Ultra Ultra rapid cycler

hi everyone, i have a quick question.

when i cycle i go from normal to hypomanic to manic to depressed. all in one day. i saw my new psychiatrist for the first time the other day and he said he never heard of such a thing. does anyone else cycle like this? is my doc out of touch?

I think we've all heard of it...we just don't know what to think. Because much of the time things can be attributed to some sort of trigger. Your psychiatrist has heard of it, he just doesn't necessarily believe in it. I think that form of bipolar is exceptionally rare, so people can sometimes just wave it off.

Look into the term "ultradian cycling".

I had a pdoc who also said he had never heard of rapid cycles. It was very frustrating and I finally ended up switching docs. Good luck.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When my meds aren't working properly I rapid-cycle/mixed states intensely.

I had severe mood swings over the course of a day for a few weeks. I ended up diagnosed bipolar 1 because they thought I was mixed, while like you, I thought I was an ultra ultra rapid/ultradian cycler.

Turned out it wasn't bipolar. I was reacting to stress, but more importantly, severe food allergies to gluten and casein, which took 20 years to learn that I had.

I'm most interested in exactly how you feel when you go hypo/manic then depressed, and your behaviors. Is the switch instant, or does it take a few hours to transition? How do your thought patterns compare between ups and downs? How do you sleep? What do you eat?

I never heard of ultra rapid bipolar disorder. What you have described seems to be emotional dysregulation, which can be caused by things such stress, hormones, medication and substance abuse.

Yes, this describes me. Emotional dysregulation due to situational triggers. This is where I can do a complete "cycle" in one day. Actually I see these events as mood swings, and not a true bipolar mood swings.

I am definitely bipolar. I have been diagnosed as bipolar by 7 different doctors.

During the day I slide along a continuum from normal to hypomania to mania. There is not a trigger. Mania always leads to depression. Sometimes triggers cause me to go str8 into depression. My last psychiatrist said I am an ultra rapid cycler because i went un-medicated for too long.

I feel like the new psychiatrist doesn't believe me and is skeptical. My concern is I will not be treated me properly. I also have epilepsy and I know that some seizures can be misinterpreted as mental illness, so, it is hard to discern what is actually going on. I see the neurologist next month.

So, I was hoping to hear from other people who are ultra rapid cyclers. I have come across no anecdotes or other people who cycle like I do.

How controlled is the epilepsy, and what types of seizures do you get?

Do you think the epilepsy is at all related to the mood swings?

Do you think it's possible the mood episodes could actually be a different kind of seizure activity (that doesn't produce spasms or blackouts)?