Autoimmune disease could be a root cause of your bipolar disorder. Root cause as in contributing factor to why you experienced severe depression or mood swings in the first place.

I talk in my book about my issues with chronic illness (Fybromalgia, CFS/ME, pain) as ‘affecting’ illnesses. I wasn’t sure how to write that.

But the basic point is your bipolar illness states didn’t erupt out of nowhere, appear from a bodily vacuum. And it doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Related post: What To Do if Autoimmune Disease Caused Your Bipolar Disorder

Something – or many things – tiggered it’s arrival in your life. And those somethings are not a ‘chemical imbalance’ from your genetic profile. Even if you are BP-1.

There is no proven chemical imbalance in a mentally ill person’s brain. It was a great hypothesis that was proven false. Yes, there are things going on and your neurotransmitters are a part of the whole picture.

Autoimmune Reactions May Have Triggered Your Bipolar Illness States. Click To Tweet

But the ‘why’ of it happening or starting is not fully understood. And there are a multitude of things (emotional trauma, chemical exposure, undiagnosed food sensitivities, etc.) that could have contributed to you becoming ill.

Infection, Autoimmune Disease Linked to Depression

Autoimmune disease is another possible contributing or causative factor of bipolar (whatever form) illness and of depression:

“People who had been treated for a severe infection were 62% more likely to have developed a mood disorder than those who never had one. An autoimmune disease increased the risk by 45%.”

“Multiple infections or the combination of severe infection and an autoimmune disease boosted the odds of developing depression, bipolar disorder, or another mood disorder even further.”

Source: Harvard Health Education.

That is a much better way to understand and think about this illness. Much better than all the ‘advocates’ out there who don’t understand the issue fully and keep promoting misinformation.

Misinformation (“you have to take psychotropic medications, you have a chemical imbalance”) that leads to many becoming more ill, disabled and on multiple toxic psychotropic medications they did not even need in the first place.

Related post: Understanding the Placebo Effect of Antidepressants.

I want it to stop. And will keep fighting to make that happen.

Inflammatory Responses from Autoimmune Disease Can Cause Depression

Here is some new thinking about what is going on in the body of a depressed person, based on legitimate science:

“Increasing amounts of data suggest that inflammatory responses have an important role in the pathophysiology of depression.”

“Depressed patients have been found to have higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines, acute phase proteins, chemokines and cellular adhesion molecules.”

Source: Cytokines Sing The Blues: Inflammation and the Pathogenesis of Depression.

Manic Depression Has a Genetic Predisposition, Depression Does Not

If you are actually Manic Depressive – now called Bipolar 1 Disorder – then yes, it has been proven that their is a genetic predisposition to the illness. Depression has been proven to NOT be a genetic-based illness. There are many potential causes and contributing factors to an onset of depression.

Related post: Fatigue, Depression & Brain Fog Can Be Symptoms of an Autoimmune Reaction.

But even with a predisposition (i.e. someone in your familial history diagnosed Manic Depressive) the chance of becoming ill is relatively low.

I’ve read a few different numbers – but it seems around 10% risk if one parent is diagnosed with the illness.

Majority of Those Given Bipolar Diagnoses are Not Manic Depressive

The majority of folks who get labeled ‘bipolar’ these days are not Manic Depressive. They have experienced depression, possibly have Major Depressive Disorder (as serious as Manic Depression in my opinion but a very different illness) or other issues.

The bipolar diagnosis (Bipolar 2 Disorder, Cyclothymic) gets thrown in when the drugs they give you make you worse… such as irritability, anxiousness, inability to sleep, hyperactivity, impulsivity, etc.

Cybalta is the most prescribed antidepressant in the U.S. Guess what a main side effect of Cymbalta is? Suicidal impulses.

Cymbalta is so dangerous the FDA gave the drug a black box warning. Cymbalta is what Ely Lily came up with after their Prozac (chemicals in the drug) patents expired. Similar stuff but they threw in some pain drugs too, so you can get more addicted even faster in addition to become suicidal.

Lovely.

Related post: The Most Prescribed Antidepressant in America.

The only thing that has been proven by science is that there is no identifiable chemical imbalance causing a mood disorder.

The reality is doctors do not know why you became ill. And they lie to patients about this to the point of being able to be diagnosed as one of their DSM personality disorder category diagnoses.

I’ll leave the specifics to your imagination. Hint: it has to do with money and Big Pharma.

See what I mean? That is, if you read the previous post: Autoimmune Illness Could Be a Factor in Your Bipolar Disorder you will be starting to think of underlying causes for your bipolar symptoms. Excellent.

And what depressed person does not have some cognitive issues i.e. difficulty concentrating or ‘brain fog’? Or not experience fatigue? None. Fatigue, brain fog and depression all go hand in hand.

Fatigue, Depression & Brain Fog Are Symptoms of Both Bipolar and Autoimmune Illness. Click To Tweet

They are also symptoms of autoimmune illness or of having an autoimmune reaction.

What’s an Autoimmune Reaction?

The below is quoted from the article “Immune Disorders” on the website Merck Manual.

“Cells in a person’s own tissues also have antigens. But normally, the immune system reacts only to antigens from foreign or dangerous substances, not to antigens from a person’s own tissues.”

“However, the immune system sometimes malfunctions, interpreting the body’s own tissues as foreign and producing antibodies (called autoantibodies) or immune cells that target and attack particular cells or tissues of the body.”

“This response is called an autoimmune reaction. It results in inflammation and tissue damage.”

Source: Autoimmune Disorders.

Precursor Symptoms Occur Before You Get Diagnosed

Precursors to a full-blown, diagnosable autoimmune disease are autoimmune reactions. Your body is in the process of doing things it is not supposed to be doing (the immune system attacking cells of organs without just cause) but you’re not really ill yet.

The symptoms are a bit annoying, but you are one tough cookie and hell if they are going to slow you down. Sound familiar? It’s a similar story to what someone who ends up with a serious mood disorder goes through.

Everyone’s path to a diagnosis of bipolar is a bit unique, though there are similarities in the symptoms experienced. Those with Bipolar 2 Disorder normally have years of depression, or a severe depressive episode as precursor to their diagnosis.

Those who are Manic Depressive usually have early onset in late teen to early twenties and includes an episode or episodes of mania – most often requiring medical intervention and possibly hospitalization.

Think of What Symptoms You Had Prior To Getting Sick

What you want to think about – outside of clinging desperately to the label ‘bipolar’ – is what may have caused those precursor states, and the eventual expression of illness that got you labeled with a mental illness.

What were the precursors to your illness? Street drugs, poor diet, prescription medications, exposure to chemicals, eating toxic fast food, snacks and sugar on a regular basis?

What?

What can you identify as possibly causing your illness states. That’s how you want to think. Even if your lazy doctor doesn’t bother to, just wants to write prescriptions.

Does that make sense? Bipolar disorder is just a label, a diagnostic category whether you were even diagnosed correctly or not. And no one wants to live disabled by mental illness, or having to take toxic medications that make them sicker for the rest of their lives.

Related post: Brief History of Bipolar Disorder Diagnoses – From Rare to Commom.

And you do not have to. Read. Learn. Challenge whatever thinking is keeping you stuck in a rut, stuck being ill and stuck taking medications you intuitively know are not making you better.

They of course are not making you better. They are not treating any identifiable biologic processes in your body that were proven to cause your illness.

The meds are affecting chemicals to try and get you stabilized or help you feel better i.e. the levels of this or that, preventing that one from working as it may be a wolf chemical in sheep’s atoms there to knock your brain down. But they have no scientific backing and the long-term consequences of taking them are severe, including death.

We don’t want that happening to you. Think, read, learn and seek alternative care for your primary symptoms.

Work with a physician who will search alongside with you for undiagnosed affecting illnesses, undiagnosed medical problems or natural remedies to try that will not disable your brain-body, making you more ill.

The goal is to get better, not worse.

Related post: Help Your Doctor by Learning Psych Med Side Effects.

Next post: What To Do If You Think an Autoimmune Illness Caused Your Bipolar Disorder.

Stay tuned.