Women With Bipolar Disorder Across In Your Life

Mood disorder with distinct periods of extreme euphoria and energy (mania) and sadness or hopelessness (depression). It's also known as manic depression or manic depressive disorder. Bipolar disorder occurs with similar frequency in men and women. But there are some differences between the sexes in the way the condition is experienced. For example, a woman is likely to have more symptoms of depression than mania. And female hormones and reproductive factors may influence the condition and its treatment.

Bipolar disorder is targeted at stabilizing mood to avoid the consequences of both the manic and depressive states. In most cases, long-term treatment is required to relieve and prevent bipolar disorder symptoms. Treatment often involves medication and talk therapy. Some of these drugs carry a warning that their use may rarely increase the risk of suicidal behavior and thoughts in children and young adults. New or worsening symptoms, unusual changes in mood or behavior, or suicidal thoughts or behavior need to be monitored. Some drugs taken in late pregnancy may cause the baby to experience abnormal muscle movements, called extrapyramidal signs (EPS), or withdrawal symptoms at birth. The drugs include Abilify (aripiprazole), Haldol (haloperidol), Risperdal (risperidone), Seroquel (quetiapine), and Zyprexa (olanzapine).

The symptoms for the baby may include:

• agitation


• abnormally increased or decreased muscle tone


• sleepiness


• difficulty breathing and feeding


• involuntary muscle contractions or twitching

In some babies, these symptoms go away within hours or days on their own. Other babies may need to stay in the hospital for monitoring or treatment. In general, doctors try to limit the amount of medications a developing baby is exposed to during pregnancy. That is because even among drugs that have no known risk to the fetus, there are always unknown risks, which can be minimized by keeping an existing medicine whenever possible rather than adding new ones.