[star123]

what triggers manic episodes ? i am experiencing frequent manic episodes.
I stay in home all the time take no alcohol,drugs .I have taken sleeping meds.
But without sleeping meds also these manic episodes runs all over the year.

[hamster-bamster]

I have read but cannot find this information now that manic episodes, much more so than depressive episodes, occur due to endogenous reasons, without triggers. They obviously can occur with triggers, but much of it is "just" changes in "blood chemistry".

[tattoogirl33]

No advice but PLEASE if you find an answer to this , let me know!

[~Christina]

Most people have " triggers" My personal ones are
1.if my sleep is messed up .
2.any kinda of major argument with someone can send me reeling into mania ..
3. it appears when ever it wants too

I dont get the BAM im happy and I can rule the world mania ..I get the ugly self destrucutive mania .. I rapid cycle so its not uncommon for me to be manic and depressed in the same day .

Keeping a mood chart is often helpful in seeing a pattern of episodes ..

Good Luck .. Keep posting and welcome to PC

[Rapunzel]

Sleep has a lot to do with it, and also light and dark. I only get manic between March and July, and then usually a lot of St. John's Wort is involved, and then I just get hypomanic - enough that I can't keep up with my own thoughts and I try to do a lot more at one time than is reasonable. But anyway, the days getting longer and spending more time in the sunshine are major factors.

One thing that can be effective in managing bipolar disorder is "dark therapy." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17637502

The idea is to eliminate exposure to light, at least the blue lightwaves, during the evening and night hours. It also can help to establish a regular routine and stick to it, including bedtime and regular meals, to keep your circadian rhythm on track. Log your mood, bedtime and wake time, medications, activity level, and anything else that you think might be relevant, and watch for patterns. Decreased sleep is a definite warning sign.

[Switch]

For me: nothing. They just happen. Things like sleep tend to just be a result of that. I'm always telling people "I can literally feel the chemical shift in my brain whenever I switch". It's like my brain was producing too much "sad" and as a result ended up going overboard on the "happy".

Though I'm told a lot of my irritable shifts and depression is triggered by stress, that to me is a whole different type of mood swing.

[Woundedheart1]

For me if my antidepressant is too high or the wrong type will trigger a manic episode so will change in seasons ie more daylight or heat.

[tattedmommy75]

Originally Posted by star123

what triggers manic episodes ? i am experiencing frequent manic episodes.
I stay in home all the time take no alcohol,drugs .I have taken sleeping meds.
But without sleeping meds also these manic episodes runs all over the year.

There are a lot of triggers and everyone is different. I think stress is the most common one. Then there is: other illness, medications, street drugs, alcohol, lack of sleep (therapist says that's the second most common cause), weight loss supplements. That's all I can think of for now.

For me, I tend to run high in mood most of the time. I'm very susceptible to hypo/mania. Sleep disturbance can shoot me either way. Weight loss supplements make me hypomanic. Alcohol causes depression. Oh ya caffeine! Antidepressants cause mania. Stress is the #1 reason to why I go up and down.