Normal periods??

I don't have "normal" periods ever... I have manic, mixed, or depressed. That's all. Who here has these normal periods I keep hearing about??
Anyone? Is this a myth?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

I have "normal" periods for a short period of time after coming out of depressive phases, but usually I spend most of my days either way up or way down.

Yeah I have normal periods that last a couple of months to maybe 10 months (lmao I legit thought you were talking about menstruation at first). I like them best because I feel like my true self even over hypomania (which I do like as long as it's happy and doesn't turn angry, which it eventually does). Must be really difficult to be so up and down all the time without a break

I was wondering the same thing, about normal periods. As I sat down to write my next journal entry, I noticed this thread about 'normal periods' and 'hypomania after depression'. As my wife comes out of her current depression (severe episode 2), she seems to be tending towards the creative, but irritable hypomanic mood that I noticed few a few weeks before this crash. This time, she has restarted on lamictal, together with venlafaxine. Praying things will stabilize.

The best way I can describe it, is as a rollercoaster. Is a rollercoaster ever truly travelling on an even level, not going up or down? Maybe at beginning of the ride and at the end of the ride. Similarly, I think, it could be the same with life: babies and extreme elderly at end of life don't seem to have huge mood fluctuations, but every stage in between seems to involve fluctuating moods. In bipolar disorder, it's usually the intensity (and occasionally the frequency), of these mood swings that cause such difficulty.

The 'mixed' adjective used to describe your pattern, might explain why you haven't seemed to experience 'normal periods'. My suggestion is that you might find it helpful to reframe what you mean by 'normal'. I am no expert, but with a mindfulness-based therapy approach, you might be able accept that this 'mixed' state is your normal, and figure a way to optimise your functioning in this state. It's also possible that some fine-tuning of meds may help, but internal reframing might be your best option. But this work takes time, so be patient and gentle with yourself.

I typically have brief (a few months) normal periods between hypomania and depression.

I also thought it was referring to menstruation at first! lol

I think I'm in a normal period right now, but don't want to jinx it. I've been feeling very chill lately.

I don't know what's normal.

I'm always going to way or another. When i consider me being normal I'll find myself insidiously sliding into hypomania in few weeks. Maybe it's the most "normal" i feel going from depression to hypo before first obvious symptoms.

Is it bipolar if it is constantly cycling with no baseline? Are they episodes or personality? I know I have stable years, but situational triggers have set me off lately, I dont consider it bipolar related.

I feel stable the majority of the time. I have a tendency to feel a little down, but I think anyone would feel a little down in my current situation.

Maybe it is personality if it's not causing harm to one's life.

I've read that BPI's tend to have longer stable periods but of course more severe episodes, BPII's cycling more constantly and less severely. I don't know if it's true i can speak only for myself.

Hello
I'm mostly depressed I have some normal periods though,
That might last one week or up to a month at most
Other than that I have brief periods of hypomania
Hope that helps
Take care

Personality disorders do cause much disturbance in ones life.

What you've read is not true. As far as I am aware, BP1 or BP2 do not cycle differently to each other (each person is different but true bipolar will have stable periods between episodes)

The difference is in hypomania vs mania and length and episodes of depression. There are less severe forms of BP but BP 2 is not necissarily less severe and does not cycle constantly.

There are less severe forms of bipolar (spectrum arguement) but still episode of depression and mania are not constantly ongoing throughout life.

I apologize, i maybe got it a bit wrong way, personality disorders must be tough for one, I was more thinking you were meaning a moody person...

My moods level out and are stable everyone once awhile although I typically am in low grade depression though in between episodes.

I think what you are referring to are "risidual " symptoms....symptoms present in between episodes (low mood ect) and have read ppl with bipolar 2 present with more risidual symptoms

I'm stable right now only because of meds. I would be manic right now without them, but I still feel some hit is it randomly throughout the day. My stable is mildly depressed.

I've been what I, personally, call stable for almost a year now. My pdoc calls it "in partial remission", so I don't know what it takes to actually get stable or what it's supposed to look like. So I feel like my "normal mood" is where I'm at now, whatever it's called.