Those of us who treat our mental illness with medication often mention "med hangover." I've been thinking, what do we mean when we say med hangover? (I'm referring mostly to AP's, but other types of medication can certainly cause what I would call "hangover.")
For me, hangover means that when I awaken, I still feel tired. I believe I could keep sleeping through the day - especially days. The intense feeling of exhaustion is not generally present at night, probably because by dark the full hangover effect has finally worn off. Or perhaps that's the nature of BD, to turn day/night sleep around.
Hangover causes me to take a long time to go from sleeping to waking. An hour, sometimes 2 hours. During that time I feel very shaky, hands and arms trembling. Generally weak all over. My eyes feel heavy; it feels laborious to blink. It's easy to be short of breath and to experience a degree of racing heart, especially if I stand too quickly or move around too much. Hyper-sensitive to heat. Cognitively dull (although usually my mind still races).
What about others of you? What does hangover effect feel like to you, and how is it different than side effects that are present all of the time (or close to)?