Here's something I haven't seen discussed, wonder about a lot and am curious about others' experiences and hoping for some tips.

Here's the thing.... Although I've been keeping a mood chart for over a year and try to determine how (or how much) situational things might be influencing mood swings, sometimes it is _really_ hard to know. (It may help to know that I wasn't properly diagnosed till just last year -at 46, after 25 years of the confusion and hell of it. Although the diagnosis has provided much understanding of the past -and present-, maybe I am just too new to tracking these things to have a good feel for it.(?))

Suspect this is pretty common, but it can be unsettling, especially when wondering if it the beginning of a big swing.

Is this a familiar confusion to you? Any tips for how to determine just what role and degree of influence situational things are playing?

[billieJ]

Altho a former pdoc might disagree, I don't think I have bipolar. I am dx'd Major Depression. I can't contribute too much to your question, but I can see where it would be an important issue to you. One thing I figure is that, when my mood doesn't match the situation fairly closely, I would consider that to be endogenous or clinical rather than situational. I have had depression for many years and have additionally worked in the field of MH, allowing me to observe mood d/o's. So I have no expertise, and my "knowledge" is strictly intuitive. billieJ

[grizmom]

I have a "notes" section on my mood diary, and I note anything I've done during the day and how it affected me. I also keep a blog and I try to write at least a few times a week...both things have helped me to see when things are situational or chemical. For example, if my mood has been close to baseline and I notice a significant change, then I go back and look at my notes and at my blog entries and see if anything has happened that might have been a trigger. If I can't find anything, then I know it's chemical and I know to keep a close eye on it, if it gets worse then I go in for a med adjustment. But if I notice situations that were overwhelming or stressful then I usually conclude that it is situational, and then I just try to hang in and wait for the mood to pass.

Since the dx is still new, it will probably take awhile to identify your triggers, so you might want to keep more in-depth notes for now...write down what you did during the day and the feelings you had while doing them. Like: "saw family - felt stressed because Dad said xxx" "went out with my friend - had fun and felt good" "did some housework - felt overwhelmed at how much needed to be done" "saw pdoc - he didn't seem to listen to me - felt ignored" etc. This might help you in the long run to notice patterns in how different things affect you.

[Ascension]

It takes many persons with bipolar disorder years to get to a point where they can know how severe a swing will be and even then sometimes still it can build so fast and so strongly that I get swallowed up. I recently just went through a very nasty manic episode and I was oblivious to it until I was hospitalized. Hypomania set in, I over extended myself because I felt invincible and got in over my head. Then it caved in on me. It was a learning experience for me. NEVER under estimate my illness. The good thing is you are thinking and probing these areas and that is exceptionally proactive. If you want to have some balance you are on the right path. Good for you.