[almondjoy]

I have decided to go back to charting. When I used to years ago, I would confuse my irritability as being on the 'depressed' side - I didn't realise at the time that my irritability was actually my hypo/manic. I sometimes have it while depressed as well, but it seems to make sense that way.

Does anyone know of any good mood chart templates or apps/sites? OR do you just chart it as elated/euphoric etc, even if it's anger/irritation? I've seen ones like MoodTracker that only lets you choose your irritability as an option, but then I can say I'm down or depressed because I'm not. And I'm not baseline either. And i'm not happy either! Maybe I'm being too specific. But I want to be able to show my pdoc what's going on but I need a way to really show the extent of the irritability.. Tips?

[Victoria'smom]

I made this( you have to downloaded it because it was easier for me to understand by making my own. I also made a psychosis sheet and a weekly tracker.

[almondjoy]

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

I made this( you have to downloaded it because it was easier for me to understand by making my own. I also made a psychosis sheet and a weekly tracker.

Thank you so much for that - I really appreciate it! That's a really good idea to make your own since you know what will be most effective for you. Thanks Miguel'smom!!

Hey almondjoy (which is among my top 3 candy bars, btw)! I recently re-started charting too. You ask a really good question!

Like MM, I made up my own, because of not finding a good fit out there. I'll see if I can figure a way to get it onto the computer. It's currently a pencil and ruler affair (then run copies at the library). It's got a lot of info, but still pretty easy to quickly see what's going on. Like you, I found myself thinking, there's too much glommed together here. And where am I supposed to put this relevant info?!

Recording them as separate entities is one solution. On mine, mood and irritability each have their own rating area. As does anxiety. These 3 are in graph format, so you can quickly look at the dots to see the big patterns. The other areas are for things that would be considered "possible contributing factors". So…. work, sleep times and number of hours, med amounts, and a space for general comments. A lot of times, I'll just write what happened that day, like "grocery" "cleaned kitchen" etc. Which might seem weird, but honestly? It's the only way I would have a clue what day we were talking about(!) I often can't remember by that very night what happened(!) ("Was that today or yesterday? What? That was last week?!" Lol.)

Separating them let me assess mood not only in terms of how I felt, but more importantly, where the energy level was, because that's what really tells the tale (imo). Having to integrate the irritability factor into an overall mood rating was exasperating. (Which made me irritable. Haha.)

(Oh! And there's a place for sleep/wake issues, that's a biggie. That one's color coded.)

[almondjoy]

Hey there Innerzone! Oh my, don't even get me started on how good American candy is! I'm Australian (married to an American), and I love it over there! My married name is Almond, which is a contributing factor to the screen name, too

Thank you so much for that. That really helps a lot and gave me a picture in my mind to start on. Especially separating them to assess energy levels - and colour coding(!) etc. I have really wanted something in a format that is easily identify what has been happening, and this has really given me good ideas..and yes, I understand having to write down specific things you did that day to remember it later on - I have spent the majority of this week at working asking people, "did I do that this morning? Or yesterday? Or was that on Monday???".

I have been so irritable the past week or so (hence the thread) trying to tear my husband's head off for no reason, and I've been trying to chart it but struggled a lot! Thankfully last night was a was a bit of happy-hypomania relief - for some reason all I could say to my husband was, "You're my buddy! You're my best mate!!!". I think that made him happy and made up for it a little bit - even though I was doing all kinds of silly things, I have to smile about that now.. The poor man lol.

Hey almondjoy --
I have a BP book out of the library and was just now giving it a quick look over to decide if it was worth renewing (forgot I had it out till the email notice came, oops) and it had a mood chart in it that you might find useful. (It's not like mine, but it does separate the elements we talked about.)

The book is "Living with Bipolar Disorder" by Michael W. Otto, Noreen A. Reilly-Harrington, Robert O. Knauz, Aude Henin, Jane N. Kogan and Gary S. Sachs. (Not that you couldn't find it at your library under one name -- I just find it hilarious how many people wrote it, because overall, I found it a bit overly simplified, though fine for an introductory type situation.) The chart is on pages 98 and 99.

On what happened when…. so true!…
Which is why the following is one of my favorite comedy bits. By Steven Wright:

"Four years ago... No, it was yesterday. Today I... No, that wasn't me. Sometimes I... No, I don't."

[InTallGrass]

Hi again, Almondjoy. I have this exact same problem. I have a tiny notebook that I write down the basics in for each day and draw an arrow, (typically multiple arrows in one day since I cycle rapidly), for my mood. The irritability always hangs me up though. "Innerzone" mentioned that trying to pay attention to where the energy level was during the irritability is important. That's what I try to do, too though it can be challenging. Especially if a sort of mixed state. I gave up on any one chart and do a few. The one that I use on an app (only for iphone) is called Expereal. It's a beautiful and simple app. It has its flaws but I enjoy it for its visuals and for a third form of tracking--especially if I want to record a mood but don't have my notebook handy. Not sure how helpful any of this is, but that's my experience...and sadly have agitation all too often.