From Jazz to Hip Hop - Routing the Manic Episode

Last week somebody reminded me how individual early signs of mania can be.

Insomnia is a universal late sign of the beginning manic episode. 

Almost all bipolar patients have insomnia during their manic episodes. In other words, when somebody stops sleeping, the manic episode has already begun. In this case prevention and therapy alone are no longer an option. Only aggressive medication treatment can stop a manic episode once insomnia has kicked in.

However, the very early signs of mania are very individual and could be very subtle. 

Changes in voice are common – higher pitch in particular is something to pat attention to. Also common are changes in the way people dress and in the make-up they use. A more revealing style of dress or change of lipstick to a brighter color could be very early signs of oncoming mania. Another sign of an upcoming episode is becoming critical or quarrelsome with people you usually gets along with. Some people actually change the music they listen to such as classical to pop, or jazz to hip-hop. Changes in exercise routine – the list goes on and on...

The take home message is this -- try to remember the very first subtle changes (or patterns) you or your loved ones notice in you before the episode becomes severe and share them with your doctor. In this way both you (and your family) as well as your psychiatrist will be in the position to be early detectors of upcoming mania.

Similar thinking applies to depressive episodes, but I will address this next time.

Stay Healthy!

Dr. G.