I'm BP2. For a week now, I've become unusually sensitive to (i) noise (e.g. environmental, group situations, music, etc.) and (ii) artificial light (including fairly dim lights and lamps in rooms). I'm also more irritable/intolerant toward people. Maybe this is a result of the aforementioned sensitivities.

There are no noticeable (internal) changes in my energy level, appetite, mood. I'm just drained by the presence of multiple co-existing sounds and/or artificial light. Even at low levels. For example, I get a headache when there is more than one source of sound at a given time. Conversations exhaust me and wash over me. I "absorb" less than I'm usually capable of.

I talked to my psychiatrist, and she told me not to worry because my symptoms are not debilitating. Since I'm very sensitive to changes in medication, she wants to wait another month before tweaking my drugs (right now, we're waiting for the side effects of my Trileptal to taper out. Which is happening, slowly). She suggests that my irritability is more likely a symptom of BP than a side-effect of meds.

Socially I'm pretty bubbly, optimistic, and extroverted (even when I'm feeling "down"). Now I've become more antisocial, quiet, and limp. The stimuli in group situations give me headaches, and friends have commended that I seem "harried". I went to the campus dining hall this evening, and felt like a deer caught in headlights -- I couldn't focus my eyes and ears. Chaotic din. Colors more vivid than usual. My boyfriend was concerned, and he took me on a walk out in the snow. This calmed me down somewhat.

Still, I can't keep avoiding social situations -- I need to cope, and my friends are concerned. Over the past month, I've been particularly diligent about self-care: exercise, medication, sleep, showering, meditation, practising mindfulness and gratitude, maintaining connections with my core support team (professional support, family, close friends), etc. So what's going on?

Has anyone had similar experiences? What coping skills would you suggest? I'm not in a crisis. However, I don't want to be abrasive to others or give the impression that they're annoying me. Thanks!