[LiteraryLark]

I've had a few eye openers recently. I'm just now realizing that I've been manic for the past 2-3 months. My parents didn't recognize it because I've been doing so well--I got a new job I like and am doing well at, I've been doing well in school, and overall I've been in a great mood. However, I've been taking my meds irregularly or not at all since fall as well as I've been taking an anti-depressant which was only supposed to be temporary as it caused my last major manic episode.

I don't know the signs to look for, although hopefully the doctors and I are nipping it in the bud before it gets worse.

So far I am aware that:

I am speaking so quickly that people are asking me to slow down.
My life is going "too well" and I am overly optimistic.
I am obsessed with DeadMau5 and Skrillex, although in my defense I have always been obsessed with one thing or the other.
I am also going through two big transitions which has always been hard for me to deal with emotionally.

What else should I be looking for?

[Jimpolar]

I get impatient, aggravated, and easily angered. Although I'm fast cycling and hypomanic.

[Lobster Hands]

Well, doc of skippiness (my bad if you hate that name...), with me I've started to notice that I get really, like REALLY, confident. I'm up for anything and I do everything. I start to seek thrills in everything I do. I think I basically become an adrenaline junkie.

I see things in the way they should be seen. (That statement was supposed to sound arrogant.) But really, I start to just plain see things creatively. I'll think up a creative way to say the simplest things. Everything makes me happy and nothing gets me down. Maybe you would know what I meant if I said, "whenever I listen to pandora, I never skip music anymore, because every song seems newer or better."

I seem to notice more coincidences. I know, that seems like a minor thing, but it gets funny sometimes. Like I'll piece things together somewhat oddly and come up with some "semi-logical" explanation for why something is the way it is.

So so so many ideas. And to me, they are all great! Then I'll go share them with people I work with or my family. Sure, some of them really are great ideas and they tell me, "Hey, you should pursue that and find a way to patent that right now! Seriously!"...and I'll already have another idea so say goodbye to that one...then there are the other ideas that make people's heads turn in confusion.

Another thing...everything sort of just turns into a dance for me. If I'm getting milk out of the fridge? Sure, I'll throw in a couple spins and toss the jug up in the air for added charm. Oh, it's time to change the channel on the tv? No worries, I'm so hyper that I've got the tv remote in hand constantly while at the same time spinning and humming and jumping on couches in the living room. Every move I make becomes art. I drive 30 over the speed limit and pass people so casually that it makes them look like idiots, my mind is working fast enough that I know the right moves to make every time.

I think somebody may have said something like this but I'll put a different spin on it maybe...Its like playing a game of speed chess against somebody, only it feels like you are playing an incredibly slow game, while the person across from you is scrambling to keep up.

Thinking fast is such a great and terrible symptom with me. It feels so good to me but other people hate it.

Everything above...I mean everything...probably shouldn't even be trusted because it is, of course, my manic over-confidence talking.

Oh the dances of the manic depressive, so great yet so terrible. Such a waste and such a gift. Oh what a horribly wonderful paradox it is.

Yep, it's all fun and games until somebody gets depressed...

[Lobster Hands]

Oh, and duh, lets not be moronic and forget the sleep problems. Not necessarily problems, but, lets just say for lack of better phrasing, obvious lack of interest in resting.

My manias change...they are all different. Some are elated and some are agitated.

Some signs that I've experienced:
* Hearing non-existent voices, or at least feeling that supernatural spirits are talking to me.
* "Loud thoughts" that don't feel like they belong to me (Bipolar Disorder Thought Types | Breaking Bipolar)
* Psychosis: e.g. I was certain that I had a mute pet dog made of white fire. His name was Gödel. Or feeling that I had leaves and vines growing out of my body.
* Head fills with incoherent noise. There's a broken radio in there. The noise warps and froths and frizzes.
* More psychosis: seeing the floor melt and bubble and steam.

[Lobster Hands]

Originally Posted by psychehedone

Some signs that I've experienced:
* Hearing non-existent voices, or at least feeling that supernatural spirits are talking to me.
* "Loud thoughts" that don't feel like they belong to me (Bipolar Disorder Thought Types | Breaking Bipolar)
* Psychosis: e.g. I was certain that I had a mute pet dog made of white fire. His name was Gödel. Or feeling that I had leaves and vines growing out of my body.
* Head fills with incoherent noise. There's a broken radio in there. The noise warps and froths and frizzes.
* More psychosis: seeing the floor melt and bubble and steam.

Thoughts that feel like they don't belong to me is a bad one for me too when I get really bad...

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

My official diagnosis is BP2, but I know that BP1 would be more fitting. It's just that my psychiatrist does not know about the full extent of my manic and psychotic symptoms, sans some that happened during illness not related to BP. Still, the treatments are similar, and I didn't want to go on antipsychotics unless necessary (and mood stabilizers help me significantly, so I haven't felt a need for APs just yet).

[Marshellette]

Sleep, deprivation is a sign. I will watch videos, over and over and over again when maic and write 20 pages in one day. Psychehedone, what mood stabilizer?

Originally Posted by Marshellette

Sleep, deprivation is a sign. I will watch videos, over and over and over again when maic and write 20 pages in one day. Psychehedone, what mood stabilizer?

Trileptal.

Originally Posted by Marshellette

Psychehedone, what mood stabilizer?

Trileptal is not as effective as Tegretol apparently, but fewer side effects (http://www.psycheducation.org/depres.../trileptal.htm). Apparently it only works in 50% of patients. Lamotrigine was better and quicker acting, but I had a severe skin rash.

[TheJettSet27]

Keep in mind that symptoms vary from person to person.
It sounds to me like you might be a little manic.

On top of what you're experiencing, look for racing thoughts (or your subjective experience that your thoughts are racing), insomnia, and impulsive behavior.

[outlaw sammy]

Originally Posted by psychehedone

My official diagnosis is BP2, but I know that BP1 would be more fitting. It's just that my psychiatrist does not know about the full extent of my manic and psychotic symptoms, sans some that happened during illness not related to BP. Still, the treatments are similar, and I didn't want to go on antipsychotics unless necessary (and mood stabilizers help me significantly, so I haven't felt a need for APs just yet).

Why do you NEED to go on anti-psychotics? My first pdoc gave me zyprexa which almost made me a permanent type I diabetic, then one of my most recent pdoc's put me on invegra about two years ago and it nearly paralyzed my legs forever - DAMN HIM! I dumped him after I found out - and now no one can get me to take anti-psychotics. ALSO - I love the music I hear in my mind when I'm manic-psychotic.

[LiteraryLark]

Originally Posted by outlaw sammy

Why do you NEED to go on anti-psychotics? My first pdoc gave me zyprexa which almost made me a permanent type I diabetic, then one of my most recent pdoc's put me on invegra about two years ago and it nearly paralyzed my legs forever - DAMN HIM! I dumped him after I found out - and now no one can get me to take anti-psychotics. ALSO - I love the music I hear in my mind when I'm manic-psychotic.

I NEED my meds (Zyprexa included) so I don't go batshit crazy.

Originally Posted by outlaw sammy

Why do you NEED to go on anti-psychotics? My first pdoc gave me zyprexa which almost made me a permanent type I diabetic, then one of my most recent pdoc's put me on invegra about two years ago and it nearly paralyzed my legs forever - DAMN HIM! I dumped him after I found out - and now no one can get me to take anti-psychotics. ALSO - I love the music I hear in my mind when I'm manic-psychotic.

I never said that I personally feel the need for anti-psychotics. However, some people do, and their lives are significantly improved in spite of the side effects. Of course, the choice to continue with these medications is personal, and not everyone will feel that the problems outweigh the benefits.

[gennav84]

For me, I can get either really happy or completely nonfunctional. I know I lose my interests and self-worth. Look for constantly being tired as you do not want to get out of bed. Even a trip to the bathroom can be exhausting. Introvert type behavior as in not wanting to be bothered by anyone or anything. Lonely thoughts of suicide or self injury are also a couple symptoms. The happy mania is more of an "I can conquer the world" attitude. The feeling of getting everywhere on time and feeling over accomplished may come crashing down the moment that there is a mess-up in these accomplishments. Using medication is a tool to be used to control these thoughts. Not that they need to be used together but practicing and reading up on bi-polar helped me a lot as well. I am hoping that eventually I can regulate my hormone reaction by practicing what I have learned. It is a great start reaching out to others and I wish you the best. Just do not listen to those to that tell you to cheer up they have very little understanding that simply, you really are not able to. Empathize with others too.

[Hbomb0903]

Originally Posted by Lobster Hands...

Oh, and duh, lets not be moronic and forget the sleep problems. Not necessarily problems, but, lets just say for lack of better phrasing, obvious lack of interest in resting.

My manias change...they are all different. Some are elated and some are agitated.

I find I get so much more confidence and just feel better about myself in general. I become super gregarious, and everyone seems drawn to my like I'm some sort of sweet flower and they are all just moths. I think I haven't had a great many GRAND manias, but I've certainly done a lot of things that were REALLY BAD IDEAS. But at the time I just couldn't be bothered to consider the other's point-of-view... it didn't even occur to me.

I remember when my best friend told me one night that I was a different person lately, and they didn't really like her. It was humbling.

[medicalfox]

When I'm manic I will only sleep for a couple of hours, go on crazy shopping sprees, have a lot of energy which can be bad, and get really irritable at everything. I will also have frequent and huge crying spells with a lot of rage and break downs.

[r010159]

I seem to have mixed episodes of BP. Most are on the mild side. This includes restlessness, irritableness, following my impulses like they are compulsions, racing thoughts, risk taking, wringing my hands to name a few symptoms. The worse episodes can involve extreme agitation and not being able to sit still (needing to pace about), at times wondering what is happening to me and how much I can take of this monkey on my back.

I find that Zyprexa helps me out here. Antipsychotics may be the only way to control mania enough and be productive at a job. I very rarely have true mania.