[sgpg_]

How many hypomanic episodes do you have per year? How long do they take and how are they?

I'm feeling pretty shaky and I'm on my epilepsy meds (keppra) but I feel like I might have a convulsion right now. I was on a bar and now I was coming back home on the bus but as it's night in here (I'm in portugal) the driver was speeding a bit and I felt like on a rollercoaster. I felt some chills up my spine it was pretty weird and as people passed by the bus I imagined how bad but crazy it would be if the bus i was on ran them over at such speed. I did like 3 bipolar tests right now to monitor how i'm feeling but i can't focus on the results though, they're all different and confusing. i'm taking zoloft for my rage and irritability and i don't get mad at my mom anymore but i feel depressed anyway isn't it weird? also, the instructions say bipolars shouldn't take zoloft. i'm kind of feeling ****** but speeded and i feel like i drank a cup of wine but i didn't. i can't go to bed otherwise i wont get any sleep and feel depressed and probably scratch all my body for some relief but if i go watch some rick and morty or something i'll stay there the whole night. any ideas? i feel like singing and dancing and listening to music but i can't because everyone's sleeping here and i can't act on this urge. actually, i never act on my stupid manic urges so that's probably why i feel so ******, there are always restraints for what people will think or how consequences will act on me if i act like i need to and i end up going to bed and go crazy. ah it feels good to write here, thanks to all these people here, this place is just great. please tell me about you

[5150DirtDiva]

Welcome to PC! I am sorry you are experiencing some issues right now. You will find this community supportive and with a lot of wise people experiencing similar struggles.

I get all of these kind of things. I often wonder about people dying or myself dying too.

I honestly stay in hypomania most of the time and it kind of elevates to mania and peaks to where I am agitated and irritable. Then I crash into depression.

I spend time in a relatively mild depression for several weeks at a time.

Sometimes I have periods of baseline or flat affect too.

Before my child I was doing really well on an anti-seizure med and a low dose of AD. But obviously I went off my medication while pregnant.

So now I am at square one or two now in finding the correct cocktail, we all change and have different needs throughout life. I made it a long time postpartum before I realized I was ascending to mania again and am currently just on the epilepsy med. I am not sure if an AD is in my future or not.

In my case, I consider my depressions and manias episodes of which I get the dubious pleasure of "enjoying" probably 6 times a year. However, everyone's journey through wherever they are on the spectrum is unique.

If every person here were to relate their story to you, you would get just as many unique descriptions.

[Sunflower123]

Zero. That's why my pdoc and I go back and forth about whether I have bipolar II or have MDD.

I have no idea how many I have nor do I recognize them in myself until it's often too late. I think I live a great deal of my life hypo or maybe I have ADHD on top of bipolar. Who knows really.

Something doesn't sound right with your mood. Try to avoid diagnosing yourself. Self diagnostic is often a flawed practice. We don't see ourselves as clearly as we think we do more often than not. I'd talk to your doc about Zoloft and how you are feeling....it's very possible it's a bad medication fit for you. Take care and be safe. Keep controlling your urges since you can. When you can't, that's when you really need to worry but constantly having urges you need to fight off is no way to live. Good luck.

[Guiness187055]

Since I have been on the right med combo none. Before that a lot its hard to even count all of them.

[~Christina]

One year it might be 5 hypos going right into Mania

Other years once or twice.

Bipolar is tricky sneaky like that.

[RomanJames2014]

I have a lot. I have like a 2 week hypomanic period lady every three or four weeks. I tend to be more hypomanic than stable or depressed.

[Miss Laura]

I have hypomania most days unless I am depressed that is. I spend half my life a little bit manicy then the other half a mixture of full blown mania or depression. My hypomania can last anything from 1 week to months. Longest I think has been 4 months. Then I went into a manic episode. Usually I am just hyper and more energetic and less nervous in life and with life and giggly and silly and much more. It starts off as just a little bit overly happy then goes into the above

[BiPolarJoe]

I feel my depressive and hypomanic states cycle back and forth about 4 times a year. It has always felt like I spend more time depressed but it may just be that those episodes "feel" like they last a lot longer than when I am hypomanic. For me, time moves so slow when I'm depressed and feels like it zips along at a good pace when I'm hypo.

[sgpg_]

Originally Posted by Jennifer 1967

Zero. That's why my pdoc and I go back and forth about whether I have bipolar II or have MDD.

Really? Then why is bipolar being considered for you? I sometimes just think I might have MDD because I'm depressed most of the times and when I feel "normal" I can't understand wether I am stable or hypomanic because everytime I feel "normal" I have some sort of weird thoughts but I don't usually act on them, even though they are uncomfortable. How is if for you and what makes you and your doc consider you having bipolar?

[scatterbrained04]

I'm not sure. I'm not very good at recognizing them in myself. Maybe once a year or so?

[franz kafka]

Once or twice, but they are mitigated by meds.

[BiPolarJoe]

Originally Posted by Jennifer 1967

Zero. That's why my pdoc and I go back and forth about whether I have bipolar II or have MDD.

I'd be curious as well to why bipolarity is in the equation as all? Depressed mood with zero cycling sounds more like MDD to me. If you never experience a significant elevation of mood with increased energy and everything else that can indicate a state of hypomania or mania then a bipolar diagnosis doesn't appear to make logical sense to me. Just my 2 cent

[UpDownAround]

For several years when I would treat depression like it was unipolar (withholding prior diagnosis) I would get Prozac or Cymbalta and it would pull me out of depression, but I would get irritable and arrogant (I realized the former more than the latter). I did not realize it was hypomania. During that time I would have said zero and been wrong. It may be that Jennifer's pdoc thinks something like that is going on.

For about 20 years up until a couple of months ago, I got about 1 or 2 a year. With new meds, I can't really make a prediction but I am on my third in 10 weeks.

[ducky2030]

hmmm...maybe 5 or 6 or more times Im not too sure Im trying to get better at tracking my moods.

[fishin fool]

It changes for me, sometimes I am rapid cycling even within the same day.
Though at one time I think I was hypo for a few years in which time I did
a lot of damage to my life.

[99fairies]

I haven't had a manic or hypomanic episode since I started clozipine and invega over a year ago. No depression during that time either. Miracle drugs!

[sgpg_]

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

I have no idea how many I have nor do I recognize them in myself until it's often too late. I think I live a great deal of my life hypo or maybe I have ADHD on top of bipolar. Who knows really.

Something doesn't sound right with your mood. Try to avoid diagnosing yourself. Self diagnostic is often a flawed practice. We don't see ourselves as clearly as we think we do more often than not. I'd talk to your doc about Zoloft and how you are feeling....it's very possible it's a bad medication fit for you. Take care and be safe. Keep controlling your urges since you can. When you can't, that's when you really need to worry but constantly having urges you need to fight off is no way to live. Good luck.

My neurologist, who made me take zoloft, said I might have a mood disorder, but that a pdoc must see me to diagnose it. he said I should do psychotherapy, bur that I need to be into it and willing to cope, which I can't. I know I'm not depressed all the time, there are some "shiny" days when I want to do new stuff and learn new things. Those days last no more than a week and they are somehow not in a row. There's mild depression within them. Also, my depressive days are somewhat mild, I realize I'm not going to succeed as much as I desire in life even though I might do my best, and those thoughts steal away my will of living. I might hurt myself and realize I will end up ending my life one day, but "that day" never comes because I'm still young and I want to be sure I won't succeed. I have no clear memory of happy days, I'm just aware they existed some weeks/months ago (when I try to realize if I just better from depressive state or was acting a bit too much). Also, how can a pdoc diagnose bipolar if bipolar people aren't aware when they're manic? At least bipolar II, hypomania doesn't make you end up bankrupt or dead, meaning it doesn't leave "clear signs" it happened, you know?

Gosh, I really can't count. Perhaps 2 to 3. I can usually tell they are coming on by a sharp increase in irritability. Add to this more enjoyment in things and a jumping around from one thing to another. I can tell too when people start to tell me to slow down in my talking. I don't hide my mental illness so I have a large support network; thus, when people begin to ask me if I am all right I know that I am not.

I have thus been able to address and cope with the hypomania before I go all out manic.

I will say that I on occasion resent this. There are aspects of mania I miss a great deal and sometimes wish I could experience again.

[xxblackrosesxx]

I've had 2 hypomanic episodes this year and they have last for a month. I tend to get more agitated and I am more social and my thoughts run 100 miles per hour. Plus my speaking speeders up and my sex drive is heightened.