Bipolarity

Welcome to Brevis Talk. The talks you are about to hear will be honest, revealing, and unfiltered. Join us as your host. Pastor Wayne Whiteside lifts the lid of silence and has conversations about mental illness and health in the church. The goal here is simple. It is to help someone along this journey of life who is struggling. It is to tell the truth to the unsuspecting and it is to lighten the load of a fellow traveler. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as medical advice or to replace consultation with your physician or mental health professional.

If you are experiencing a medical crisis, call 9 1 1 or go to the nearest Emergency Room. Now here's your host, pastor Wayne.

Speaker 1 (42s): Hello and welcome back to another brevis talk. Let me give you the disclaimer. I am not a medical specialist. I am someone who has struggled with mental health and I am a pastor of 40 plus years and I've seen the damage and the challenges that others have had over the years. That is from once I come, always seek medical help. If you are in a crisis or considering harming yourself, please get help.

Call 9 1 1, go to the nearest emergency or reach out to someone who will get you the attention that you need at that time. Well, today we want to talk about something that's greatly misunderstood and perhaps more expansive than others have realized. In the old days it was called manic depression. And. that term has sort of gone out of vogue, if you will. It is now considered bipolar.

Some may not understand or may not have ever heard. There are variations of Bipolarity. The classic one that we are all familiar with is bipolar one, and it is where someone has extreme highs in their life and extreme lows. You've probably heard of the story of someone going on a spending spree being up without sleep three to five days.

Some have gone into gambling excessively and some have gone into promiscuous relationships, one after another. That is bipolar one, the extreme highs and the extreme lows. And when they are high, they are high, and when they are low, they are extremely low. One of the greatest dangers of any of the bipolar classifications is the high percentage of self-harm where individuals eventually consider suicide or even attempt suicide or even succeed in taking their own life.

Bipolar one is a classic one. It is basically the great miracle drug is actually a salt. It's a, it's, it's a natural element. And that is lithium. And if you've ever read anything about that lithium and, and bipolar one can be a miracle drug. And I have, I've seen this firsthand with with others. I know of someone right now that could not function at all without lithium.

Then there is bipolar two And that is sometimes not so hypermanic but hypomanic. And these individuals don't get as high and sometimes they're frenzied high will come out in a great irritability, impatience and they'll strike out and say things they don't need to say and without thinking and very impulsive there. That is bipolar two.

But depression is prevalent in bipolar two. They're, these individuals been classified as bipolar two, they are much, much more spending much, much more time in being depressed than being on the, on the up and up if you will. And so depression is very, very prevalent there. And these individuals without help quite often will attempt self-harm.

And then believe it or not, the new classifications, there's what's considered bipolar three. It used to be called cyclo themic disorder. And it is a softer bipolarism, if you will. Softer, I mean is the extremes are not as extreme or the highs are not as high and the lows are maybe not as low. But again, depression, the low side is most prevalent in bipolar three.

And these individuals who are suffering from this quite often don't have a clue that they are suffering from it. It's, it's usually only bipolar one that gets a quick and correct diagnosis where someone that You know just goes out and out and just has no self-control and has terrible, terrible episodes that also cause most often terrible, terrible consequences. But bipolar two and bipolar three is very, very prevalent.

I have known a number of people personally who have been diagnosed as bipolar two and they struggle with depression, not unlike someone who is just simply clinically depressed. Their highs are not very common, maybe once a year for some short time, maybe twice a year, but they live in a constant state of depression quite often. Here's a truth about Bipolarity.

So many with a diagnosis of Bipolarity are not compliant in staying on their medications. I do not understand why the why's or the how's, but it is, it seems to me personal experience in watching parishioners and friends that most often someone who is diagnosed as bipolar will eventually try to get off or succeed in getting off their medications and Then what happens, they go right back to their former state.

It's, it's almost like that is a symptom of being bipolar, is that you will not stay compliant with your medication. In the past, I have had two close personal church members, beautiful friendly personalities, wonderful people, and I have walked with them over the years and both of them at different times have gotten off their medication. I, I'll never forget one friend calling me at 2:00 AM and would speak a sentence, not even finish the sentence before starting another sentence.

And it was just almost like the speed of speech, like an auctioneer. And I knew something was very, very off. And plus them calling it 2:00 AM and the first thing I said is, you're off your medication. And this individual said, yes, I don't need my medication. And I said, no, you, you most certainly need your medication. Well, after several different episodes over the years of not being compliant, this person finally came to the conclusion, I need this medication.

And they have been very, very consistent and they have stayed on the medication and they have done quite, quite well. I knew a pastor who traveled at one time as a itinerary evangelist, very gifted, talented communicator, but he was bipolar, bipolar one specifically. And he destroyed and damaged many relationships in his life with his children, with his pastor friends.

And he, he did some damage to relationships that were really never the same because he would not stay on his medication. It was a beautiful, great, great communicator. I put him up against anyone as far as being able to communicate God's word. But he had this mental illness and quite often he was in denial and he would say, well, God has healed me of this and I don't need the medication. He would get off the medication and a few days later then here comes the wild and frenzied ride.

He is not compliant even today. He continues to get off his medication. And it is a sad, sad situation because in many ways, because of the destroyed relationships in life, he has become somewhat of an island. As a friend of mine said, I just don't have the energy to be his friend. He is high maintenance and he's difficult And that what a sad, sad thing.

Yet it is a true story. Many don't have any understanding concerning Bipolarity and often don't grace the person or go the second mile in the relationship. I am telling you that if You know someone who is bipolar, they did not choose that, they don't want to be a person who suffers from bipolarism and you as a Christian, it will challenge you your patience, it will challenge you in extending grace and all the other Christian virtues that we are supposed to demonstrate.

But please, please grace them and go the second mile. If you can see that that person is ill, they have and they in the heart of their hearts will do cry out at least to God and maybe even be to be honest with those round them. No one wants to be like that. It is a prison of torment in and of its self.

So please, please have an understanding and understand somehow, some way come to the understanding that is not that true person. That's not who they want to be. They have a malady, they have a weakness if you will. I'm gonna give some rules out here. I say rules. They are instruction for individuals who are bipolars perhaps that are listening or someone You know that is bipolar.

You could share this with them. And I think that pretty, pretty much on target with these. Number one, do get help. If you suspect you are suffering from some sort of mental illness, please, please do get help. We've got to stop the stigma, the stigma of mental illness. We don't judge and we don't look down on people who have broken legs and have to have a cast.

Well, the mind can be broken also. And so somehow some way do get help. And I cannot convey strong enough, get expert specialist help as so many people who have been under the care of a primary care physician, a family physician, and I'm not judging them and speaking ill of anyone, but I spent many, many years in a merry-go-round with very, very little success concerning my depression because I was under a primary care specialist.

It was when I got expert specialist help that I began to see some good, good results and some stability and some help in my life. So I would, I would just, I can't tell you how important this is, go to your family physician, share the problem, but please, please consider asking for them to make an appointment with a specialist. Do stay on your medications.

If you are on medications or you're put on medications, stay on your medications. Let me say that again. Stay on your medications. And I would tell you this is very, very important. Alongside of medications, don't add vitamins or supplements without the doctor's knowledge. You have no idea that sometimes supplements don't play well with medications and the doctor, your physician needs to know everything you're taking, any type of vitamin, any type of supplement alongside your medications.

Don't almost consider vitamins and supplements as medications and you don't know if they're gonna play well together and if they're going to get along, what a mess you can have if you don't have your doctor's knowledge. Do get plenty of consistent sleep. Sleep is at the top of the list in importance. It will trigger a, especially with a bipolar one, it will trigger an episode if someone has, doesn't have good consistent sleep.

If you don't sleep well seek some help and get some help there. Sleep is I, I can't say it's number one, but sleep is, if it's, if it's not number one, it's it's number one and a half. It is very, very important that you get plenty of consistent sleep. You need sleep. You do not need to suffer from a lack of sleep. If you're not sleeping well get some help in that matter. Do exercise, burn off any nervous energy and I would say endurance type training or especially in this area, aerobics, aerobic exercise where you get the heart rate up and you move above your sitting heart rate.

It is very important. It will pay dividends. Do have a prayer support group. We don't often comprehend the power and the benefits that prayer brings. Prayer sometimes is a mystery to us, but prayer definitely can pay great, great dividends. Have a prayer support group, people who pray for you and they love you and you have no idea and only heaven will know how much help you got because of the prayers of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Be humble before God. We are frail beings. Acknowledge that you can't fix yourself. You are not to be the lone ranger. Be humble before God when you mess up. If you cause a breach in a relationship, be quick to apologize and be quick to call upon God's power and God's strength in your life.

And again, apologize quickly. If you have done something to harm someone through your speech or your actions, apologize quickly that, oh adage that time heals. That's not necessarily true. Apologize quickly. I believe that if we apologize quickly, we will find more grace than we ever thought anyone would ever give us. So apologize quickly. If you have done something that is caused a breach in a relationship, don't be me centered.

You are not at the center of the universe and the world does not revolve around you. So many times with mental illness, the individuals will have a touch of self-importance that goes way over the top. But understand that you are one human being on this planet of over 7 billion and the world does not revolve around you.

Never have that mindset, never have that attitude. So there is our talk concerning bipolarism, and I can express to you how dangerous it is to go untreated and have one of these bipolar one, two, or three maladies in your life. Please, please get help. You can be helped. You need help if you have this, and it'll make a world of difference in your life and those around you.

And You know God loves you and God wants to bless you and God wants you to feel good. And so open your heart afresh and anew to God and humble yourself. Get the help that you need. Well, God bless you, and we'll meet again soon,

Speaker 0 (18m 50s): And. that concludes our broadcast today. Please don't forget to subscribe to the podcast through Apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Plus check us out at our Facebook page or  brevistalk.com and take a look at our blog and remember, be kind. Always be kind.