Common red flags for Bipolar Relapse

i see some members that struggle a lot with their bipolar. i once did too. knowing the red flags can enable one to ward off a severe episode. calling one's pdoc and T is beneficial too.

Common Red Flags for Bipolar Disorder Relapse

Warning signs of depression

• I quit cooking meals
• I no longer want to be around people.
• I crave chocolate.
• I start having headaches.
• I don’t care about anybody else.
• People bother me.

I start needing more sleep, including naps during the day.
Warning signs of mania or hypomania

• I find myself reading five books at once.
• I can’t concentrate.
• I find myself talking faster than usual.
• I feel irritable.
• I’m hungry all the time.
• Friends tell me that I’m crabby.
• I need to move around because I have more energy than usual.

Source: BHI Clinicians Guidebook: Bipolar Spectrum Disorders

Knowing your early warning signs and triggers won’t do you much good if you aren’t keeping close tabs on how you’re feeling. By checking in with yourself through regular mood monitoring, you can be sure that red flags don’t get lost in the shuffle of your busy, daily life.
Keeping a mood chart is one way to monitor your symptoms and moods. A mood chart is a daily log of your emotional state and other symptoms you’re having. It can also include information such as how many hours of sleep you’re getting, your weight, medications you’re taking, and any alcohol or drug use. You can use your mood chart to spot patterns and indicators of trouble ahead.

Hey Madisgram,

I do this. I carried it on from when I 1st saw Psych. I find it helpful now but to begin with I didn't "get it". I couldn't see a pattern. But now I am finding I am seeing myself noticing mania/depression/normal moods quicker than I use to.

Every night before bed I do mines. I write the date, how much sleep I have gotten, if there is any issues with sleep, my mood and if there are issues with it, what I have done that day as I know I am prone to not doing things when unwell and also other info which is eczema broken out again, side effects that have resurfaced, when I got my period to see if there is a hormonal thing happening. I also write if I think I have been hypomanic etc............. This is all in a colour co-ordination scheme. Which I have stuck to. I started it 1 night and when I saw Psych he thought I wouldn't carry on with it as it was a "spontaneous" thing to do. But I have done it for 9 months now

Good stuff Madisgram

Thanks for sharing. I am at a stage where I think I'm seeing red flags, but you're right - I need to start tracking my moods again

Thanks for that reminder, I should definitely be tracking right now. I don't know why after so many years I still need reminded.

I downloaded an app for my iphone called Mood Reporter. There are are other ones as well, there are probably ones for the droid and other phones I imagine.

What I like about this app is that I can log my meds, track my moods, add stresors, sleep, and anxiety as well. It also allows you to email the chart, I have emailed my chart to my pdoc before, he and I both liked this. It also puts your moods on a graph which gives a good visual of changes.

I downloaded one for my iPod; it's basically the same one as is on medhelp.org

I think I got complacent when I was feeling well about mood tracking and now I have no idea what mood I am in. I used the one on this site and it told me that I had 24 points for depression and 25 points for mania. I would call it mixed. That makes sense since I really can't seem to use my brain properly lately.

Thanks for posting this. I'll see if I can get any of these for my phone.

I just downloaded that one, Moody Me, from the app store. It looks pretty good. I had been using Optimism which runs well from a mac or windows but the iphone/ipod one requires it to sync with the website and it's a pain. Too bad, I really liked it because you could personalize symptoms and triggers and it had a lot of room for journaling... I might just have to use the one on my Mac and use the Moody Me for on the spot recording.