Bipolar disorder is best controlled when treatment is constant. Mood changes can happen even when there are not any breaks in care, though. Tell your doctor about any changes right away. Your doctor may be able to help you put off a flare-up. Work with your doctor and talk about your concerns and choices. This can help make treatment work better.

Keep a chart of your daily mood, treatments, sleep patterns, and life events. This may help you and your family learn more about the illness. It can also help your doctor track and treat it better.

Treatment may be:

REFERENCES:

Bipolar disorder. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at:https://www.dynamed.com/condition/bipolar-disorder. Updated September 9, 2019. Accessed October 10, 2019.

Bipolar disorder in adults. National Institute of Mental Health website. Available at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder-tr-15-3679/index.shtml. Updated October 2018. Accessed October 10, 2019.

Yatham LN, Kennedy SH, et al. Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) 2018 guidelines for the management of patients with bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord. 2018 Mar;20(2):97-170.

Last reviewed September 2019 by EBSCO Medical Review Board Rimas Lukas, MD