What is Bipolar Disorder? • Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder • It is described as an illness made up of episodes of mania and depression • During a manic episode, the person’s mood is elevated, uncontrolled, or irritable • During an episode of depression, the risk to harm self (including suicide) is increased • Can cause problems with the person’s work function, social activities, relationships with friends and family or require hospitalization (Townsend, 2015)
Can Bipolar Disorder Be Cured?
• No, bipolar can’t be cured, but it can be managed • There are 3 wellness goals to strive towards for having a proper quality of life with bipolar Statistics • Bipolar disorder affects roughly 5.7 million American adults • Up to 70% of bipolar patients have been reported to partially or completely STOP their medication treatment resulting in reoccurring setbacks into episodes of mania and depression (Vargas-Huicochea, Huicochea, Berlanga, & Fresaá n, 2014).
1. Understanding Your Medication (Lithium)
2. Developing a schedule for stability • Take medications everyday at the same time • Maintain a constant schedule • Schedule time for relaxation (Orem, 2001)
• Compliance – Take medications as directed • Medication Side Effects – Decrease in urination, seizures, lower blood pressures • Lab Test Schedules – Are taking the right amount? • Increase Hydration – Drink more water, clear juices, monitor salt intake • Limit: Alcohol and Caffeine (Kizior, 2015)
3 Wellness Goals
3. Relieving Stress with: • Therapy – professional psychiatrist, acupuncture • Meditation – reading, phone apps, videos • Exercise – walking, bicycling, yoga, sports (Pender, Murdaugh and Parsons, 2015)
Pamphlet can be found in issuu.com at:
https://issuu.com/cougars106/docs/bipolar_wellness_guidelines.pptx
References Kizior, R. (2015). Saunders: Nursing Drug Handbook. St. Louis: MO. Elsevier Saunders Orem, D. E. (2001). Nursing concepts of practice (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Pender, N.J., Murdaugh, C.L. & Parsons, M.A. (2015). Health promotion in nursing practice. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.