally as hard for an older person to try and heal their brain.

3) How hard we try to get better. This includes everything from meds to knowledge to proper attitude and personnel care.

Bipolar is a tough illness. As my illness got worse there were many factors that could have prevented my getting worse. Better medical care, my attitude certainally could have better, better knowledge about the illness and meds available and more family support all would have made a tremendous difference in my long term health.

However I have to agree with AJ, no one truly knows, but we can make a difference in our long term health. Take Care. paul m

[AJ]

Geez. I was thinking 90 or so. What is old anyway? All kidding aside, Paul really summed it up well. The key for me is to focus on what I can do to better my health and try not to get all out of sorts about what I have no control over.

[edmbigrl]

Thanks AJ and Paul!

[paul m]

Hell Edmbigrl, your welcome, once again a great topic. Take Care. paul m

[Froggie]

Thanks Paul for confirming what I suspected was true anyways. When I was diagnosed, my doc told me he was really surprised that I was able to hold a good job. He says I am a high performer BiPolar. Whatever. The medical establishment attempts to pigeon-hole this illness do not do it justice. Everybody is different.
I managed to graduate as a Chartered Accountant and have had a good career progression - to a point. Things started unravelling for me eventually, but not until my mid 30's. By the time I hit 40 or so, I had a breakdown. Thankfully, never did attempt suicide, but certainly got close. I too see a steady progression in this illness. They say stress brings it out...well we all tend to experience more stress as we get older, not less, so my theory is that it is not age-related but rather stress related. It's been 2 years since my diagnosis and am still recovering and trying to put my life back together. Things are looking better than they back then, so all the talk therapy (and meds) do help.
Point is, that I agree that it can get much worse if left untreated. But with proper treatment, and especially with self-awareness and a desire to get better, a better life is possible. If I didn't believe that, i wouldn't be on this site!

[A.E.V.]

for me, I could say it also got worse in my mid 30's.
I believe it was Amber that had mentioned once about going back on the pill to help with the mood swings. now when I think back, the pill is probably what masked my bipolar all that time. when I stopped taking them at 35, that's when things started to get really, really out of control for me emotionally!
I had bouts of depression before that, but it's after 35 that the rollercoaster took up all that speed.

Anne.

[edmbigrl]

Anne,

the pill...birth control?

[A.E.V.]

yes, that's right.

[paul m]

Hello Froggie. I had a roller coaster career going between be fired and being a rising star. I topped out as a manager for a Trust company. Companies love it when you work 80 hrs a wk and are a high producer. They are not so fond of the same person who is a low producer no matter how many hrs they work.

However I was always able to obtain employment and in general be productive until bipolar finally put paid to that career for a lot of reasons including becoming unable to handle the stress I once could and my business decisions on behalf of the company became increasingly erratic with my mood swings, especially mania.

After that I drifted through a number of jobs being unable to hold even a simple job as my illness worsened. Finally I accepted that I was ill and concentrated on getting better. Which I have, not enough to work, but enough to enjoy life. Take Care. paul m

[Froggie]

Hello Froggie. I had a roller coaster career going between be fired and being a rising star. I topped out as a manager for a Trust company. Companies love it when you work 80 hrs a wk and are a high producer. They are not so fond of the same person who is a low producer no matter how many hrs they work.

However I was always able to obtain employment and in general be productive until bipolar finally put paid to that career for a lot of reasons including becoming unable to handle the stress I once could and my business decisions on behalf of the company became increasingly erratic with my mood swings, especially mania.

After that I drifted through a number of jobs being unable to hold even a simple job as my illness worsened. Finally I accepted that I was ill and concentrated on getting better. Which I have, not enough to work, but enough to enjoy life. Take Care. paul m

Hey Paul thanks for that. Corporations just love a manic personality willing to work endless hours on seemingly impossible projects and especially if I got them done! This worked well for a long time. I was known as "The Machine" for my ability to produce massive output. I could fool most of them during periods of depressions with my 'excuses'. They knew I could perform, so they believed me. However, eventually, it all came to an end as I became increasingly erratic and as you know you cannot do all by yourself - you need a team. My downfall was my team saw my behaviour becoming more and more erratic. Several of my staff complained to HR about my "moodiness". That was the beginning of the end.

[Froggie]

for me, I could say it also got worse in my mid 30's.
I believe it was Amber that had mentioned once about going back on the pill to help with the mood swings. now when I think back, the pill is probably what masked my bipolar all that time. when I stopped taking them at 35, that's when things started to get really, really out of control for me emotionally!
I had bouts of depression before that, but it's after 35 that the rollercoaster took up all that speed.

Anne.

After 35? You too huh Anne? I don't think that's a coincidence.

[A.E.V.]

yeah, 35 was a rough year. if it gets worse before getting better, I'm in for a bumpy ride!!

I don't have a high profile job, but certainly my boss and team leader liked it when I was in overdrive and taking away daunting tasks for my team leader... at one point we were two people doing the same job, until hypomanic me went and complained to the boss that two of us do the SAME thing, yet she's always running around like a chicken with her head cut off, and I'm always bored because I'm done my stuff, and taking on some of hers!
so after a month or so of this, the other position had been abolished. when I spoke of it with my boss, she said to me to be careful what I wish for!
ironically about a month after that is when I started to get really ill and couldn't keep up at times because I was confused and staring at my computer screen, and then I was so up there that I was running around taking other people's tasks and learning new ones.

being an admin, I was the first thing people saw when they walked into the department. so if I was depressed or agitated, they were afraid to come ask me to do things for them.

I miss them terribly and can't wait to feel better to get back there!!

Anne.

[A.E.V.]

um... I re-read my post, and I get the sense that I'm repeating myself... have I written this before??
if I did, then I apologize for being empty-minded and repeating myself!
I'm not sure if I should pin it on meds, or on age - or both...

Anne.