[crystalrose]

what family members can pass bipolar disorder onto another family member?

Originally Posted by crystalrose

what family members can pass bipolar disorder onto another family member?

Anyone can.

It is a hereditary thing... hopefully none of family gets it...

WAS in my family - we're ALL messed up - No Joke, sad

[VickiesPath]

It is passed down through direct blood lines....it CAN be passed but will not necessarily be passed for sure. I'll used my own family as an example.

There are a cluster of illnesses that are grouped together because of the chemicals in the brain that are involved in their function: depression, bipolar illness, schizophrenia and Tourette's. There are others but those are the ones I can think of right now.

All of these relatives were on my father's side of the family. My grandmother (father's mother) had either depression or bipolar, we didn't know for sure. Two of her brothers killed themselves so obviously they also had either depression or were bipolar. Grandma suffered from depression but did not kill herself; at age 71, she suffered a stroke and then later died. She had seven children, one was my father. Of her seven children, one killed himself and one has suffered with depression all her life. Those seven children had a total of 19 grandchildren. Out of the 19 grandchildren, one is schizophrenic and one (me) is bipolar. Out of all the great grandchildren that we know of, one (my brother's son) has bipolar and Tourette's. There might be others but we are not aware of them.

So, in summary, the gene is carried down and the latest research shows that it can be passed down and even then might not be triggered by a particular event and lie dormant within a person their entire life. In another person, some life event might trigger it. So, mental illness can be quite a mystery.

Hope this helps a little.

[crystalrose]

ok. So you can get it from grandparents, aunt and uncles and cousins, nieces, nephews as well as parents and siblings, any blood relations. Just trying to work out who could have passed it to me if that was the cause. I know that there are other causes also but it was funny when i told people in my family that hav bipolar they got guilty all of a sudden and said don't look at me i didn't pass it to you.

I don't understand the guilty emotion from them, unless they have issues too and don't let anyone know.

Cuz believe me if it's in the family - it's in th family blood line - All it is - is a chemical imbalance in the brain.

EX:tranmitters aren't opening or closing in correct rhythm, so something is needed to connect them or balance them.

It is a fact 80% of the nation has come kind of chemical imbalance

A psychologist told me that studies show it may skip several generations, which means we may not have any clue where it came from, particularly since older generations just didn't get treated or diagnosed for such things. Those things were kept quiet.

[VickiesPath]

It's not quite that simple, Crystalrose. Think of it as a flow chart. First, at the top, are your grandparents. Then coming down are your parents and their brothers and sisters. Then coming down from them are their children. Then coming down from that level (or YOUR level) of relatives, are any children you or your cousins have. Now: It doesn't make sense that your aunt could pass something on to you. Her blood line doesn't go to you. But it does go to HER child. Get it? It's kinda like who's womb bore whom. And who's genes went to whom.

Also, the way neurotransmitters function in certain illnesses are not necessarily the way they act in other illnesses even though they may be the same neurotransmitter. For example, I recall talking to a young man here on PC who's doctor prescribed a dopamine reuptake inhibitor for one illness and also prescribed a dopamine production enhancer to be taken simultaneously. He was concerned that these were two medications canceling out the results of each other. I explained to him that one produced more dopamine and the other simply allowed the dopamine to remain between the nerve synapses for a longer period of time, thus enabling the messaged between neurons to be more effective. The point was, just because it was dopamine being affected by both medications didn't mean the meds were doing the same job in both instances.

I guess this is why we all aren't pdocs, eh? This is giving me a headache. How about you guys?

[BNLsMOM]

On my father's side, his brother suffers from something mental, but hasn't ever been open about it. My father's father killed himself, and that's as much as we know.

On my mother's side, my grandfather was taking lithium for bipolar and became stable. My aunt suffered from panic attacks and anxiety, my cousin suffers from anxiety and depression, my other cousin has ADHD and possibly bipolar, my other aunt has ADHD, my sister probably has bipolar but hasn't sought help, and I have bipolar. My mom probably has social anxiety, but hasn't wanted medication.

It seems my oldest son is suffering from depression and anxiety and I suspect ADHD and/or bipolar. (We're working on that now)

It runs rampant in my family.

[BNLsMOM]

Interesting point, Vickie. To make my post more organized:

Paternal grandfather - suicide, had two sons, passed something to my uncle, my father was spared. My uncle had 4 sons, none are affected as far as we know. My father had two daughters. I am diagnosed, my sister may also suffer.

My maternal grandfather had bipolar, had three daughters, all three have some form of anxiety and or depression. My mother had two daughters, I am diagnosed, my sister may also suffer. My other aunts each had two children, one child from each aunt was affected.

Wait, that's still confusing...

(While we're at it, can someone explain what a third cousin, twice removed is? LOL)

[Anneinside]

Originally Posted by crystalrose

ok. So you can get it from grandparents, aunt and uncles and cousins, nieces, nephews as well as parents and siblings, any blood relations. Just trying to work out who could have passed it to me if that was the cause. I know that there are other causes also but it was funny when i told people in my family that hav bipolar they got guilty all of a sudden and said don't look at me i didn't pass it to you.

Not exactly, you get it from your parents, who could have gotten it from their parents, and their parents, and so forth. You can't get it from your aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews or siblings. The presence of bipolar in them can from their parents and on back.

[lonegael]

One of the big problems with research in this area is that it still is unclear if it the actial Bipolar disorder that gets inherited or if it is the way that a glitch int the nerve/biotransmitter system is expressed. You can carry the gene for this glitch like your sister, and if it is not triggered in the right way, you won't display the disorder. Your brother may have it triggered at a different time or a differnt way and only have depression. You child my be triggered the right way at the right time and develop full-blown Bipolar disorder. He'd have the gene from you, just as you and your siblings had it from one of your parents, who may have never been triggered, either. Another of your children my present with Aspbergers, which also implicates the way that signals are transmitted in the brain (among other things we do not understand).
NO, you cannot inherit insanity from your children, inspite of all the bumperstickers to the contrary. They just drive you crazy purely by themselves