Are you sure. I think this bipolar disorder is grossly under-reported here in Nigeria. The reason why it seems schizophrenia is more prevalent is because it's difficult to hide. But one can have bipolar moods and hide it from his society and even his immediate family.

mali_gnant:

You are in fact right! Bipolar disorder is not common in Nigeria. 80% of psychiatric disorders in Nigeria is schizophrenia. Other 15 - 18% are depression, substance abuse, peerperium psychosis. The remaining 2 - 5% are textbook cases like bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders. Even those textbook cases are often lost to wrong diagnosis.

ACM10: Many posters has done so much justice to this topic that there is little or nothing left for me to add.

(Bi)polar disorder , just like its name sounds is a psychiatric disorder that straddles between two poles/phase.
Rep. Jackson was recently diagnosed of bipolar disoder and is presently on treatment.

We have:
Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorders.

Bipolar I disorder includes episodes of both mania(very elevated mood) and major depression.
Bipolar II disorder includes episodes of both hypomania(elevated mood, but not as severe as in mania) and major depression.

Conditions that predict bipolar disorder include:
1. Depression characterized by psychotic symptoms or psychomotor retardation.
2. Mania or hypomania after antidepressant drug therapy.

Lithium is the drug of choice in treating mania. Lithium is used to control aggressive behaviour and enhance the activity of antidepressants.
Anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine and valproic acid are also used to treat mania.

P.S: Electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) has no place in the management of mania. But it can be used in severe depression when other modalities has failed!

Say only what you are certainly sure of please. it is not part of normal course of treatment but can be used in extreme manic behavior to help subdue it when mood stabilizers and other pharmacological therapy have failed. note the keywords there-'extreme' and 'failure' of mood stabilizers.

it may also used for people who are suicidal or those with rapid cycling

ONILA needs to see this thread, it will do her a whole lot of good.

tee_sexy: As someone who has been diagnosed with BP, it is a very challenging issue with varying highs and lows. Currently on lithium, sodium valporate and Lamotrigine. It affected my marriage and is very disruptive especially the highs and lows after each other. Have seen psychologists as well. Self management is key even though at times it is hard to be bothered. Awareness and understanding and good family, mental health team, friends support network really helps too. Over 11 yrs now with a few admissions, initial ones more extreme. Was preparing for a sports competition on 1st admission. It is now easier but not simpler. In the time I have finished DegreeN while working part time, finished Msc (part time) while working full time and with a very young family. Stress is sometimes a trigger and I have never smoked weed. Glad to see positive and informed comments on NL. Hope this helps with ur quest for answers and it is something that needs to be Discussed and aired, as sometimes we just cover it up as Kolo, madness or someone doin u. Still trusting God for total healing. And to g*** spoilers pls add something productive and helpful even if u want to mention d now unmentionable . Will see if I can add some websites

Thanks for sharing your experience. Mental health disorder discussion is something people shy away because of our society perception of people with such yet it is something many people struggle with everyday. more open discussion is certainly needed on mental health disorders because it is real and nothing to be ashamed of and there is help and treatment available for suffers

i had most of the symptoms of bpd in my early twenties and my teens,moods would flatuate from very high to very low,and in most of phases i would e very creative and i would write these beautiful and deep poems ,but most of them were often dark and sad, however there is a dearth of mental health facilities and you know as someone with BPD,there is always a need to self medicate to stabilize these moods and its done unknowingly,you will probably see people taking alcohol , cannabis and and ciggaretes.
Now i think the mood swings have stabilsed and though i go into my deep,dark phases once in a while,its not as intense as it used to be

whatever boboyekini,not everything is about you,you know

.

why would i want to tell strangers that i am neurotic,to impress them?
i had to find out what the matter with me,that was how desperate i was

mali_gnant:

You are in fact right! Bipolar disorder is not common in Nigeria. 80% of psychiatric disorders in Nigeria is schizophrenia. Other 15 - 18% are depression, substance abuse, peerperium psychosis. The remaining 2 - 5% are textbook cases like bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders. Even those textbook cases are often lost to wrong diagnosis.

One of the way to make the diagnosis of bipolar disorder is when mania or hypomania was precipitated after antidepressant drug therapy.

Only yesterday in the medical advice thread, someone perfectly described a history that resembles panic disorder. A wrong diagnosis was made by the physician and he unfortunately placed him on the therapy for angina pectoris, then later left ventricular failure. But there is no history of dyspnoea, orthopnoea or PND. Ofcourse, his symptoms could not subside and he rushed to the health advice thread after he was unable to observe any noticeable improvement. I was amazed! I never knew that I can ever meet someone having a panic disorder. I advised him to meet a psychiatrist immediately.

The point that I'm trying to make is that some of those textbook cases do occur in Nigeria. But they are lost to wrong diagnosis because our doctors are not properly trained to identify them.

"80% of psychiatric disorders in Nigeria is schizophrenia."

Really?
Kindly share the SOURCE of this data

.

how dop you know that bipolar disorder is not common in Nigeria,how many Nigerians go the psychologist,they go to church instead and any sort of mental or emotional disorders is treated as a spiritual attack,how many psychologist do you know?
i dont even know one.

.

.

ACM10: Many posters has done so much justice to this topic that there is little or nothing left for me to add. SO WHY NOT SHUT UP

(Bi)polar disorder , just like its name sounds HOW DOES IT SOUND
is a psychiatric disorder that straddles STRADDLE You no go kill person
between two poles/phase.
Rep. Jackson was recently diagnosed of bipolar disoder you mean diagnosed with NOT of
and is presently on treatment.

We have:
Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorders.

Bipolar I disorder includes episodes of both mania(very elevated mood) and major depression.
Bipolar II disorder includes episodes of both hypomania(elevated mood, but not as severe as in mania) and major depression.

Conditions that predict bipolar disorder include:
1. Depression characterized by psychotic symptoms or psychomotor retardation.
2. Mania or hypomania after antidepressant drug therapy.

Lithium is the drug of choice in treating mania. Lithium is used to control aggressive behaviour and enhance the activity of antidepressants.
Anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine and valproic acid are also used to treat mania.

P.S: Electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) has no place in the management of mania. But it can be used in severe depression when other modalities has YOU MEAN HAVE failed!

The usual bombastic and egregious diction laced with arrogant and ill-informed assertions

ECT has a well documented http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8296883 place in the treatment of mania.
Naturally I do not expect any retraction or humility
PS Some people could only get to study Medicine through the A level route because they would NEVER pass JAMB English.
The errors in your English are consistent and predictable they STRADDLE a persistent difficulty in negotiating the use of past participles and
a subtle awareness of your difficulties with a tendency to overcompensate with grandiloquent phrases.
Arrogance has NO PLACE in the management of BAD English

There are dearth of information on pattern of comorbid disorders and sexual risk behavior in adolescent onset bipolar disorder in Nigeria. This study
assessed the prevalence and pattern of co-morbid disorders and determined associated factors of sexual
risk behavior among adolescents with bipolar disorder.
Methods: Socio-demographic information was obtained from the adolescents using socio-demographic
questionnaire. Clinical interview, physical examination and laboratory investigations were employed to
establish co-morbid disorders in these adolescents during the outpatient follow up visits over a one year
period.
Results: A total of forty six (46) adolescents with bipolar disorder were followed up over a one year
period. Twenty two (47.8%) of the adolescents had co-morbid disorders with cannabis use disorders,
alcohol use disorders, conduct disorder with or without other psychoactive substance use accounting for
23.9%, 8.7%, 13.0% respectively and HIV infection, though a chance finding accounting for 2.2%. Twenty
one (45.7%) of the adolescents had positive history of sexual risk behavior, which was significantly
associated with presence of co-morbid disorders (p = 0.003), level of religion activities in the adolescents
(p = 0.000), and marital status of the parents (p = 0.021).
Conclusion: When planning interventions for children and adolescents with bipolar disorder, special
attention may need to be focused on group of adolescents with co-morbid disorders and propensity
towards impulsivity and sexual risk behavior. http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1755-7682-2-16.pdf

Jinadu-Josefu:

ur argument and conclusion is as empty as u!.....there is no crime in what d OP has done.....
1. we av medical personnels(psychiatry nurses,matrons,psychologists,psychiatrists etc) on NL that cud give us first hand info from their personal experiences...which we cud learn from and wud b informative.

2. a topic like ds gives room for constructive debate about conflicting ideas about the subject matter...e.g on ds particular thread,we've seen 2 different approaches to resolving the issue....some pple said lithium radicals cud resolve BP disorder while someone came forward with nutritional solution!.....

3. dont believe everything u see on google,there are some universal propangada to spread false knowledge and make d world believe somethings like.....HIV originated from africa monkeys,....Global warming is caused by greenhouse gasses generated by humans **when more than 90% of the world greenhouse gasses are naturally generated ,hw logical is that?**-a bid to sell expensive sources of energy to d rest of d world..

4. Thank God u said 99.5% of what is written here is from google,...that 0.5% that we wud get here cud b a cutting edge....let's learn to learn!

5. One last thing, think deep bro b4 postin nxt tym

...and another DISGUSTING thing about NL is when ppl buy cases that ain't theirs!
U & I knw dat ALL d answers here have been skillfuly PLAGIARISED frm what they must hv checked out on internet first. Then, carefully editing 2 make it seem they ve KNOWN what BD is all along.

Pple like u wait 4 other ppl 2 ddo research 1st den u collate samples and then 'own' d script.

Guess u did dat 4 ur 1st degree thesis (...if u were priviledged 2 have done one.)

it's like me coming out now 2 say:

'NLers, what is XERODEMA PIGMENTOSUM (XP)' just because i want ppl 2 knw what d illness (or d word) is when i could have googled it or reseached on it myself.

And u spoke about 'arguing constructively'.
Hmmm! I guess resorting 2 callin other ppl and their statments 'empty' is arguing contructively

Dr. Ahmed Adame, mental disorder arises when someone loses consciousness of his mental well-being and the inability of the person to reason well. He informed that in recent times, cases of mental illness have continued to witness dramatic increase in the number of patients reported on a daily basis. Dr. Adame noted that a mentally ill person is not necessarily mad or insane, stressing that the primary cause of mental disorder is not far fetched from happenings in and around the environment. He explained that the most common types of mental disorder are bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia which are caused by use and abuse of substances, depression and maniac conditions. He emphasised that the disorder usually arises from a combination of factors. But in the African context, mental disorder is often linked to spiritual attack and genetic vulnerabilities. Investigation revealed that over 68 percent of mental illness in women is traceable to their youth and lifestyle as teenagers. And sexual abuse is said to play a significant role in the causation of female mental disorder.Evidence in the past revealed that one person out of every five Nigerians has one form of mental illness. This is according to the federal ministry of health committee report of 1994. Yet the government has failed to step up structures that will accommodate mentally ill people. The economic factor has been a major contributor to the increased rate of mental illness. According to mental health experts, depression from unemployment and social stigmatisation are generally linked to schizophrenia.So far, the federal government has not come up with a policy to expand health care facilities that will cover a large number of patients.The World Health Organisation, WHO recommends five percent of a country’s GDP to be set aside for mental health care. But in Nigeria, less than one percent is allocated to mental health.

http://www.nigeriannewsworld.com/content/contending-mental-disorder

aribisala0: 80% of psychiatric disorders in Nigeria is schizophrenia.
Kindly share the SOURCE of this data

We were told on several occasions during our training. It's in my lecture and posting notes my dear. I don't know who conducted the study. But several consultants and senior regs keeps telling us that about 80% of psychiatric cases in Nigeria are schizophrenia. The preponderance of cases we saw during our psychiatric posting are schizophrenia. One of my lecturers that made reference to that figure is Dr. Onyeama. You can email him if you are in dire need of the source of the data.

ACM10: Many posters has done so much justice to this topic that there is little or nothing left for me to add.

(Bi)polar disorder , just like its name sounds is a psychiatric disorder that straddles between two poles/phase.
Rep. Jackson was recently diagnosed of bipolar disoder and is presently on treatment.

We have:
Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorders.

Bipolar I disorder includes episodes of both mania(very elevated mood) and major depression.
Bipolar II disorder includes episodes of both hypomania(elevated mood, but not as severe as in mania) and major depression.

Conditions that predict bipolar disorder include:
1. Depression characterized by psychotic symptoms or psychomotor retardation.
2. Mania or hypomania after antidepressant drug therapy.

Lithium is the drug of choice in treating mania. Lithium is used to control aggressive behaviour and enhance the activity of antidepressants.
Anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine and valproic acid are also used to treat mania.

P.S: Electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) has no place in the management of mania. But it can be used in severe depression when other modalities has failed!

1. There are several factors to consider in choosing a drug
2. ECT is still used...there are indications for it.

ACM10: Many posters has done so much justice to this topic that there is little or nothing left for me to add.

(Bi)polar disorder , just like its name sounds is a psychiatric disorder that straddles between two poles/phase.
Rep. Jackson was recently diagnosed of bipolar disoder and is presently on treatment.

We have:
Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorders.

Bipolar I disorder includes episodes of both mania(very elevated mood) and major depression.
Bipolar II disorder includes episodes of both hypomania(elevated mood, but not as severe as in mania) and major depression.

Conditions that predict bipolar disorder include:
1. Depression characterized by psychotic symptoms or psychomotor retardation.
2. Mania or hypomania after antidepressant drug therapy.

Lithium is the drug of choice in treating mania. Lithium is used to control aggressive behaviour and enhance the activity of antidepressants.
Anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine and valproic acid are also used to treat mania.

P.S: Electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) has no place in the management of mania. But it can be used in severe depression when other modalities has failed!

1. There are several factors to consider in choosing a drug
2. ECT is still used...there are indications for it.

aribisala0:

The usual bombastic and egregious diction laced with arrogant and ill-informed assertions

ECT has a well documented http://www.ncbi.nlm .nih.gov/pubmed/8296883 place in the treatment of mania.
Naturally I do not expect any retraction or humility
PS Some people could only get to study Medicine through the A level route because they would NEVER pass JAMB English.

I've told you that English language is not my mother tongue. I don't know why you continue to place emphasis on less important issues. Fluency in English language is not related to brilliance or intelligence.

I'm a professional my dear. You are wasting your time. I will continue to receive my alert every month. I'm here to have fun, learn and impart knowledge.

I'm not bothered. Feel free to correct me. My primary aim is to communicate. So far, I've achieved that goal.

Finally, thanks for the correction.

ACM10:

We were told on several occasions during our training. It's in my lecture and posting notes my dear. I don't know who conducted the study. But several consultants and senior regs keeps telling us that about 80% of psychiatric cases in Nigeria are schizophrenia. The preponderance of cases we saw during our psychiatric posting are schizophrenia. One of my lecturers that made reference to that figure is Dr. Onyeama. You can email him if you are in dire need of the source of the data.

Surely you know that is not a good enough way to cite data "we were told" clearly you still reason like an undergraduate.
Why not google "Epidemiology of mental disorders in NIGERIA" or "Prevalence of mental disorders in Nigeria"
Anxiety tends to be the most common disorder worldwide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_mental_disorders

and even without any study I expect there would be more substance and alcohol misuse disorders than Schizophrenia even in Saudi Arabia or Iran not to talk of NIgeria

THERE IS NO WHERE IN THE WORLD where schizophrenia accounts for 80% of Mental disorder except maybe is a SCHIZOPHRENIA HOSPITAL if such a thing exists.

sigmundfreud:
1. There are several factors to consider in choosing a drug

I agree with you

2. ECT is still used...there are indications for it.

Yes, ECT is used(though rarely) in severe manic phase when other modalities have failed. My apology to ~Sissy~ and other casual observers.

ACM10:


I've told you that English language is not my mother tongue. I don't know why you continue to place emphasis on less important issues. Fluency in English language is not related to brilliance or intelligence.

I'm a professional my dear. You are wasting your time. I will continue to receive my alert every month. I'm here to have fun, learn and impart knowledge.

I'm not bothered. Feel free to correct me. My primary aim is to communicate. So far, I've achieved that goal.

Finally, thanks for the correction.

A LEVEL DOCTOR
There is clear correlation between language and Intelligence. In Nigeria English is the language of instruction and your excuse that it is not your mother tongue would hold water if that were not the case.It is doubtful that you do not have the same problem in your mother tongue.
The problem with your communication is you endlessly spout assertion after assertion ALL UNFOUNDED revealing a lazy dogmatic mind.

You ignored the main point about your FALSE assertion on ECT and MANIA.Do you stand by your claim??
or on the 80% SCHIZOPHRENIA prevalence claim??
I am sorry to repeat it but you really reason like an undergraduate

aribisala0:
Surely you know that is not a good enough way to cite data "we were told" clearly you still reason like an undergraduate.
Why not google "Epidemiology of mental disorders in NIGERIA" or "Prevalence of mental disorders in Nigeria"
Anxiety tends to be the most common disorder worldwide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_mental_disorders

and even without any study I expect there would be more substance and alcohol misuse disorders than Schizophrenia even in Saudi Arabia or Iran not to talk of NIgeria

THERE IS NO WHERE IN THE WORLD where schizophrenia accounts for 80% of Mental disorder except maybe is a SCHIZOPHRENIA HOSPITAL if such a thing exists.

When is it a norm to cite wikipedia in an intellectual discourse? Surely you must be practicing in the moon to place substance and alcohol misuse disorders as the commonest case presentation in Nigeria. The most commonly abused substance in Nigeria is alcohol followed by marijuana. You hardly see an addict present to the hospital. It's during the treatment for other medical co-morbidities that we notices that he's hooked to a particular substance. BTW, how many drug rehab and detox facilities do we have in Nigeria?

Finally, I expect you to provide the statistics of the cases of mental disorders in Nigeria to challenge the 80% data for schizophrenia put forward by me. I will most likely ignore you if your counter-argument is based on what you thought.
Ehie provided the email of Dr. Onyeama, and I expect you to get in touch with him to challenge his claim that 80% of mental cases seen at the hospitals in Nigeria are schizophrenia.

@ACM10
Pls can u get d source from Dr Onyeama? Thanks

ACM10:

When is it a norm to cite wikipedia in an intellectual discourse? Surely you must be practicing in the moon to place substance and alcohol misuse disorders as the commonest case presentation in Nigeria. The most commonly abused substance in Nigeria is alcohol followed by marijuana. You hardly see an addict present to the hospital. It's during the treatment for other medical co-morbidities that we notices that he's hooked to a particular substance. BTW, how many drug rehab and detox facilities do we have in Nigeria?

Finally, I expect you to provide the statistics of the cases of mental disorders in Nigeria to challenge the 80% data for schizophrenia put forward by me. I will most likely ignore you if your counter-argument is based on what you thought.
Ehie provided the email of Dr. Onyeama, and I expect you to get in touch with him to challenge his claim that 80% of mental cases seen at the hospitals in Nigeria are schizophrenia.

You see why English is a problem? You do not know what a citation is .Did i "cite" Wikipedia? NO I am not citing Wikipedia. If I did it would be clear what I am relying on from Wiki
Again another comprehension problem; do you understand the meaning of PREVALENCE??
Is prevalence the same as Case Presentation.
Anyway maybe DR ONYEAMA is not aware but there was a WHO epidemiology study on Prevalence of Mental disorder worldwide and Nigeria was one of the countries studied not least because it has the largest population of Blacks and many good Psychiatrists(NOT DR ONYAMA!)
Finally d not kid yourself that you are engaged in intellectual discourse.Don't be ridiculous!

Wow, I'm surprised I haven't seen a comment like this:

[In strong yoruba or igbo accent]
IT IS A LIE!!! All these things are really demons tormenting u unprayerful people.
Keep deceiveing urself and believing whatever the whiteman tells u (like it wasn't the white man who introduced christianity).
They are the demons mami water and dagon.
Better go to church for serious deliverance or u will just go to HELL FIRE!!!
END TIME IS NEAR O!!!

ACM10:

When is it a norm to cite wikipedia in an intellectual discourse? Surely you must be practicing in the moon to place substance and alcohol misuse disorders as the commonest case presentation in Nigeria. The most commonly abused substance in Nigeria is alcohol followed by marijuana. You hardly see an addict present to the hospital. It's during the treatment for other medical co-morbidities that we notices that he's hooked to a particular substance. BTW, how many drug rehab and detox facilities do we have in Nigeria?

Finally, I expect you to provide the statistics of the cases of mental disorders in Nigeria to challenge the 80% data for schizophrenia put forward by me. I will most likely ignore you if your counter-argument is based on what you thought.
Ehie provided the email of Dr. Onyeama, and I expect you to get in touch with him to challenge his claim that 80% of mental cases seen at the hospitals in Nigeria are schizophrenia.

You see why English is a problem? You do not know what a citation is .Did i "cite" Wikipedia? NO I am not citing Wikipedia. If I did it would be clear what I am relying on from Wiki
Again another comprehension problem; do you understand the meaning of PREVALENCE??
Is prevalence the same as Case Presentation.
Any I said ANXIETY is the commonest Mental Disorder please read and comprehend!!
Rather than RANT and RAVE why not say what you believe to be the case and WHY

Anyway maybe DR ONYEAMA is not aware but there was a WHO epidemiology study on Prevalence of Mental disorder worldwide and Nigeria was one of the countries studied not least because it has the largest population of Blacks and many good Psychiatrists(NOT DR ONYAMA!)
Finally d not kid yourself that you are engaged in intellectual discourse.Don't be ridiculous!

ACM10:

When is it a norm to cite wikipedia in an intellectual discourse? Surely you must be practicing in the moon to place substance and alcohol misuse disorders as the commonest case presentation in Nigeria. The most commonly abused substance in Nigeria is alcohol followed by marijuana. You hardly see an addict present to the hospital. It's during the treatment for other medical co-morbidities that we notices that he's hooked to a particular substance. BTW, how many drug rehab and detox facilities do we have in Nigeria?

Finally, I expect you to provide the statistics of the cases of mental disorders in Nigeria to challenge the 80% data for schizophrenia put forward by me. I will most likely ignore you if your counter-argument is based on what you thought.
Ehie provided the email of Dr. Onyeama, and I expect you to get in touch with him to challenge his claim that 80% of mental cases seen at the hospitals in Nigeria are schizophrenia.

You see why English is a problem? You do not know what a citation is .Did i "cite" Wikipedia? NO I am not citing Wikipedia. If I did it would be clear what I am relying on from Wiki
Again another comprehension problem; do you understand the meaning of PREVALENCE??
Is prevalence the same as Case Presentation.
Where did I say alcohol/substance misuse is commonest?? ENGLISH HARD OO!!
Anyway I said ANXIETY is the commonest Mental Disorder please read and comprehend!!
Rather than RANT and RAVE why not say what you believe to be the case and WHY

Anyway maybe DR ONYEAMA is not aware but there was a WHO epidemiology study on Prevalence of Mental disorder worldwide and Nigeria was one of the countries studied not least because it has the largest population of Blacks and many good Psychiatrists(NOT DR ONYAMA!)
Finally d not kid yourself that you are engaged in intellectual discourse.Don't be ridiculous!