[Rennerenner]

Just curious. Do you usually follow a set cycle of depression / mania / depression / mania, or like, depression / normal / mania / depression / normal,
or is yours more unpredictable? I feel like personally I have very few periods of normal mood and usually but not always just cycle back and forth between hypomania and depression.

[~Christina]

I just rapid cycle ... Alot .. ummm all the time actually. But I have hope that things will improve.. Life without hope is Pointless.

[hamster-bamster]

I do not cycle at all on my current drug coctail, but before I had more mania and hypomania than depression.

[LostMom3]

I know about when I will normally be manic, unless something triggers me otherwise. Most of the time - will be depresseed, except 2 or 3 "normal" days of manic and maybe 4 days normal.

[Jim62]

Some cycles are predictable and some are random. One predictable cycle is to wake up normal, slowly become hypomanic, transition to mania then crash into depression over the course of a day. Sometimes a depressive cycle will just randomly start.

The psychologist thinks the random cycles are not random but are triggered by something that hasn't been identified yet.

[sugahorse1]

I never know what to expect. But I also think it's a case of still having to learn about triggers that I have not identified as such yet

i know where i'm going to be mannic, and whgen i'm going to feel low- most of the time.

though sometimes it does catch me off guard

I have signals that indicate to me that I may be slipping into depression. And there is no schedule on when it will occur.

For example, if I consciously choose to wear navy blue or black predominantly I know that I am beginning to enter a depressed state. (I never wear purple because the color itself can make me depressed. Wearing purple is a strong indication of depression.) If I choose something like bright red or green to wear I know that I'm approaching a hypomanic state or at least an aggressive feeling.

So I generally stick with clothing that is beige, gray, light blue, white or soft green.

I can really feel when a depression is beginning to emerge, so I fight it furiously with the lemon thing; get rid of the beef and breads. It often works.

Another cue is the uniformity of dress. If one tends always to wear white and black,
and doesn't often use a similar color for both top and bottom, it may indicate a
feeling of lack of unity.

I'm sensitive to color and that may be why I notice it as a signal.

Take care.

Genetic

[LostMom3]

Originally Posted by genetic

I have signals that indicate to me that I may be slipping into depression. And there is no schedule on when it will occur.

For example, if I consciously choose to wear navy blue or black predominantly I know that I am beginning to enter a depressed state. (I never wear purple because the color itself can make me depressed. Wearing purple is a strong indication of depression.) If I choose something like bright red or green to wear I know that I'm approaching a hypomanic state or at least an aggressive feeling.

So I generally stick with clothing that is beige, gray, light blue, white or soft green.

I can really feel when a depression is beginning to emerge, so I fight it furiously with the lemon thing; get rid of the beef and breads. It often works.

Another cue is the uniformity of dress. If one tends always to wear white and black,
and doesn't often use a similar color for both top and bottom, it may indicate a
feeling of lack of unity.

I'm sensitive to color and that may be why I notice it as a signal.

Take care.

Genetic

Wow! I never thpught about the color of clothes I wear, makes sense though. Thank you for that tidbit.

[ellipsisdream]

I am a rapid cycler... when things are really bad, I never know who I will wake up to in the morning or what the next trigger will be. I am not very good at identifying my triggers- still working on that.

When the cycles are slower, I can identify a few clues as to a direction I might be heading. My boyfriend is really great about pointing out certain things he knows are signs I am heading toward mania.

Mania for me usually starts out pressured speech, constant subject switching, and escalating energy. Depression is harder- sneakier... I start to get sloppy- both a round the house and physically. I usually sleep more. I start to just not feel like it- whatever it is... but it tends to be more gradual than mania/hypomania for me.

[MargoMay32]

I can cycle...mostly I'm stuck between depression/paranoia and normal days. But I know that when I start getting a ton of new ideas for art projects I want to do that I am going more into a manic phase.

Genetic; I've noticed that too. I always tend to dress like a bruise when I'm going more into my depressive phase and when I go into a happier normal or hypomania phase I break out my loud neon colors and my flaming red hair gets let loose on the world.
It is amazing how non-concision clues like that are great indicators of where you are in a "cycle" or "stage".