Suddenly Switching Moods

Last night I was very close to making a serious suicide attempt. I won't go into details but i am IP but not in a locked ward. The point is I was just that low and agitated. Thankfully a nurse found me and sat with me for half an hour calming me down. After a huge amount of meds given to me by the nursing staff to calm me down I only slept 4 hours, then passed the time online before having my first ECT treatment around 7am. My mood was still very low after treatment but by midday I began to become extremely cheerful, super-positive and basically hypomanic. This was a dramatic switch in mood and it has occurred before in both directions; manic to deeply depressed or deeply depressed to manic.

I am just wondering if others here experience such swift, dramatic swings and where it leads to. I have leveled out before but sometimes I just keep swinging and it is hell to live through with no solid ground.

What meds were you given?

This past summer I was waiting for Wellbutrin to kick in, which I was prescribed in addition to my SNRI, but for a week I was extremely depressed, with obsessive suicidal ideation all the time, every day. I even planned it. And finally, I wake up on a Saturday and suddenly I'm 50 times better. Like I hadn't been depressed at all. Total 180. By mid-week the following week I was impervious. And then I had an allergic reaction to Wellbutrin, which sucked, because I was flying on it. But I suppose that allergic reaction was a blessing in disguise. :/

Okay, sorry, I'm rambling. But my point is, it might be the meds that have caused such a quick and drastic change.

I have extreme changes. It can be because of something external happening or just seem to shift for no reason. I have had perfect days ruined by a bad mood swing. Sometimes I think it is because I get into distorted thinking.

Hang in there Wander. I hope things improve for you very soon.

Talk about switching, I can go from depressed to hypo in less than a second. Or back. It's like a rocket ride or falling off a cliff. Call me a yo yo. Sometimes it's natural or it's AD induced.

I hope you get to feeling better and those insane thoughts leave you.

ECT can offen produce quick highs, but it takes more than one to maintain that feeling and bring it to a medium everyday level. I'm glad you were able to get a fast result, that's promising.

I have a tendancy to have the swiftness in the downward direction, and often it comes out of nowhere. I'll be OK, and then I'll end up like a ball in bed wishing I was dead. Usually feeling that I am such a burden to the world. At some point that just kind of lets up, and I'm back to being OK again.

I'm not sure if I have experienced down to up and back down. I may have though and didn't realize it. Sometimes what seems like normal to me probably really is a bit more on the hypomanic side. I'm not complaining because it probably is why I seem to accomplish a fair amount despite everything.

Well yesterday I was crying my eyes out and having intense SI thoughts which continued into this morning...had a bit of a panic attack this afternoon...and now I'm singing and dancing around the house. I feel great! So I guess yes, I have quick mood switches. Right now it's not bothering me because I'm up but I understand the frustration of swinging around with no solid ground to stand on.

I hope the ECT helps you. I'm glad you were in a safe place and didn't take your life. If nothing else, we would miss you here. And I'm sure there are people in your life who would miss you a lot more. Keep hanging on!

A week ago I stopped my antidepressant Pristiq and I also haven't had Lithium since my OD on Sunday as it messes with ECT. I think coming off both may have a lot to do with triggering the episode and then there is the ECT itself. Lithium treats mania so that is my bet as the main culprit.

Coming off effexor (older version of pristiq) was the only time my actual mood shifted from actually manic to depressed muliple times a day. It was a rollarcoaster but due to coming off meds. It lasted around 4-6 monthsas i was taken off so quickly from such a high dose. My pdocs nearly changed my diagnosis as bipolar very very very rarely presents itself in that form. But once my brain settled so did the mood swings and my diagnosis stuck.

Generally true bipolar swings can take a few days (there are warning signs etc) and the swing has to last more than 2 weeks to be diagnosed as an episode.

I'd say your experience is cos of all the stuff going on in your brain at the moment (med withdrawl, ect etc) and it will pass. Goodluck.

Well my pdoc says my mood is significantly elevated and because of all the factors involved even he couldn't know for sure what switched me. He is actually more concerned than I thought the situation merited. He says my mood is very unstable so he is concerned about me switching to suicidally depressed any moment. I am just thrilled to feel so good after being in a horrible mixed state.

I am now in day 2 of hypomania so I am 2 more days off an official episode. All the symptoms from coming off Pristiq, Lithium and Benzo's have settled down. I just hope to get, and stay, stable. In the meantime being hypomanic i like a holiday from the mixed episode.

Supanova, my moods have not been switching multiple times throughout the day, thankfully. That sounds awful. Is that ultradian cycles? Are you still having them or did it ease once your body adjusted to the change in meds?

Just realized I didn't answer this. I was given 20mg Zyprexa and 25mg of Seroquel to calm down. Normally I would be out cold on such doses but not that night.

My mood stopped cycling like that a few months after the med change. My brain was just readjusting. We realised this after when I leveled out again that it had been med related (although pdocs dont like to admit that )

My episodes before that and now are far from rapid cycling. I havent been hypomanic in ages and tend to just go into deep suicidal depression for a few months every so often.

But yeah, my pdocs told me that mood shifts within one day are extremely rare and those who experience them are usually more likely to have a personality disorder or ptsd.

But thats not the case in your case obviously cos your brain will be all kinds of confused right now and its to be expected.

I've also had this terrible switch. From tre darkest depression and then upp to hypomania or mania in a few days, sometimes ours, and then down again next day. Once it was when I got a new medicine and several times' when my ssri-med was changed in dose. Stress, even a little bit, can make me hypoman and then my hallucinations are back (I hear voices etc). I think that we who are bipolar are very, very sensitive to meds and of course ECT as well. Hugs to all of you