Bipolar Disorder

About 3% of American adults have bipolar disorder, a mental health condition characterized by significant shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels that can range from depressive episodes to periods of mania or hypomania. At Healing Hope Suboxone, Addiction Recovery & Psychiatry, Tammi Bancroft, FNP-C, provides expert diagnosis and personalized treatment for bipolar disorder to help stabilize symptoms and improve quality of life. Tammi offers in-person and virtual care from the practice's main location in Colorado and also sees patients virtually throughout Arizona. Call the office to schedule an appointment or request one online today.

What is bipolar disorder?

Formerly known as manic-depressive illness, or simply manic depression, bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that causes dramatic shifts in your mood, energy, and capacity to think clearly. This condition causes periods of high and low moods called manic and depressive episodes, respectively. 

What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder?

If you have bipolar disorder, your symptoms vary depending on which phase of the disease you’re in. 

If you’re in a manic or hypomanic (slightly less manic) phase, you may feel:

• Euphoric
• Full of energy
• Full of big plans
• Grandiose
• As if your thoughts are racing

Your behavior might manifest as:

• Overspending
• Talking very rapidly
• Changing the subject frequently
• Overindulging in sex, food, or drugs
• Overspending money
• Taking unnecessary risks
• Acting recklessly and impulsively
• Not feeling the need to sleep or eat

When you’re in a depressed phase, you may feel:

• Lethargic
• Fatigued
• Uninterested in sex
• Generally disinterested
• Hopeless
• Suicidal

Your behavior might manifest as:

• Indecisiveness
• Trouble sleeping
• Talking very slowly
• Forgetting things
• Overeating

Sometimes, if you have bipolar disorder, you can feel both depressed and overly energized simultaneously. Call 911, go to the nearest emergency room, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) if you have thoughts of harming or killing yourself. 

What are effective treatments for bipolar disorder?

Because your moods can swing from high to low without warning, you may have trouble finding effective relief for your bipolar disorder. Tammi has expertise treating adults of all genders and ethnicities for this challenging mental health condition. Some of the medications she may recommend to help you manage day-to-day activities, control your moods, and help you sleep include:

• Anticonvulsants — carbamazepine, lamotrigine, valproic acid
• Antidepressants — lithium, fluoxetine with olanzapine, lurasidone
• Antipsychotics — haloperidol, olanzapine, ziprasidone
• Anti-anxiety medications — lorazepam, diazepam, alprazolam 

At Healing Hope Suboxone, Addiction Recovery & Psychiatry, Tammi stays on top of the newest pharmacologic developments to offer you effective and safe symptom control. She monitors you closely via telehealth and works to ensure that antidepressants don’t trigger a manic episode and that you feel stable and focused. 

To finally get relief from both the highs and lows of bipolar disorder, schedule a virtual visit at Healing Hope Suboxone, Addiction Recovery & Psychiatry by phone or request one online today.