I read the article. I "kinda" get the four cycle thing but the rest of the article is to technical for me. However, I did pick up on the "ultra" definition. That definition sounds more like me because I can cycle daily and then have a stretch of time where everything seems to be OK. Then there are times when my meds seem to be involved with it. We are making adjustments quite frequently. Abilify seems to work best for awhile then Seroquel does. It is a no matter how you look at it.

Sometimes one mood swing goes right into the other. This happened a few months ago. I fought and fought a deep depression only to reach the threshold of suicide. I tetter-tottered onn the edge, had a plan, thought I was worthless. A friend took me to her house on a lake. I sat in a log swing in silence with my thoughts for awhile came home and you would have thought I was Hercules. I was hyper and ready to take on the world. I made a few bad choices that day because of it and slide right back down and was standing on the edge again.

I am more on the edge than off flying in the wild blue yonder somewhere. There are very few normal (?) moments. I just all over the place.

I agree RCBP needs further study. It is an often misused and misunderstood illness. From personal experience, I know it exists but I don't think there is enough help out there for people like me. I have found many T who avoid facing the issues involved with RCBP. Oftentimes they try to corral it into a different Dx. Unless we speak out and share, we will never understand this complex disorder correctly ... and maybe we can't. This one reason why I joined PC.

RCBP has many faces or "suits". I am tired of changing my "suits" all the time because they all don't fit.