When your moods are irregular, I would definitely recommend using a mood chart for bipolar. If you Google the phrase you can find a selection. I don't keep one when I am stable, but when my moods are doing odd things, I definitely do. I can also note triggers and abnormal behaviour. It does make it easier to go to pdoc and tell him/her how you've been. I find that sometimes when I get into the office, I forget how I was earlier in the week, much less since I saw my pdoc last.

When you can't sleep, it's hard to know what to do at 3 AM. I have a PRN (as needed) supply of sleeping pills that I will sometimes use when I need to get to sleep, but I recommend not using them all the time because it can get to the point where you cannot sleep without them. My rules for sleeping pills are I can take one if: (1) it is essential that I get sleep to function the next day, (2) I have been unable to sleep more than 3-4 hours for 3 nights in a row, (3) I am having manic symptoms from any number of nights (or none) with inadequate sleep and am still getting the same, or (4) I want to avoid jet lag.

When I don't use it, I often spend a large portion of the night in bed reading, since rest is the next best thing to sleep. Sometimes I do have to get up and do something like cleaning or cooking the next day's meals, but that is a manic symptom for me and would be a warning to take a sleeping pill if I had 5 hours of sleep left in the night or to take one the next night if I had similar urges.