I just learned about ALPIM, a spectrum disorder, from my friend Kitt O’ Malley’s blogpost. It’s reblogged below.

ALPIM stands for:

A = Anxiety disorder (mostly panic disorder);

L = Ligamentous laxity (joint hypermobility syndrome, scoliosis, double-jointedness, mitral valve prolapse, easy bruising);

P = Pain (fibromyalgia, migraine and chronic daily headache, irritable bowel syndrome, prostatitis/cystitis);

I = Immune disorders (hypothyroidism, asthma, nasal allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome); and

M = Mood disorders (major depression, Bipolar II and Bipolar III disorder, tachyphylaxis. Two thirds of patients in the study with mood disorder had diagnosable bipolar disorder and most of those patients had lost response to antidepressants).

I have this whole spectrum! Except they’ve included Bipolar II and Bipolar III (Cyclothymia) but not Bipolar I… Why, I wonder?  But what does it mean as far as cause and treatment? They know this is a spectrum, how will this help us? Besides taking our physical symptoms more seriously, I get that, that’s obviously important. But for the treatment of the mental illness, hopefully the linkage with all these physical illnesses will shed some light.

its definitely the immune system, all of the above have the involvement of the immune system! Over active immune system. Is it our immune system that is making us sick? I hope someone is studying all this in relationship to over active immune systems. That may well be where the answer lies!

Many of us living with mental illness have other chronic illnesses. Often we are not treated for our “physical” illnesses, as many doctors dismiss them as psychosomatic. “Mental” illnesses ARE “physical” illnesses, and “physical” illnesses affect our “mental” illnesses. We are not just our brains, just our bodies, just our minds, just our feelings, or just our souls. […]

via ALPIM Anxiety-Laxity-Pain-Immune-Mood — Kitt O’Malley