Lets Talk Mental Health
When you say Bipolar to most people they will have heard of it and may even be able to tell you a brief description of what it is. Those people may also know of Bipolar i and Bipolar ii. Now I bet if you said Cyclothymia to the same people they wouldn't have a clue that it was a mental health condition let alone that it comes under the Bipolar diagnosis and is occasionally referred to as Bipolar iii. I mean even now my spell check is telling me I've spelt it wrong!!!
As a person living with Cyclothymia, I can say this diagnosis can be frustrating as you feel in limbo. I feel that you're not taken as seriously by professionals, for example I have been going through my worst depressive episode since being diagnosed back in 2008, I saw an emergency team member and I asked if I could be seen by an psychiatrist to be re-diagnosed (50% of those diagnosed with Cyclothymia will go on to develop Bipolar i or ii). I was told by this mental health team member (who said she was a nurse) that the psychiatrist would be doing what she was doing and she would be meeting with them to discuss my medication to treat my symptoms and that my diagnosis didn't matter. Well a week later we get a letter through and the team member (who was not a nurse) which said she had referred me back to my GP and has advised them to liaise with the access and assessment team to change my medication. I have not seen a psychiatrist since 2011, I was discharged by community care because my coordinator left, I went for counselling under the well-being service and was told I was too severe to be left under their care. Cue me not having the mental health teams proper input since then.
Anyway back to the topic at hand, before I go into main details about Cyclothymia it would be sensible for me to do a warning:
This post may cause triggers to people experiencing mental health problems, please do not take this post as a reason to not see your GP, if your feel you may also be experiencing mental health problems or could also have Cyclothymia please bring it up with them so they can refer you to the correct services. If you are experiencing depressive, self harming or suicidal thoughts please contact your GP, 111 service, crisis team, Samaritans or 999 in an emergency and if you feel unsafe.
Cyclothymia also known as Bipolar iii or Cyclothymic Disorder is a mood disorder that causes the sufferer to have mood swings known as depressive episodes and hypo-manic/ hypo-mania episodes. A person would get a diagnosis of Cyclothymia instead of Bipolar if their mood swings weren't severe enough to meet the diagnosis criteria, the episode length isn't long enough to meet diagnosis criteria or the episode instances are too high. The latter is was my reason for not being diagnosed with Bipolar i or ii, I have a rapid cycling element which whilst in an episode my mood can change hourly to daily and I tend to have 6 episodes a year. Someone with Bipolar would normally have 2 episodes a year that last longer in a depressive or hypo-manic state and then can go a year without any so long as controlled by medication, therapy and care of a mental health team (normally).
Cyclothymia can affect all genders of any age, but appears to be more common in women (nhs.uk/conditions/cyclothymia/#).
In hypo-mania episodes sufferers may experience symptoms for at least 4 days, symptoms include but may not be limited to:
- Difficulty concentrating
- Feeling restless
- Feeling extremely happy or euphoric
- Not needing as much sleep as normal
- Irritability/ agitation
- Becoming more physically active (can include fidgeting and/or pacing)
- Thinking very highly of themselves
- Poor impulse control and/or judgement, which can lead to risky choices
- Being more talkative than normal
- Easily distracted
- Not sleeping
- Isolation
- Not experiencing pleasure in the things they normally enjoy
- Excessive crying
- Changes in eating habits and/or weight
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Difficulty concentrating
- Feeling guilty, worthless, hopeless
- Irritability
- Feeling constantly tired or worn out
- Thoughts of death/ suicide
Some with Cyclothymia go on to experience their episodes becoming more severe (my current issue) and will go on to develop Bipolar i or ii, others find their episodes remain the same and have to manage Cyclothymia as a life long condition. There is no known cause of Cyclothymia, but it appears there is probably a genetic link as Cyclothymia, depression and bipolar tend to run in families. Other causes appear to be traumatic events or experiences which can then trigger the condition but this is not confirmed.
I will talk more about Cyclothymia/ Bipolar in later posts as my experiences continue.
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