I can pinpoint down to the day, almost, when the hypersexuality started this time. It's always been something that came up for a period of time, and then went away. This time it started just after my miscarriage. I even told my husband at the time "There is something wrong with me. I just lost our baby, so WHY am I suddenly horny all the time - it doesn't make sense!" I stopped talking about it after a bit, but it never really went away.

I love the signature that talks about getting rid of the gnomes in one's head. That's how I am viewing the manic impulses at this point. It hasn't been just sex, it's been various ridiculous ventures over the years. At one point I became obsessed with getting a puppy, and spent 3-4 hours or more every day looking for "exactly the right dog" online. Once we actually got the dog, within a week, I was over it. I had moved on to something else. There have been "business ventures" that never got off the ground, but still ended up in expensive equipment purchases before I gave up on them. (Tried to start a photo studio in my house. Started a cake decorating sideline out of my house that actually did quite well -- thanks manic creativity! -- but ended after I exhausted myself with weeks and weeks of marathon (14 hours+) cake decorating sessions. This summer I was awake at 3am writing down ideas for a book that came so fast I could hardly get the pen to paper to write fast enough.... and the list goes on and on and on...)

Basically, once the BP2 diagnosis fell into place, the last decade or more of my life suddenly made sense in a way it never had before.
My liver enzymes are back to normal so restarted the Lamictal today. Still taking the seroquel - 50mg - for sleep at night. Took it a bit too late last night (8pm) so was awake until 10pm and had a hard time waking up at 6:30... so my husband let me sleep in until 7 when I got up and got breakfast for the family before the kids had to head to the school bus. Will be heading to the gym in an hour or so to get in a run... I am running in a 5k this weekend, and I find having something short-term to look forward to is very helpful in keeping me focused on something positive rather than getting carried off by the "gnomes".

BTW I now imagine the gnomes in my head whenever I feel the treadmill starting up again, and then I imagine chasing the little buggers away with a broom. I have promised my husband that I will draw him a picture of what this looks like. They look suspiciously like the Travelocity gnome, little brightly colored pointy hats and all, and when I chase them they scatter like roaches. I realize this sounds ridiculous, but maybe that's what helps. The visualization helps rid my head of the thoughts, and the absurdity of the image makes me chuckle a bit... which helps clear my head even more, because it's hard to be filled with manic rage and angst whilst one is giggling at gnomes.