Bipolar disorder and memory Loss
Since I was officially diagnosed with Bipolar Type 1 disorder in February of 2000 I have noticed a continued gradual "degeneration" (for lack of a better term) in my memory recall abilities. I used to be a master of quickly recalling trivial knowledge. Things I had no idea had embedded themselves into my brain would easily come to mind when needed. Combine that with a higher than average IQ, a love for reading books and magazines (I used to read at least one new book a week, and would spend hours at the library reading through various articles from a variety of magazines covering much of the vast periodical racks), and what used to be a constant thirst for new knowledge; and the result was a mental power house with few rivals amongst any of my peers.
But that individual seems to be a shadow in my past. I still read a lot of articles and news on the internet, but I rarely remember much of what I read beyond a few days. In the past 52 weeks, I can only recall finishing two books, and each one of those took me several weeks to make it from cover to cover. I rarely pick up a magazine these days, and couldn't tell you what I read in the last one I browsed through; even if it had been just hours before. Things I used to remember easily take minutes or even hours for me to recall; even though they are on the very edge of my conscious mind. I can see the images, faces, or even generalizations surrounding what I am wanting to remember; but the answer to the memory that I am wanting to recall just will not cross over to the fore front of my mind.
It is more than just frustrating, it is down right terrifying at times. To have knowledge in your own head that you can not access and recall upon demand, and to realize that the difficulty in doing so seems to be increasing year after year; it scares the shit out of me some days.
I've spent the past 24 hours trying to recall the name of a street that has been renamed in recent years. A street where I had one of my very first jobs, and should pop into my mind as easily as calling the sky blue. Such recall issues seem all too common in recent years. And it's not just long term memory issues. Short term seems to be affected nearly as much on some days. If I don't take notes, jot things down, or send myself reminding voice and emails, I forget day to day items as well.
Well, it would seem as if I'm not alone in this plight. Recent studies have documented similar cases amongst bipolar patients. The following is one such article related to this problem.
- Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder not a behavioral disorder. The primary reason memory is effected in people with bipolar disorder is because the brain controls memory and the brain structures in bipolar people are different.
- Deficits in executive function, learning and attention have all been clearly associated with bipolar disorder. It is therefore, no surprise that memory and bipolar disorder are also related.
- Bipolar and memory loss are related because the steps the process of acquiring and retrieving memory are impacted by the illness.
- In order to have good memory, you need to pay attention and concentrate to hear and get the information you need. You then need to be able to store information and finally to retrieve it. Bipolar seems to affect all of these components of memory. In addition to this the key areas of the brain involved in memory are those that are shown to be structurally different in bipolar disordered patients.
So why is this important?
The memory and bipolar relationship is important to you if you have a loved one with bipolar. Understanding the relationship should help you be compassionate about the difficulties you or your loved one are having.
This is a medical condition. You need to give as much patience and understanding to bipolar and memory loss limitations as you would to those of a stroke victim. Using this same analogy, You also need to put as much effort towards developing methods and skills to assist yourself or your loved ones with these deficits as you would to a stroke victim.
Incredibly, studies have also suggested that treatment with lithium has helped to either slow down , prevent or reverse some of the structural changes in the brain. Does this mean that if you work at developing memory and other skills that you could change the structure of your brain? I think that is possible.
Bipolar and memory loss Tips
Medication
Forgetting your medication can be a pretty big issue. I have worked with many intelligent and competent bipolar people who have trouble remembering to do this. Don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed if this is an issue for you. Remember there is a physical reason for much of your difficulties, but that is not an excuse to not to the best you can to manage your illness. Enlist in the help of family members and friends to help ensure you take your medication.
Short term memory
Write it down! One of the patients I work with frequently would interrupt group session with unrelated ideas. One day we spoke with him about the inappropriateness of this and he replied he was afraid he was going to forget! As a solution we gave him a pad to write down his ideas on. This really seemed to help. It may be that you need visual aids in several places to remind you thoughts, conversations,or ideas that you have. You even may need to write things down during conversations so you can remember what you were talking about. There is no shame at all to working on managing the effects of bipolar and memory loss in this way!
Appointments
Use several different sources for reminders. You can have reminders taped to several places of your house. It is likely that the more visual the better, but you may also need auditory reminders, such as alarm clocks during certain times during the day.Utilize technology! There are many free programs on the internet that offer calendars with reminders. For example Google calendar . Also you can keep online to do lists with a program like tadalist.
Amnesia. Rages and Emotional Events for Adults?
In addition to the day to day troubles with memory that patients with bipolar disorder have, There is also a unique problem with memory that people who work with bipolar patients have observed.
Families that I work with will often say after a rage, or intense emotional outburst, their loved one has difficulty with remembering what happened. Although family members often believe this is a person's way of avoiding taking responsibility for their actions, the pattern is all too frequently observed and documented among bipolar patients to be attributable to that. Emotional outbursts and rages are very seizure like. Seizures have been known to cause these kinds of memory issues.
In the past, I thought the memory and bipolar connection was related only to rages. Many of the patients would claim not to have remembered many details around the events that happened. They knew something bad had happened, it involved them getting angry and that their friends and loved ones were upset with them. Recently I have also been told by the adults that I had treated as children reporting gaps in their memories that seemed related to highly charged emotional events.