[wildflowerchild25]

Does the weather or season affect your mood state? I'm sure this has been discussed before but I'm just curious. I managed to avoid my typical winter depression this year, thanks to emsam. I've actually been mostly stable for a whole year now! Mild, short episodes. But I'm definitely slightly hypo right now.

In February we had unseasonable warmth and sunshine, and I had a mild hypomanic spurt then. I impulsively decided to withdraw from my certification program and apply for my master's degree in special education. Shortly thereafter I crashed from the hypo and was besieged by regret and anxiety. It wasn't a typiCal depression, just severe, crushing anxiety and self doubt about pretty much everything; my career, my parenting, my education, my body. Everything.

Now with warmer weather breaking I am back to a very mild hypomania. I want to talk a lot (part of the reason I'm here right now lol), I want to drink and party, I can't sleep as well, I want to spend money. I've restrained myself for the most part. I am going out this weekend but that's because I turned thirty yesterday so I'm celebrating! Plus it will be spring break finally! I'm worried about containing myself during spring break. I never drink during the week because I have to work but I'll be off for a whole week and if I'm still hypo I'm afraid I'll drink a lot more often. Thankfully my son is off too and I refuse to take him into a liquor store so that will stop me.

I just love this though...I feel so great. I love the sunshine and the warmth. I love the confidence I have. I hate being crushed by self doubt. It sucks.

I'm not sure how long this will last as tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be colder so maybe I'll calm down. I just hope I don't crash again. My pdoc is basically useless. She will just tell me to stop my AD but then how will I prevent the inevitable depression?

I'm starting a new med in June, probably vraylar. So we will see how that goes.

I definitely won't get too high, the invega caps any mania. Haven't been full blown manic since 2014. Interestingly enough, in the spring. Man that was terrible. I went full blown manic, then tipped into mixed psychosis and ended up crying in the hospital because I was certain strangers could read my thoughts and they were all plotting to kill me. Thank god for the invega and I hope vraylar works as well because I don't ever want to go through that again.

I'm just going to enjoy this as it goes and hope that the anxiety doesn't return. Let's hope! Happy spring!

[Naynay99]

There is a definite seasonality to my moods.
I think I would do better mentally in a difference climate with less extremes of weather and light. I am stuck in the northeast US, though.
So yeah- spring usually wakes me up from my winter depression hibernation and makes my mood go up a bit. The first weeks of true spring sunshine radiating down on me usually makes me feel great, invincible, and full of things that I can't wait to do.
Hasn't happened yet for me this year though...

[mossanimal]

Yes.. spring is when I find trouble. I've started feeling it this year.. but I can tell the meds are reigning it in. In some ways I'm a little sad.. but it will be way better in the long run.

And this past mid-winter was one of the worst depressions I've had. Mid-summer is also a big dip for me.. followed by autumn mania. I'm very circadian I think.

[artismyonelove]

I take vrylar. But my moods definitely change when the seasons change. Even in vrylar. Spring and warmth definitely make me more hypomanic and then I get it confused. Wonder if it's just finally normal happiness or hypomania occurring.

[IntentOnHealing]

Hi,

OMG. I hear you about the spring mania. I have it too. Most springs. This one, not so much, but here, where I can tell my truths, I wish for it almost as much as I fear it. I'm not on a maintenance dose right now, though. My illness has been too severe for "just" a maintenance dose.

Is it about the temperature? Or the light? Or maybe about both? For me, it's about the light. And when the temperature is higher, I get more light.

Spring makes me feel like drinking and partying too. Gah. Right now, I'd like to. My doctor once told me--but who knows if this was info specific to my situation or to bipolar in general--that every time you have more than one alcoholic beverage in a 24 hour period, you shut your meds off for a week. Seems almost too formulaic to be true now that I read it in typed words lol.

Someone else mentioned that their bipolar seemed "circadian." That's a good way to put it. A lot of the issues we have with the disorder are about that rhythm being off and that clock not working properly. Complicates an already complicated thing, eh?. For example, our brains are supposed to kick in with melatonin when it gets dark so we feel sleepy. But that whole cycle is a mess in bipolar people so a lot of us end up happier than during the regular daylight hours when it's dark, awake half the night, or unable to feel fully awake until mid-afternoon.

[IntentOnHealing]

No kidding! I feel that way too. If I have the slightest bit of joy, I'm terrified. If my sex drive goes up, I keep it a secret.

[artismyonelove]

I always have a high sex drive, especially for a girl. Lol

[wildflowerchild25]

Originally Posted by mossanimal

Yes.. spring is when I find trouble. I've started feeling it this year.. but I can tell the meds are reigning it in. In some ways I'm a little sad.. but it will be way better in the long run.

And this past mid-winter was one of the worst depressions I've had. Mid-summer is also a big dip for me.. followed by autumn mania. I'm very circadian I think.

I agree, summer I get depressed too, although I haven't noticed a specific mood in the fall.

Originally Posted by artismyonelove

I always have a high sex drive, especially for a girl. Lol

Lucky you.

[Unrigged64072835]

I would normally anticipate spring, but the weather here has been so topsy-turvy that I probably won't feel it until June. And then it will be too hot again.

Most of my hospitalizations have been in winter, but I've had some during spring and summer too.

[WastedFreesia1654]

One of the few triggers I can identify is the weather and changing of seasons, especially in regards to spring/summer bringing on hypomania. I think it's rather common, though!

[BipolaRNurse]

I haven't quite made it to hypomania yet because our spring thus far has been cold and rainy. But I can definitely feel it stirring, and on our rare sunny day it wants to break out and dance! I am totally a child of the seasons, my mood rises and falls according to the amount of available light. That's why I like Daylight Saving Time with its long days and the light that stays late into the evenings.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I just started getting my annual mixed episode (which usually happens in June so I'm concerned) last week. I lowered my Emsam dose and that seems to have helped. Not sure what happens if it comes back or gets worse. Hopefully it won't. Last year I avoided it altogether thanks to clozaril but that doesn't mean it won't happen this time.