This is my first check-in so I hope I'm doing it right! I'm sorry in advance for this being so long, but I'm new here and I didn't know where else to post what my symptoms are like. (So if this post needs to be redirected to another thread, I understand!) Last night I didn't sleep at all. I turn off my computer and get ready for bed and then lie there thinking of all the cool things I want to look up on my pc and I think of new ideas and of all the things I want to buy to go along with the ideas, and then I get back on my computer and start the search! (Fortunately I never end up buying anything because I somehow always realize that my new plans wouldn't work out. Poverty also helps in that area!) This has been going on for a month, and I secretly like it a little because I "think" I'm thinking of cool things and think I have so much energy, but it's not normal. I like to feel calm and peaceful and live a very simple life with not much around me, but this is like a Broadway show for my brain! So the lights and glitter and endless possibilities keep me excited but wear me out. I wonder if Abilify is causing this. I've only been on it for about a month, slowly increasing my dosage to stop my daily internal seething rage and sometimes verbal rage attacks due to my paranoid thinking, that people(especially those that I care about) are deliberately trying to hurt me or show me that they don't care about me by their actions. Whenever I try to "catch them in the act", I find out that they weren't doing anything of the kind, but that my perception was off. It never enters my mind that people might be doing things for perfectly reasonable reasons, and aren't thinking of hurting me at all, or even thinking of me at all in the situation. At any time, about anything, all of a sudden, and throughout the day I see the simplest thing (a coaster touching my placemat) as a personal atttack deliberately done to upset me and show me that you don't care about me. And since I'm having such a hard time mentally these days, I get even angrier because I think they are kicking a dog (me) that's already down. Rage by day and shopping (or at least researching and browsing) by night. My Abilify was increased to 10mg/day yesterday, and if it doesn't start working for me by next week, my PA wants me to start on Lithium instead. I will embrace it with open arms because I read on this website under Home>Drugs>Lithium Carbonate the following: "Using this medication continuously may help to reduce the frequency of manic episodes. It also may decrease manic episode symptoms, including anxiousness, aggressive or hostile behaviors, feelings that others wish to harm you, exaggerated feelings of well-being, irritability, or rapid/loud speech." It sounds like just what I need! Sigh...I can't wait till I see my PA next week!!! P.S. On a lighter note, but not so funny at the time, the other day I really thought that the sun was deliberately not shining on me on purpose! I was furious and I took it personally! lol