I'm just curious

(1) What is your mania/hypomania like?
(2) What is the *worst* thing you've done while hypomanic or manic?

------

(1) I'm currently diagnosed as BP 1, but I think I might be BP 2. I'm fortunate that I don't get psychosis. I mostly sleep 3-4 hours a night, I drive really fast/recklessly, and I sometimes spontaneously buy things that catch my eye (I once bought a $550 guitar because I thought it looked nice lol). I also get super distracted and I can't stop smiling/giggling.

(2) Probably not that bad compared to some of you, but I once drove 110 mph on the highway the whole way from home to work at 4:30 in the morning. I had no reason to speed or get to work early. I just thought it was fun. lol. I was lucky I didn't get pulled over! And yes, there was some traffic that I swerved around, and it took me ~18 minutes to get to work instead of the usual 35.

I've spent the money and behaved recklessly. My 'drug' was the thrill of extreme activities and I risked my life numerous times doing stupid outdoor activities on my own forever seeking that rush of adrenaline. The worse thing I did was spend money - a lot of it which now leaves me poverty stricken.

[violetgreen]

I usually experience hypomania episodes like spiritual experiences. Probably thanks to my strict Polish-Catholic upbringing. I made a life change decision during an episode while I gave an impromptu speech to a packed church, feeling excruciatingly close to each person, I had auditory and visual hallucinations, and the speech ended with a standing ovation, lots of hugs and congratulations. Stuff like that.

The worst things happened over a long period of time, I self-medicated by being a daily drinker, until 7 1/2 years ago, and I got into $27,000 worth of credit card debt, finally paid it off last year.

[furiousfever]

1.) money spending, anger, wild and reckless behavior. I spend a lot of time drunk, naked and climbing on things. I buy things in repetition, like spending $400 dollars on underwear or buying every book by the same author in a day. I run away in either serious ways, like abandoning all of my life and belongings to become a traveling salesman, or in not so serious ways like bailing on my friends while out drinking and climbing on rollercoasters in closed amusement parks. I get paranoid, seeing people or thinking people are hiding or taking things from me or that there is an intruder. I obsess about things, thinking in never ending loops about one thing or another. I go for long runs in the middle of the night. I sleep with everyone and put myself in dangerous situations with strangers, some that have led to assaults.At some point I start losing time and then things get scary. I start cutting and clawing and hitting doing anything to let the energy out. I black a lot of those fits out, even while sober. One too many times I have woken up attached to my sheets by coagulated blood. Other times I've lost time more comically. I once woke up on the balcony of a hotel room that I spent 700 dollars on wrapped in only an American flag.
God bless bipolar disorder!
2) The worst thing would probably depend on who you asked that knows me. The most irreparable damage I did was to my partner of eight years. I started sleeping with piles(literally) of women and demanded that it be an acceptable part of our relationship. I also became obsessed with another man. I broke things. I hit him.I spun and spun and spun. I was ferocious with anger, lust and my selfishness destroyed our relationship. He walked away with nothing, and I, being the terror that I am, took everything. It makes me sick and so ashamed to think about it now.

[pirilin]

Gambling, drinking, reckless sex, wasting big money in everything I saw.
Starting businesses (the hardest part) and getting bored when they were working.
Credit cards? ha! I went bankrupt with 116k.
TG I still have my 3rd wife.

[Keegan2015]

1) Ranting and rambling thinking everything I say is special and that I'm some sort of visionary and not just a really obnoxious guy. Chatting up ANYBODY nearby and weirding them out. Super paranoid, delusional thinking. Sleeping 2-3 hours a night. Oh and drinking ... LOTS of drinking.

2) Having a complete meltdown after being asked to leave from work and unintentionally threatening a coworker (After getting fired I sent out a couple of angry drunk texts that I later reread and realized were entirely inappropriate). Anddd successfully convincing a friend's ex to sleep with me but then getting too drunk and crashing on her couch instead (I still feel really weird about that one).

[Ocean Swimmer]

Hey Blue. 200 Barbie dolls. That's my top.

Hurt people, irreparably compromised my identity and reputation and listened to Nickelback.

[yesterdaysangel]

(1) What is your mania/hypomania like?
(2) What is the *worst* thing you've done while hypomanic or manic?

1. 1. My mania/hypomania sometimes manifests itself in a brighter, more fun looking world, and I act impulsively, am more reckless with money, sex, drinking, and social interaction. Sometimes, for unknown reasons, I hallucinate, but those episodes seem to border on psychotic. My hypomania/mania has gotten worse as I progress through my teenage years, but I haven't yet been hospitalized for them.
2. 2. I tried to jump out of a 13 story window because I had such a warped sense of reality and a feeling of superiority that I thought I could fly. Clearly I couldn't, and someone grabbed me before I tried. Other than, just the usual spending and drinking binges, flippantly ditching friends and relationships, and the like.

[gina_re]

Originally Posted by Lefty the Salesman

Hurt people, irreparably compromised my identity and reputation and listened to Nickelback.

[RomanJames2014]

Haha I've been diagnosed with bipolar 1 and I've done a lot of crazy stuff while manic but the craziest was meeting a senators son on Christmas Eve in a bar and then going to a bathhouse with him and decided to go to LA and get married instead of going to work. I didn't get to LA because I didn't have money but it would have been really bad.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gina_re]

(1) What is your mania/hypomania like?
(2) What is the *worst* thing you've done while hypomanic or manic?

1) Spending money on nonsense that I have no business buying. And I can't even say I bought something cool, it's just me buying random stuff I see when walking through Target or the mall. I once came out of hypomania and was like, why do I have these bright blue shoes?!?! But you do that often enough, eventually you're down a few hundred dollars. In my early 20s I racked up over $20K in unsecured debt and I had to file for bankruptcy. I drink and end up doing things (or people) that I have no business doing. Especially when tequilla is involved..
2) The worst thing I've done is so embarressing I feel uncomfortable sharing. Even though you all know more about me than some of my friends. Still love you guys!

[ComfortablyNumb5]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

I'm just curious


(1) What is your mania/hypomania like?

(2) What is the *worst* thing you've done while hypomanic or manic?


------


(1) I'm currently diagnosed as BP 1, but I think I might be BP 2. I'm fortunate that I don't get psychosis. I mostly sleep 3-4 hours a night, I drive really fast/recklessly, and I sometimes spontaneously buy things that catch my eye (I once bought a $550 guitar because I thought it looked nice lol). I also get super distracted and I can't stop smiling/giggling.


(2) Probably not that bad compared to some of you, but I once drove 110 mph on the highway the whole way from home to work at 4:30 in the morning. I had no reason to speed or get to work early. I just thought it was fun. lol. I was lucky I didn't get pulled over! And yes, there was some traffic that I swerved around, and it took me ~18 minutes to get to work instead of the usual 35.

1) when I was younger I would get manic and stay up for days. And I would make bad decisions about serious commitments like when I decided to go to cosmetology school. I finished the schooling only to come to the conclusion that I definitely didn't want to make a career out of it and I never even took the state board test.

2) as far as the worst thing I've done... I really don't know if it was my BP or BPD to blame but when I was self medicating with alcohol I would make horrible decisions like drinking and driving, taking different substances ect. Or random hookups with men I hardly knew. I'm lucky I've never been in jail or hurt anyone.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

1]

I get beautiful, euphoric hypo-manias. The most dramatic change is that i have energy to burn. I only sleep every second night for about four hours. This is after spending most of the year depressed and with my flesh liquifying to fat from inactivity and sleeping twelve hours a day plus naps. I'm so sore from the round-the-clock activity that i have to rehabilitate myself with hot baths, my Dr. Schol's foot bath and floating in the pool. I'm optimistic and social. When i'm depressed i don't even attend karaoke. When i'm hypo-manic i RUN karaoke!

2]

Like most people on this thread, when i'm hypo-manic i spend recklessly. I'm attracted to wild design like this zebra-print purse i bought last Spring. It's very eye-catching but it's just not something i would buy when not hypo-manic. The wild clothes just end up hanging in the closet. Once i bought so much fabric they had to weigh it on a scale! I was going to do 'art' with it but it was never clear what the art was. I made a few fabric collages and abandoned it.

The worst thing i have done while hypo-manic is not too funny. I left my x and went to a shelter for abused women. I never claimed he hit me, thankfully, but it sure looked bad. I said it was 'financial abuse' as he was spending all my money on himself. I eventually went back to him when i got back down to earth but the damage was done and he slowly feel out of love with me and we ended up divorced.

I guess it's for the best and all but i sure am ashamed that i did that.

[Row Jimmy]

First of all, I don't often recognize my hypomania until its too late. It overtakes me and usually involves thinking irrationally about moving into the woods, rapid speech and talking over people, blaming the world for my problems, and then it ends with fits of anger and paranoia.

The worst thing I've done involved a wall in my garage. First, I decided to take a hockey stick to the sheetrock, driving four blade sized holes in the wall before stopping. It was a Sherwood so it could take the punishment. Then I punched a hole in the wall like Andy Bernard from The Office. I like to tell people he learned that from me.

Thankfully, the violence against things that don't fight back has gone away. But I still suffer from rapid speech and blame. The anger is moderate and less frequent but it's still there.

[Roaming_bird]

When I'm hypomanic, I get very very happy and love everyone and everything. And I make sure to tell them how much I love them . I talk to everyone about everything and can't stop. In college I would be so silly and goofy, I would dress up in costumes and have tea parties on the chapel roof.

When I wasn't on citalopram and hypomanic, I was mean. God awful, horribly mean and angry.

I'd say awful things to my stepsons and my husband. I'd send food back at restaurants because it wasn't quite right constantly.

My worst? One time I exploded at a church usher when we were visiting because there were not enough bulletins. It was Easter Sunday, and I told him it was his job to have others share bulletins and he was a horrible usher. I was so ashamed later. I try my best to forget these things, and hope that everyone else forgets them.

Or maybe it was the time I told my stepsons that I wished they would go back to their mother, that I didn't want them here.

Or maybe when I tried to jump out of a moving car and ended up in a snow bank in single digits weather without my phone.

I am so ashamed of these times. I didn't realize that it was probably my illness. Sometimes I wonder even now. But I'm so different. And once for a couple of weeks I forgot to put my citalopram in my med box and didn't take it. I was so angry and agitated and confused as to why my mood had changed until I figured out the citalopram.

[SingDanceRunLife]

First sign of hypomania in me is that I start cleaning. If I'm cleaning like a mad man, I know it's coming/there. I also get really irritable, can't stay on topic for more than a few seconds to minutes, and don't sleep much.

The worst thing I've ever done was spend way too much money on a credit card...I'm still trying to pay that off, but thanks to my tax return, I will finally be able to!

[Hashi/bipolar mom]

I have a difference between Hypomania and full on mania. Hypomania made me very successful in my Marketing career. I felt like I could do anything and was "always on"! Mania is a different story....it's BAD! Mine manifests in binge drinking and I have been arrested for it. I also had other reckless behavior that I won't go into detail. I'm not really into the shopping thing, but my mother was back in the day. That was her manic outlet. I have so many regrets and when I think about it all, I WANT TO VOMIT! It's very hard for me to think about.

[1278]

I don't know if it was hypomania or a mixed episodes but I was so angry and irritable, so mean and abusive towards my parents. I was throwing glasses and plates at the wall, was paranoid and thought that people were watching me.

[AncientMelody]

I'm on the fence as to whether they are true hypomanias, but I sure feel high while it's happening and I'm not nor ever have been a drug user, so not sure that a better description for them exists.

My hypomanic episodes feel pretty great for the most part because I otherwise have excessive daytime sleepiness. It's the only time I ever wake up alert. I feel a constant warm "hum" of energy on my skin, and if I touch my skin with my hand it's very tingly. I sometimes feel mildly dissociated but nothing that impairs me.

I think I have had one manic episode. It was before I saw a psychiatrist but not long before. I didn't realize what it was at the time; nor did my Primary care doctor, because I have a lot of internalized symptoms but not so much "behavioral stuff" as a result. It was scary and longer lasting than my hypomanias. It lasted a week, I was having trouble falling alseep which I rarely do. I would bolt up awake out of a dead sleep at around three or four in the morning. I'd be raring to go, my heart racing. I was having panic attacks during these episodes. I was essentially in constant adrenaline overdrive for a week.... I was getting chest pains even from the panic attacks. We thought that they were panic attacks but again looking back there was a high energy nervousness for that entire week between the panic attacks

I haven't had too many bizarre behaviors during my episodes, though I had some pretty strange thoughts/desires. my sex drive is higher, but I've never looked for, or even considered, looking for partners other than my husband. But I'm very seductive with him during these times. Not a bad thing at all. I punched the fridge once when I was frustrated during a hypomanic episode which hurt especially because it was my bad wrist. but I didn't break it or anything. I WANTED to speed like crazy. I love the idea of just flooring the gas pedal. but I was fortunately able to maintain a state of mind where I put the car on cruise control to decrease the temptation. I recently have developed a passion for painting and drawing, and when I am in an episode I can sit down and paint all night or nearly all night long. that has caused some discord with my husband and I in particular because I've not been keeping up on housework, not arriving at work on time, etc.

[xxblackrosesxx]

(1) What is your mania/hypomania like?
(2) What is the *worst* thing you've done while hypomanic or manic?

My mania sends me into talking about nonsense and annoying my parents when I won't shut up whislt talking to the tv. I always end up drinking lots and spending money on alcohol, taxis and clothes. Once I went out drunk and came back home taking drugs with someone twice my age. Last night I couldnt stop thinking about weed whislt going out drinking again after a 12 hour shift at work. I've been going out a lot recently and not having any "me time" for a while now. It's just so boring to stay at home all day.

[gina_re]

I'm a little hypo now, so I can add the rapid speech. I already talk a lot as it is, it's even worse when I get this way. So many ideas running through my had and more energy to do it all! When I was hypo last summer, I thought I was so smart and could be published in a psychology journal and enrolled in grad school. Two classes in, I was like why am I doing this? And I slowly started to fall at that point.

[Xand]

I raced an articulated lorry on my bike. I was so close that the bike was sucked in under the wheels and I was thrown off onto the tarmac. Cut and bruised........what a RUSH.