[BPgf]

Do you think if the trigger for a given episode is a constant presence as opposed to a one-time thing (IE: school stress for a semester or two) it would prolong one's episode and keep it going for longer than the usual amount of time?

Anyone else experience 5 or 6 months+ of mostly mania or hypomania?

[Crazy Hitch]

Hi BP I would think that things like the everyday stressors of something like school can certainly cause anxiety. I'm more prone to episodes of anxiety when I'm stressed and in turn this can cause episodes as in your case it has caused one. I've gone through extensive episodes of hyponania in the past myself. It's not nice. Continue to work with your pdoc it sometimes can take quite a while for different meds etc to kick in. Let us know how you go.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I've had longer episodes due to stress or difficulty with life. The worst and longest was when I realized I could no longer work. I wasn't doing well leading up to really realizing that, then starting to say it, then accepting it as true. That episode was at least a year long without any real breaks at all although it improved from desperately ill to functioning but quite sick. I was on suicide precautions through that and some of them were left in place for 2 1/2 years so I don't know when they felt the episode was over and when they decided I'd entered a safe zone. I honestly don't remember how long I felt terrible. It seemed like forever but it wasn't.

I've also had really long ones that weren't associated with anything in particular. And I've had in the last year one of the worst things that I'll ever deal with in my entire life and that didn't trigger an episode. I had very normal responses from throwing the notepad where my mom wrote down what the 5 AM phone call was about (somehow I had guessed but confirmation made me so angry) to crying for days to getting an immediate script for valium from my wonderfully understanding pdoc to rage and hurt and sadness and everything else in the world you can feel when someone you love does one of the worst things they could possibly do. And it never triggered an episode. I think it helped that we were on top of it with anxiety meds from day one but mostly my bipolar was pretty stable and I just did ok. Which was pretty much a first for me. That situation still has numerous chances to fall apart completely but so far I've managed it.

[Hexagram]

Originally Posted by BPgf

Do you think if the trigger for a given episode is a constant presence as opposed to a one-time thing (IE: school stress for a semester or two) it would prolong one's episode and keep it going for longer than the usual amount of time?

Yes. I've also experienced more profound depressions immediately following manic episodes prolonged by stress.

[Homeira]

The reason I was diagnosed with BP II was several hypomanic/mild manic episodes lasting 2-4 months. I still get hypomania, but shorter, 3-4 weeks at most. Always followed by 2-3 months of moderate to severe depression. Hypomania is caused by spring usually. Depression follows hypomania always. Outside stressor will cause depression to worsen as well.