Bipolar Disorder

I don't know if same topic has been posted, so i'll just made a new one coz' I dont want to necro-bump..
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Let me start first by saying my father my have this Disorder.
Its a disorder where an individual experience drastic changes in moods and emotions, such as happiness, solitude, anger, surprise, fear and etc. will go back and forth time to time.
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He said he had that disorder since child, and until now, he still experience that. Like yesterday (Christmas,) we were watching cinema (a comedy one) and his reactions are not pretty appropriate with the situation. When we are supposed to laugh, he trembles in anger. When the house is filled with silence, he stood in happiness.

Im very concerned about him, but everyone in the house said "my father can deal with it". But I often saw my father living in the agony and its not good. It is not Good!

We've been like that ever since, yet we are not that fortunate to constantly consult a psychiatrist.
Can you guys help me how to figure out a way to help my Pop, or at least, how could I cope with this situations?

Although my area of expertise in medicine is trauma (former Army medic), I'll see what I can turn up thumbing through my text books (just because I can't afford med school doesn't mean I can't learn) I'll PM you my findings tomorrow.

What is he currently on?From your description he should be on Quetiapine for manic occurrences.Of course it's not good and of course he can't "deal" with it, if it was that simple, his condition wouldn't have been recognized throughout history in the first place!
For an accurate diagnosis I'm going to need:periods of irritability,times of sudden shifts,conditions occurring during shifts, current medication(if any), if any:type,dosage,for how long, genetic history with psychological problems, oh and I'm going to need his country of origin and what country he current resides in.
Generally it would be best if you has the ability to consult a psychiatrist but considering your plea, I could atleast try to research and find a suitable and affordable treatment for him.
Oh and capt.: Textbook doctrine won't really help here, rather than needing to know about various deranged changes within the ventricles and a lesson on seratonin and dopamine he needs immediate care for hopes of a better future and a good prognosis.

I honestly never heard of the disorder, but since it has to do with mood and feelings, have you ever tried going to psychiatrist? Just like what Darkhilt said.

Probably it's the first step anyone would do, and since no one that I know of had that disorder, I wouldn't know what to do myself.

See a psychiatrist, I'm sure they will know what to do since they are an expert in that field. But you sure came to the right place, from what I see a lot of fakkuzas are doctors (or at least know what they are doing) and willing to help you man :D

From what I can tell he's not In a position to do so, that is, go to a psychiatrist or receive adequate help.Just curious, where are you from?In the US, mental disorders are as numerous to have almost every other person diagnosed for one, and as such, hearing bi polar,ADD,or schizophrenia thrown around is almost casual

Fair enough.
I live in Australia. Well, not trying to brag, but none if my family has any type of disorders like you mentioned, in fact, I don't really know what ADD is.

Forgive me if I'm wrong

Honestly, we are here in the Philippines since birth, and a case like this is pretty rare because what often been featured in news are all about economy.
Here's an info about Bipolar Disorder..

about my father, i don't really know the details of his conditions, i'll go check him later. But i often see him crying with no reason, or at least, laughing like crazy.

He consulted psychiatrist before, but it never happened again and he is not to tell us about anything what the psych said. He doesn't even want to help himself. It sucks.

Alright,Kung ganno karaming beses sa irang araw?Also, what is his occupation or work?Mental illness is often not brought to light in the phillippines because of a lack of a centralized system that publishes the problems faced or rising within the medical field.Ito ay Dahil ang media ay pag-ibig sa iskandalo at mga maliit na problema, hindi ang medical field.Tulad ng sa filipinas, lamang ang mga na may pera makakuha ng tulong at halaga, hindi sa mahihirap, at ang lahat ng mga medikal na paggamot na maari silang makakuha ng magiging outreach para sa mga bagay tulad ng malarya o mga fevers kung sa lahiit.Tulad, hindi mo nais marinig tungkol sa mga mga problemas sa lipunan, dahil ang bansa ang pinapanatili ito sa ang madilim para sa parak na bagay.
So now I need: how many times these changes occurs in a day and what is his job.Also, I think I know where you can get medicine, do you know if there is a Mercury drug close to you?The medicine I have in mind may be expensive depending on your families circumstances, but I assure you that he will see a change.

(Note to others and mods:Would you like me to continue this in PM?I know about regulation to English only in our forums but in this man's case I made an exception so that he would be able to understand clearly what I'm saying if English isn't his first language, which apparently it's not, and that he knows I can understand him if he chooses to use Tagalog or one of the other languages of the phillipines to communicate with me.)

Don't worry, Im good at English^^

oh, and my family runs a store, not that big, only enough to cater the needs of our neighbors. My father is in charge of the store. He wakes up at 4am, sleeps at 11pm. He's very workaholic.

My father often gets attack at afternoon, mostly from 1am to 4pm when he is likely alone.

He told me he used to fight against deppresion when he was young, and feared this disorder is just the continuation of it.

There are a lot of drug store here in Cavite ;p

Then if you would like, ask for the following at your local drug store-
Lamictal: stabilizes mood and cheap, 10-20$ US (about 645 php for 30 tablets), may cause adverse reactions and has high chances of causing a small, small rash.Youll need to ask the person there about it as I don't know if it's the same as here.Its good for acute cases of manic occasions like what your father has.
Amisulpride(Solian, Sulpitac, Amitrex,Soltus)- Expensive, but even small doses solves depression, also stabilizes mood efficiently.

Other than those two I don't think it will be quite easy to get the alternatives I'm thinking of that require hundreds of dollars for continuous treatment and could cause dangerous relapse.If there is a physician at the drug store mention this
Diagnosis: 296.6x , no Li2co3, anticonvulsants suggested, Mania w/o psychotic symptoms, change as needed.No antidepressants(background provided suggests in born)

Good luck!

After searching through my textbooks I couldn't find anything too terribly detailed on it that rigid bring anything new into the discussion, the closest thing I've got is a pharmacology dictionary that I can look up specific medications, but there is no "by disease" or "by disorder" index for me to reference. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but I don't have a psychology or psychiatry textbook, although I was sure I had one.

Could you search for anticonvulsants in your pharmacology dictionary?I want to suggest TrilePtal considering hes out of the US and it might not be regulated.

A medicine designed to inhibit involuntary convulsions... This shit sucks it doesn't provide anything as far as "see such and such" or anything, it just lists off chemicals by name and has obvious definitions in it. Sorry, but I'm going to need to give you a rain-check on that info, next paycheck I'm getting new books anyway, mine are a bit dated...

Also my information is all for practice within the United States

Oh, I didn't read your post correctly XD thought you had a pharmacist's dictionary. I'm suggesting him anticonvulsant's because of the ability of stabilizing mood and correction without presence of lithium which could be harmful especially If the patient is working constantly.and trileptal is oxcarbazepine :3 I just checked Wikipedia.(I've seen it around, but it's not in use, but perhaps In a third world country such as the phillipines, things are often overlooked, especially the fact that certain things aren't suppose to be used directly for a certain ailment, whilst the actual treatment causes more damage than the substitute.)

I'll check into it, my book is from 1990, it's a hand-me-down from my Mom. My information is giving me basically what you've already said "an anticonvulsant medication... (useless information which I'm going to omit in the interest of time)... Can be used as a mood stabilizer for patients sensitive to lithium or in patients who are highly active." Considering the information I've got it seems like it could work, but again, this isn't my area of expertise

Meh really I can't remember half the things I studied but don't worry I have a neurology book from my grandmom that's dated 1943 and it's still relevant in physiology, the surgery shit is crap though, anyways, does it give a list of possible reactions?Im thinking the usual drowsiness and some loss of empathy but would you think it outweighs the possibility of a weakened immune system such as one who resides near a large metropolis being affected by bacterial infection and rashes caused by irritability by the stabilizing chemical within the classical and improvised treatments?

Effects and substitutions listed in volumes 3 & 4, I only have 1 and 2, not sure what happened to those volume

Well that sucks :3.As an army medic did you ever had to deal with PTSD?If so, what was prescribed or what treatment was given?

We work like counselors if anything in that respect, but medics get PTSD just as often as the infantry, remember we're in the shit too...