[moonmorgan]

When you are unwell, is night worse? It is for me and I was just wondering if others had similar experiences. I wake up feeling hopeful and fairly "normal" but as the day goes on, I get more depressed, manic and/or anxious depending on the day and by night time I'm in a bad way.

[cashart10]

VERY much so whether depressed or manic!!'

[RisuNeko]

I just get more hallucinations at night time. Not when I'm trying to go to sleep, but before that.

[violet66]

I am the opposite. I wake up with a sense of dread and it gets worse until mid afternoon/ early evening. Then my mood starts to turn around. Then it's time for bed.

[raspberrytorte]

I wake up feeling okay, and then between three and four in the afternoon and onwards everything just kind of goes downhill. I start getting paranoid (like today EVERYONE was video taping me with their stupid phones and every video camera everywhere felt like it was turned directly my way, and I started feeling unreal, etc.). My anxiety gets worse. Kind of sucks. Today has been particularly rough. I'm happy my husband is home early tonight.

[Woolly Bugger]

I believe I do worse during the day, at least when I'm depressed. I believe this is so because there is a great deal of pressure to get things accomplished during the daytime, but my depression prevents me from getting anything done. This causes me very high levels of stress and anxiety, making my depression worse. There is no pressure to do anything at night except watch TV, so I feel better. This is not the case when I'm manic, of course.

[UCMATH]

When I'm depressed, I wake up feeling sick. A lack of sleep has an anti-depressant effect on me, so I feel way better at night.

[Nammu]

Night is actually better for me. I used to hate sleeping cause that ment I'd have to wake up and I always woke up depressed. The longer I went without sleep the better it got...until I crashed.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Night time tends to be worse for me I think because Im not busy and out and about come night time. I have time for things to "stew." Anxiety tends to come in waves I think. I never know when its gonna hit or get worse.

[UCMATH]

Originally Posted by sidestepper

I used to hate sleeping cause that ment I'd have to wake up and I always woke up depressed.

Oh, my God. EXACTLY! For me, it includes feeling physically sick in a way that's difficult to explain.

Most of the time in a depressive episode I have to drag my sorry *** out of bed to go and feed the horses. Then the day gets worse from there And wait for when I can allow myself to go back to bed.

Nighttime are easier as they go quickly and I know I'm not far off bed.

When I am hypo manic I can't sleep much so nights can drag but usually I am so enthralled with what I am doing I don't notice the sun rise!

The state I am in at the moment I find the middle of the day hardest, trying to keep occupied and while I am physically ill is hard. And my motivation is very low even if I did have something needing doing.

Originally Posted by sidestepper

Night is actually better for me. I used to hate sleeping cause that ment I'd have to wake up and I always woke up depressed.

Originally Posted by UCMATH

Oh, my God. EXACTLY!

Here too. If there is any upward variation in my mood, it will be at night. It makes going to bed at a "reasonable" time difficult, because I know that's as good as it's going to get, so it's not easy to shut that down knowing what's on the other side of that sleep.

(Above is on the assumption I've been up -- as in 'generally vertical' --for most of the day.)

Which is not to say I never go to bed early. Some days I just can't stand one more minute of being me/being inside my head. So I take my meds and sleep. For the sheer relief of it. Those days, yes, it is worse-- but it'll generally be a build up of situational stuff. Not depression.

[Victoria'smom]

It's worse at night for me.

[UCMATH]

Originally Posted by Innerzone

It makes going to bed at a "reasonable" time difficult, because I know that's as good as it's going to get, so it's not easy to shut that down knowing what's on the other side of that sleep.

Same here. I used to try to throw myself into hypomanic episodes by intentionally staying up for as long as I could. Even a brief nap will make me depressed again. My pdocs have told me that waking up seriously depressed and getting better the longer you go without sleep is a sign of melancholic depression in Bipolar.

The day time is so hard for us. There's so much to do and not able to do it really stresses me out. But when it's night time, everything is closed and over with that I feel much better.

[ProRunner36]

When I was really in the grips of it, I used to stay up as late as possible. I think it's because I used to feel in control at night when the rest of "the world" was asleep. Waking up meant responsibility and interacting with people.

It also led to making my problem worse, in my opinion. I've never been a morning person, but now I pretty much make myself go to sleep at a normal time or when I first start to feel tired. Been doing this for years, and it could be a part of my overall improvement.

Originally Posted by UCMATH

... My pdocs have told me that waking up seriously depressed and getting better the longer you go without sleep is a sign of melancholic depression in Bipolar.

Thanks, UCMATH, didn't know that. (And just went and read up some more on BP melancholic depression, including an article here on PC-- "additional specifiers in BP". I'd put a link, but haven't figured out how to do that on phone yet.)

[Skywalking]

Absolutely. Nights were the hardest.

[moonmorgan]

Originally Posted by HALLIEBETH87

Night time tends to be worse for me I think because Im not busy and out and about come night time. I have time for things to "stew." Anxiety tends to come in waves I think. I never know when its gonna hit or get worse.

EXACTLY. During the day I send older kids to school so it's quieter and I get more done and the sun is usually out. But after kids have gone to bed I don't have as much to do so all the bad thoughts come.

[jde63]

Originally Posted by moonmorgan

When you are unwell, is night worse? It is for me and I was just wondering if others had similar experiences. I wake up feeling hopeful and fairly "normal" but as the day goes on, I get more depressed, manic and/or anxious depending on the day and by night time I'm in a bad way.

I had a major four-month manic episode. I am on the flip side now dealing with subsequent depression and extreme wreckage, a result of my behavior while manic.

Nighttime is the worst for me; as I try to sleep as I am often jolted from that initial state of relaxation into panic and fear - i feel like my future is ruined.

[claritycool]

Hi, its actually a different case for me, I found my night time good for relaxing after a long day's work

[ButterflyBaby1]

My experience has always been that I feel more anxious at night, I find my thoughts racing uncontrollably and the feeling of being able to conquer the world one clean kitchen,bathroom,wardrobe at a time is at its worst. I always come up with the best "plans" at night but by the morning I am exhausted and depressed so I find it hard to actually put them in place and be productive.

[RisuNeko]

I don't remember if I already said this or not but my hallucinations tend to only show up at night. Not as I'm falling asleep as in hypnogogic hallucinations but at work and at home when I'm just going about my business. I also get the racing thoughts when I'm trying to sleep.

[gris212]

When I'm depressed I look forward to the night, because I just want to sleep, hide in bed and not face the world. When I'm manic, nights are difficult because my brain won't turn off and I cannot sleep without a pill.

[RisuNeko]

I can relate to that gris.