All Blog Posts Tagged 'bipolar-disorder' (4)

About 9 months ago, my partner James who is low-functioning bipolar, had a change in the way he reacted to the medications he had been stabilized on for 5 years. They didn't work anymore. At first I only saw the killer rage. Then, after he walked in and announced he had kidney disease and blood cancer, and no evidence would convince him otherwise, I realized that hypochondria had transmogrified into somatic delusions. 30 mg of Abilify daily was added to his regimen, and it worked. He was stabil… Continue

In the movie, "Michael Clayton," Arthur, a bipolar lawyer, is lead council representing UNorth, a company fighting a $3 billion class-action lawsuit against one of its products. Before a deposition in Wisconsin, Arthur stops taking his medicine, falls in love with one of the plaintiffs, and engages in alarming behavior, which lands him in a Wisconsin jail. Michael Clayton comes to get him out. It seems Arthur has found irrefutable, incriminating evidence against the firm he's supposed to repres… Continue

This Friday, the medical journal Science will publish a study, which used new gene-scanning technology, where high-resolution techniques quickly scan the entire human DNA map. Scientists discovered 53 genetic mutations that were three times as likely to turn up in people with schizophrenia. One of them distorts a protein, which guides neurons to their proper places during brain development. Another mutation changes "the shape of a molecule that transports glutamate, a chemical that excites neur… Continue

Magnetic Resonance Imaging has excellent soft-tissue contrast, so it is one of the best tools to help a doctor diagnose an injury in a limb. Low-functioning bipolar patients usually have a number of other conditions and have accidents easily. My partner James deals with claustrophobia. When James hurt his arm carrying something too heavy, he had intense pain in his shoulder and needed an MRI. First he tr… Continue