[emptyspace]

How frequent are your episodes? How long do they last?

What is the longest time you have been stable?

I used to cycle between mania and then depression, but I have been stable for about 6 months on a new med cocktail.
The last episode I had was really depressive and it lasted for a **** long time.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Mine are unpredictable in both duration and frequency. Neither me or my psychologist csn find a pattern.

[Miss Laura]

It really depends for me!

If I stop my meds then I will get manic then ill get depressed after a long manic episode with delusions, paranoia and maybe hallucinations. Then depression kicks in and I'm gone

Then if I'm on meds I could be stable for 6 months or so until I get a notion of coming off my meds again.

Or I can get high or low depending on time of year/stress levels/myself.

I don't help myself as I come off my meds but I have been told I'm A TYPICAL BIPOLARER as the illness takes over my head :-(

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[BeyondtheRainbow]

I tend to be always cycling somehow. Sometimes it is more and sometimes it is less but I'm considered to be in some degree of mixed state at all times. Until 2009 I was pretty much always at some extreme and then I started an MAOI and adjusted my Seroquel to accommodate that and did really, really well for over a year. But I caught whooping cough at work (long story but I was allergic to the shots and there was an outbreak that the local drs diligently diagnosed as pneumonia so I was exposed and then exposed a bunch of my patients before I was really sick) and that and the treatments for it really threw me for a loop. Since then I've had a harder time being stable but my extremes have not been as extreme until my current episode which has lasted 6 months and was really difficult to treat although it seems to be getting better now. (I never trust it until it stays better for some time). Menopause seems to have been a very big help with bipolar for me. This current episode is the only really bad one I had for 2 years and that's huge for me, especially since the last 15 months have been incredibly stressful. There were smaller ones that always reacted to medication adjustments which never used to happen for me and then this. There's no telling what happens next; I hope that the new medication lets me go a long time without another episode after this one ends but I could also have just been thrown into another round of episodes that hopefully won't be as bad as this one.

I'm consistently inconsistent.

[Victoria'smom]

I am always in a state. Manic summer, mixed spring/fall, and depressed winter. I did think I've ever been stable. It's just got less severe with meds.

[Nevvy]

Several months (up to/over a year maybe) for the lows, much much much much shorter (week or so as shortest) for the highs (never fully manic) . Not sure how it is now with my current cocktail though, currently leveled out.

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I can almost time a clock with my cycle, it's like every 3 days. When I'm depressed, I'm not too bothered by it because I know relief is like 2 days away.

Sometimes I shoot from depression to hypomania or fall into depression.

But being on meds have stopped all that.

[Crazy Hitch]

My episodes are pretty frequent of late ... I can go a week and flip a mood change ... sometimes even within a day ...

Before my depressive episodes used to last around 6 months and my manic episodes around a month.

Now my manic episodes can last month ...

And same as hypomania.

[wiretwister]

been depressed for a very long time so that is my stable even my gp comments on it as my normal state of being , ... when I change meds or change doses it can spike me up or down but I recover after a few days back to my base depression ... not been sui for almost a year ... so I guess "stable" for that long ...

[Pikku Myy]

I used to cycle in about 2 to 3 year intervals and what I called my "mood changes" were not as radical. Last 2 years I been going thru the rollercoaster couple of times a year... 2013 and 2014 were super duper bad. There was no normal balanced state of mind. It was daily/weekly/monthly - just horrible. Now I have been quite well for past 6 months again. Just hoping it will stay this way forever

[scatterbrained04]

Mine aren't very predictable. Usually when I hit depression it takes at least a year to completely shake it. Hypomania I usually only have half as often and it goes away much more quickly. I go in and out of mixed states sometimes while depressed. I've had up to a couple years here and there mostly symptom free too. It does what wants.

[RisuNeko]

I tend to have long depressions and shorter manias/hypomanias. Like 10 months to a year and a half for depression, and 3 days to 3 weeks for mania. I haven't really noticed much of a pattern recently though. I've been stable for the first time since I was diagnosed for the past two months, which is new for me. Before that I would have long depressions with little manias interspersed here and there, especially when I don't sleep for too many days in a row. I have a lot of trouble sleeping whether I'm depressed, manic, or normal and that seems to be the main trigger for me besides stressful life events, like finals, or losing a loved one, or having a job interview coming up, or getting fired, or breakups...or soon, applying for grad school. That's already stressing me out and I have until winter.

[CopperStar]

I seem to go for long bouts of mild depression, then very brief pure mania out of nowhere, which quickly blossoms into dysphoric mania, which lasts anywhere from a few weeks to a few months and completely destroys my life. In the aftermath I feel extremely depressed, which fades into a mild depression.

[raspberrytorte]

I'm not sure anymore.

My depressions usually last between three and six months, and are normally in the summer (sometimes start as early as March). But they always end in august or early september.

My last episode (mania with psychosis) was like lemonade concentrate in intensity. Lasted two weeks before I ended up inpatient, and that was in january. It was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me.

[LettinG0]

Mine used to cycle fairly consistently....up in spring and fall and down in summer and winter.....the last 15 months or so have been a hellish rollercoaster....with ups more frequently and a lot of mixed stuff thrown in.

Disclaimer: I am NOT on medication of any kind at the moment

[LettinG0]

Originally Posted by wiretwister

been depressed for a very long time so that is my stable even my gp comments on it as my normal state of being , ....

I believe my baseline is a depressive state as well.....even at my "best" I am at least mildly to moderately depressed. Thanks for sharing that bit of info...

[Secretum]

It depends. Depressions usually happen in the fall/winter and last months, though the severity of the depression changes throughout the episode and I do have days where I feel normal or even hypomanic. Mania lasts for much less time, few hours to a few weeks. I used to high periods that lasted for months. I miss that.

I had mostly mixed episodes on prozac. It was awful. This winter/spring was the worst depression I ever had, but at least it was a pure depression. None of this weird mixed stuff.

[Hashi/bipolar mom]

Hmmmm, this is a difficult one for me since I just got a diagnosis. However, looking back the past 10 years I would say I cycle about every 3 weeks with minor mania for about 2-3 days. Then I have a major depressive episode for about 2 days afterward and then fine. However, every 3-6 months I have a MAJOR mania episode and that is when I'm pretty destructive. I don't know if it's because I've been good so long that I'm like....***** this and go crazy or if my mania just ramps up during that time. Who knows.

[RisuNeko]

Those are extremely short episodes. If I had a depression that short I don't even think I would count it as a depression. For me depression has to be at least 3 months before it even sinks in that im depressed.

[Manic Trance]

I am daily, weekly, basically. I am a rapid cycler. Rn I'm experiencing a depressive phase. Ugh... Yesterday I was really irritated and mad, but the day before that I experienced hypo manic elation, really through the roof. Mostly I am manic/hypo manic, but that turns easily into irritation and anger. Anyhow, hope that answers the question.

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