How do you know - normal energy vs. manic energy

I went to my Pdoc today. I had called yesterday with a question. I am currently weepy - I cry easily, and not based on any experienced emotion. Fast forward through my conversation with her today. I've been really productive lately. Not getting a lot of sleep, but manageable. I've organized things, cleaned, simplified, cooked, baked, made handmade gifts just because, and more.

We were talking about whether this is normal energy for me, or if I am teetering on the edge of a hypomania. I told her it had been so long since I was in any sort of balanced state that I am not sure if my current state is my healthy baseline, or not.

Anybody else experience this? What is normal for you? I am not sure for me yet.

Sounds like your mood is "up", but are you still depressed? Just wondering if you're mixed or (hypo)manic. That's all.

I can tell the difference between my "normal mood" and my "(hypo)manic mood". Usually when I'm more productive, getting minimal sleep, feeling energetic, etc like you, I'm turning (hypo)manic

Bluebicyle that's my concern, that I am turning hypo again. Yikes.

Same here. My ups are pretty controlled though. It's my downs that I struggle with.

I FEEL like I'm hypomanic if I'm running between my house and shop, singing and chanting, impatient, getting distracted by something as I'm going to do something else, etc. I also start rhyming and alliterating. I don't this ALL the time.. there are longish periods when I'm just chill. When I'm really depressed you KNOW it because I'm a slug.

By the way.. I do wonder if you are mixed. When I'm mixed I'm moving like crazy but very angry all the time, even more impatient and irritable, can get so frustrated to the point of tears. I can be very productive and have suicidal thoughts at the same time like this. This is when I'm a danger to myself.

Yes, that sounds so me, Mossanimal. Since I was just recently re diagnosed as BPII (vs MDD), I think the Pdoc and I are just trying to get clear on what's really going on. Don't like it at all. I told her yesterday I feel very critical of people who are not as productive as I right now. Her response - be careful, because this is when you can hurt yourself.

It's other folk's experiences like this that really give me faith in the diagnosis that I've been given.. something I always struggle with. I see these mixed states potentially as a transition to depression. When I go into the bad version of my hypo-mode.. I start getting a bit delusional about some new idea I have and I pursue it all costs. When I start to get a glimpse of how wrong it is... I start getting very agitated and I continue to do it in an intense way. I'm definitely not enjoying it.. despite the fact that I was so in love with the idea in the beginning. I keep going though.. and start hating myself for that. My wife starts to notice that I'm not making money and starts to see that I'm hiding things that I'm doing in the shop.. and then I start blowing up at her. Then I feel guilty and then I start thinking I don't belong and don't fit in and it spirals to a dangerous tipping point. Anyway... I haven't thought as much about it going the other way.. from depression to hypo. Usually it's like coming out of a cave and joyous. I happen to be there right now. :-)

Mixed is usually " hell on earth " as in on your bathroom floor with a toothbrush bawling your eyes out unable to sleep and in a productive cleaning frenzy (thanks BipolarRn for that long lasting description)

For me if I notice a large lack of sleep I have chronic insomnia , but by day 4-5 I am in a ugly mixed.

It's not abnormal to see a mood fluctuate in a day.

Watching your sleep pattern is the best way to keep an eye on things.