This past year has had some challenges and it made me finally wonder, does bipolar get worse as you get older. So I came back here to ask questions, the consensus seemed at the time yes. But I wanted to mention. I have in the past been active, going to regular water aerobics classes, I was a member and group facilitator for NAMI mental health support group. I saw people, I spent time reading about all types of topics both fiction and nonfiction. So I didnt depend solely on my meds to keep me healthy. My mood episodes always start with mania, slide down to mixed and whir around a little then fall into depression. I had a mood episode that started in Feb and I guess ended late May but it took away my support group that I had depended on for over 4 years. Then water class became sporadic. I hyperfocused on my sons engagement party so that summer basically passed me by. And now I cant read, I cant focus. I can barely stand movies. Now I went back into another episode in Sept and I'm struggling to climb back up.
So while I am pro med, I am also pro activity. I just cant figure out how to get back what was once me. My T wont let me go back to NAMI. It was just too much for me. It has more to do with the anxiety. Looking back at what I wrote I guess this whole year has been almost one long episode of cycles.

[Moose72]

ITs amazing what we see when we keep track of our cycles in bipolar. You're a lot more active than I am.

[roads]

There are inevitable physical changes that occur as we age, nearly all of which also affect brain chemistry to some degree. Other physical events (in my case, breaking a bone in my late sixties) also brought a major physical change: I already suffered from moderate arthritis, but the break increased the inflammation--especially at the Sita of the break.
My bipolar disorder was intricately connected with all of these changes, and my pdoc worked with me and the rest of my medical team to make sure we were in tandem with adjustments.

The physical and mental activity is so important, emomom, along with the right meds ... and it all becomes a multidimensional puzzle as we age. I've found, for me, that rest and detox is also important.

Best wishes.
Roadie

I just seemed to have lost my activities little by little. I feel like once I can get some energy back I can get back to water class, I find the water soothing. But the lack of focus and concentration! That brings me to tears to lose my books.

[BipolaRNurse]

That's happened to me too, emomom. I used to be a voracious reader, but now I have books sitting around my house that are still unread after being given them as gifts two or three years ago. It just kills my soul to look at them and want to read them, but be unable to because I cannot focus on reading. It's beyond frustrating!

I still haven't figured out if this fits in with my Swiss-cheese memory and the fact that I have "menopause brain" (my BFF's code word for short-term memory loss), or if it's due to the bipolar itself, or the meds. Or all of the above. I thought the ability to read would come back when I finally got stable during the late summer/early fall, but either I wasn't stable long enough or the ability to concentrate on reading is just gone for good.

[BlueInanna]

Me too , missing my books. It's like life happened & passed me by. I read a chapter of Hunger Games to my son the other day & it was wonderful. We talked about how great books are and you feel like you're there with them in the story. I think we can all get it back, take it slow & easy.

[Victoria'smom]

I don't know if you have a barns and Noble but they have a monthly book club. I know a lot of libraries do too. That way you have a month to finish and digest book. It's only commitment is 1x per month.

[venusss]

To determine if bipolar itself gets worse, you'd need totally med-free, drug free and booze free bipolars to observe.

Now how many such are out there?

As for bipolar getting worse with age... life itself gets worse once you peek in your twenties. Memory gets worse (for example languages... you are never able to fully learn new language after age of about 12 I heard. You will learn, but never perfectly, they say). Any "normal" who started uni in their 40s could tell you. Life experiences wear you down a bit. Kids are enthusiastic for everything, adolescents somewhat are... adults? Look at any noble cause protest. Very few older people there. Did their tolerance for wars, bad economic decisions and environmental damage get "worse" with age?

I think it has something to do with novelty of things. Seriously, for people in their 50s not many things are so "new" anymore and there maybe previous bad experience.

Imho, enthusiasm has little to do with bipolar and more with life. Yeah, you can get it back, but it's more about... attitude. I have a little excercise I do... "let's pretend you came from far off Galaxy and this is your first day on the planet". Try it. It makes things interesting.

[BipolaRNurse]

You know, I wanted to disagree with what I think of are stereotypes of aging people, but as someone in her mid-50s.....well, I can't find much to disagree with, Venus. You have an interesting perspective on life, and what you say here makes a lot of sense. It IS a matter of attitude, and many of us in our later years are indeed pretty jaded.....you know, been there, done that, got the T-shirt to prove it.

But I really like your analogy of pretending to be from another galaxy and this is our first day on earth. That is going to stick in my brain-pan for sure. Thank you!

[anneo59]

Originally Posted by Roadie

There are inevitable physical changes that occur as we age, nearly all of which also affect brain chemistry to some degree. Other physical events (in my case, breaking a bone in my late sixties) also brought a major physical change: I already suffered from moderate arthritis, but the break increased the inflammation--especially at the Sita of the break.
My bipolar disorder was intricately connected with all of these changes, and my pdoc worked with me and the rest of my medical team to make sure we were in tandem with adjustments.

The physical and mental activity is so important, emomom, along with the right meds ... and it all becomes a multidimensional puzzle as we age. I've found, for me, that rest and detox is also important.

Best wishes.
Roadie

Amen Roadie! Thinking of you with love and care! Can relate, right behind you in age and some experiences, as you've related!

[PrairieCat]

Originally Posted by BipolaRNurse

You know, I wanted to disagree with what I think of are stereotypes of aging people, but as someone in her mid-50s.....well, I can't find much to disagree with, Venus. You have an interesting perspective on life, and what you say here makes a lot of sense. It IS a matter of attitude, and many of us in our later years are indeed pretty jaded.....you know, been there, done that, got the T-shirt to prove it.

But I really like your analogy of pretending to be from another galaxy and this is our first day on earth. That is going to stick in my brain-pan for sure. Thank you!

Hey, thanks for the word, "jaded." That I am. At least right now. I am 72. Birthday coming up. Yikes.
Yet, I sometimes feel like I'm 35 but about 100 times wiser. It still doesn't help much right now. Going off Lamictal presently.
"Jaded" PrairieCat