I just read a press release entitled “Patients With Bipolar Disorder at Increased Risk for Wide Range of Health Problems.” The study, conducted Thomson Reuters, found that “patients with bipolar disorder were at greater risk for a wide range of medical conditions than a control group of patients with no mental health diagnoses.” I’m not surprised. I think two factors are at work here:

• Bipolar disorder: Everyone knows that stress is a major contributing factor for a host of illnesses, and what’s more stressful than living with bipolar disorder? Bipolar is not just a mental illness. It is a physical illness, too. A single episode of full mania completely exhausts the person who had the misfortune of experiencing it. Likewise, depression can make the entire body ache.
• Poor treatment options: Many of the medications used to treat bipolar cause other health health-related problems, including weight gain, nausea, dizzyness, impaired thinking, and fatigue, to name only a few. It’s no surprise, then, that people taking these medications are more likely to head to their doctors for a “wide range of health problems.”

How do the results of this report stack up to your experience with bipolar? Other than seeing your psychiatrist for issues directed related to bipolar, do you feel that you tend to visit your doctor more often than the average person for other health-related issues? Do you attribute these other health related issues to bipolar or the medications you’re taking to treat bipolar? Do you find the results of the report surprising?

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From Psych Central's website:
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    Last reviewed: 28 Jul 2009