[BPandMe]

Hi everyone,

As I'm relatively new to this BP diagnosis. Why do I keep waking up at 3:45 to 4:00am and feel rested? I wouldn't say that I'm manic....a little hyper during the day, but done in by 1:00pm. I'm also starting Tegretol today after Divalproex made me gain 20lbs. A little anxious about med change.

Any thoughts?

What time do you go to sleep? I usually take my sleep meds at 9:00 p.m. so by 3:45 to 4:00 a.m. I'm awake for the day (don't actually get out of bed for a while though) Depending on your age, 7 or 8 hours may be all your body really needs.

[hermitix]

Could be hypomania -- a less severe form of mania. Or even depression. I read that waking early can be a sign of bipolar depression. That happened to me. I would wake up around 5 or 6 and not be able to fall back to sleep even if I went to bed late. Check out this article on BP and sleep:
http://www.enotalone.com/mobile/article.php?a=9551

Here's one on hypomania:
http://psychcentral.com/disorders/hy...sode-symptoms/

Hope this helps.

[vans1974]

Originally Posted by BPandMe

Hi everyone,

As I'm relatively new to this BP diagnosis. Why do I keep waking up at 3:45 to 4:00am and feel rested? I wouldn't say that I'm manic....a little hyper during the day, but done in by 1:00pm. I'm also starting Tegretol today after Divalproex made me gain 20lbs. A little anxious about med change.

Any thoughts?

It depends at what time you're going to sleep. I'm not sure if Tegretol is weight neutral, but for my daily mood stability in addition to an anti-convulsant like Tegretol, I need a weight neutral AAP, like Latuda! Hope that helps a bit!

[BPandMe]

Originally Posted by newgal2

What time do you go to sleep? I usually take my sleep meds at 9:00 p.m. so by 3:45 to 4:00 a.m. I'm awake for the day (don't actually get out of bed for a while though) Depending on your age, 7 or 8 hours may be all your body really needs.

Thanks for the reply,
I go to bed at 10:00 every night. I hit the wall today...pure exhaustion. Slept most of the day. Then My mother in law calls and tells me to think positive and pray....I LOST IT! Threw the phone and started crying. Bad day

[BPandMe]

I go to bed at 10:00 every night. I hit the wall today...pure exhaustion. Slept most of the day. Then My mother in law calls and tells me to think positive and pray....I LOST IT! Threw the phone and started crying. Bad day

[Trippin2.0]

Gosh I could never regularly go to bed at 10pm I'm so jealous!

Case in point, lastnight: Was exhausted from work and passed out at around 21:30pm... I woke up at 1:30am ready for action, and its 13:00pm now. No I'm not any kinda manicy its just that I only need 4 hours sleep.

Idk why you woke up early, could be a number of things. Sleep disturbance due to meds, or a dream, excitement, being well rested... I'd only seriously question it if it develops into a pattern and there are other "strange" factors that coincide...

[TheJettSet27]

I do that all of the time, hypomanic and depressed.
More during hypomania, though, although sometimes I think that I become a little mixed.

[BPandMe]

Well, I hit the wall yesterday, after waking at five. Spent the entire day in bed. Today, meltdown...cried, unlike me. I usually keep it all in. ???? New meds better start working fast, i need my life back. Tergetrol makes me feel drunk. At least I haven't thrown anything today.

[jesusplay]

5 hours is normal.

come back when you sleep one hour to nothing and feel energized.

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by BPandMe

Thanks for the reply,
I go to bed at 10:00 every night. I hit the wall today...pure exhaustion. Slept most of the day. Then My mother in law calls and tells me to think positive and pray....I LOST IT! Threw the phone and started crying. Bad day

Write your MIL this:

"Dear XYZ,

I am sorry I lost it today. I do realize that your repeated attempts to implore me to get better my thinking positive and praying were well-meaning. However, they hurt me a lot, because they are vacuous. You do realize, don't you, that had all mental illness be easily "wishable away", if you excuse my coinage, then it would have long been eradicated from the face of this Earth?

I do value your support, but such vacuous advice is counter-productive. It is much better when INSERT WHAT THE MIL DOES WELL.

Again, I appreciate your desire to help me, but please refrain from telling me to think positively and pray.

Thanks. I look forward to seeing you soon UNLESS YOU LIVE IN DIFFERENT STATES".

I beg you to write it, because this problem needs to be nipped in the bug - without appropriate negative feedback from you, she would continue on and on. I will tell you a story about my MIL (who died last year). She LOVED everything miniature. Miniature gifts, miniature toys, miniature books. She would give my daughters numerous miniature plastic dolls and once gave me a miniature cookbook. The dolls were a result of poor craftsmanship and one part or another - a head, an arm... - would always break off. Miniature plush toys, miniature toy plates and cups with miniature utensils, etc.

The miniature gifts added to clutter, and since I generate clutter myself, extra clutter was really NOT welcome. But I never told her to stop sending those ridiculous gifts.

She is now dead and I am now divorced from her son (who took our daughters but that's another story) and am hard at work decluttering my apartment, and now and again I happen upon something MINIATURE! Yesterday I put the miniature cookbook (full of many recipes and housekeeping advice printed in a tiny font) into recycling because I realized that I would never read it - if I ever want to read cooking advice, I can get it online in the font size that is comfortable to my eyes.

In other words, she is dead, but I am still dealing with the harm she caused by her boundless "generosity" when it came to giving miniature crap as unwanted gifts.

Your MIL is exactly the same, except that in place of miniature dolls whose limbs and heads break when one tried to play with them she gives you the "gift" of unwanted advice. Nip it in the bud!

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by hermitix

Could be hypomania -- a less severe form of mania. Or even depression. I read that waking early can be a sign of bipolar depression. That happened to me. I would wake up around 5 or 6 and not be able to fall back to sleep even if I went to bed late. Check out this article on BP and sleep:
Sleep, Diet & Bipolar Disorder : Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder

Here's one on hypomania:
Hypomanic Episode Symptoms | Psych Central

Hope this helps.

I second the depression hypothesis. I wake up early when depressed. But I am not energized when it happens - I wake up with sad thoughts.