Hi there,
I have recently been diagnosed as Bipolar II. I have struggled with my mental health for many years now but it was not until after a crisis that I had received an actual diagnosis. I also was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety and PTSD.
Anyway my main question had to do with hypomania. I have always suffered from moderate to severe depression over the years but I can not quite pinpoint which experiences are hypomanic or not. I have always seen some of the following qualities as just my personality, but I was hoping to get the opinions of others who have been diagnosed with Bipolar.
The first thing that stood out the most to the psychiatrist was my irritability. I go through a period of time where almost anything can set me off. Whether I am being asked to many questions or there are too many people around me, it causes my blood to boil! The amount of times I have screamed and yelled at my family members, friends or boyfriend over nothing really are countless and very unfortunate.
Another situation is I can make very impulsive decisions and I almost become obsessed with them. In the past this was usually taking part in risky sex, now I tend to do things more like deciding to take a trip to Australia. I spent hours and hours looking online for people looking for house sitters and I checked plane ticket prices and my bank account. I was extremely excited about it being a possibility and talked non stop about it to my boyfriend. He obviously tried to talk some sense into me, which only made me extremely mad and misunderstood. I always just assumed I was spontaneous and adventurous and he was more of a planning type. This is only one example of my desire to go on a spontaneous trip. Another example was when I wanted to join my university field hockey team. I practiced day in and day out and watched multiple videos online and tutorials. I emailed the coaches and the team members and I was so happy and excited to join, like ecstatic. I almost spent money on a membership for the rec team, which I cannot afford at all. Then one day I just woke up and I was depressed and anxious and realized that I dont even want to join field hockey and was no longer excited about it.
Somedays I do wake up with a lot of energy and I am really motivated to get things done, but I never saw this out of the ordinary. My friends have noticed me talking fast, loud and jumping from one idea to the next in the past but I haven't noticed myself. I go through phases of creativity as well, where I tend to write and draw all hours of the night but I snap out of it by the next morning. I also go through periods of not eating at all, usually when I am depressed and then binge eating when I am happier. Lastly, my sex drive definitely increases randomly at times. I go through phases where all I want to do is jump my boyfriends bones all hours of the day. During all of these times I do feel alot more confidant in myself and a lot less anxious.
In conclusion, I was just hoping to get some opinions from others on whether these seem like hypomanic symptoms. These tend to last anywhere from a few days to a week or two but no longer than that. Then I seem to be back to being anxious and depressed.
I was hoping to hear about everyones hypomanic symptoms as well.
Thanks for reading my post !