[QUOTE=bluebicycle;5171768]Chicken and egg problem--

Which comes first: lack of sleep or mania?

I'm talking about lack of sleep as being a "trigger" for mania. Is lack of sleep a trigger? If you don't think so, do you think that a lack of sleep for a few days always indicates the start of mania?[/QUOTE
Hi I'm new here and I don't really know how to post. But my experience here is that if I have insomnia, I may be going into a manic or hypomanic episode. But I work nights, and my schedule severely affects my illness, and seems to cause a lot of irritability and more depression than mania. I know I shouldn't work this shift but I have no other options right now. But I guess in my situation, it just depends if I can't sleep because of work or if I can't sleep because of insomnia.