[Ralau]

Hello.
I would like to hear about your experiences - is it possible to be hypomanic and sleep nearly normally?

I have recently stopped taking my mood stabilizer because I felt depressed and tired all the time. I do have ADs and I still take them but not very regularly. Also I kind of started thinking that I am not bipolar at all.

Now I have times when I stay awake for two or three days straight, or with very little sleep (4h). Then after that I sleep for 10 hours. I know this isn´t a normal sleep pattern, but I don´t think I suffer from very much of sleep deprivation. But I do have some weird symptoms though. At times I´m very restless and just pace around in my apartment (it feels a bit like anxiety or something - like I should get out of my skin), I feel huge desire to be social and talk and I get frustrated if there is nobody to talk to, I have been cleaning in my house a lot recently, and the need to be social and stuff is just killing me. The only thing that calms me down is shopping. I´ve been shopping online and also I went shopping yesterday as a result of a "restlessness attack". I spent three times as much money as I was supposed to, but I think I do have some control left.

I don´t know what it is, but at times I am sure that I will become something great and I´m also very pissed by other people because they don´t realize my value and respect me enough. Maybe I´m just narcissist.

I guess I just want to know if it is possible to be hypomanic without very much of sleep deprivation, because right now I doubt my diagnosis. I think that I only have recurrent depression.

[UpDownAround]

I have wondered the same thing. Both my t and pdoc have mentioned that I may have something else going on sometimes that I think is hypomania because I get some atypical body sensations - not unpleasant chills or waves of warmth radiating from my scalp through my whole body and I get tired. These things don't happen with every episode. I am fortunate to be a medicinal lightweight; 2.5 mg of saphris will help me get to sleep either way. I just don't want to take it sometimes.

[franz kafka]

I still sleep when I'm hypomanic, just less and in weird patterns like you have described. I even sleep a little while full blown manic.

[251turnaround]

Like kafka said, I can sleep up anywhere from 2-6 hours when I'm hypomanic. It varies from day to day.

[wildflowerchild25]

I will sleep less for three or four days and then “crash” and sleep 10+ hours only to wake up hypo again. But I’m ly baseline state I do need more sleep than most and I am a low energy person overall.

When I was hypomanic or mildly mixed before I was medicated I often drank until I passed out. That gave me maybe 6 hours of sleep. I think without alcohol I maybe got 3 to 4. But when full blown manic, I'd be lucky to get 2 unless I passed out from drinking, then maybe 4?

I do NOT recommend self medicating with drugs or alcohol!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do occasionally get hypomanic even on my meds. What usually happens is that I become hypomanic during the day and then my night meds extinguish it and I sleep maybe 5 to 6 hours. Then the hypomania ramps up again in the morning. Usually I need an antipsychotic increase.

[tecomsin]

It used to be the case that all of my manic episodes were associated with lack of sleep. But that was not the case in the last one.

[~Christina]

Hypo I still sleep “ a bit” I’m a lifelong insomniac so lack of sleep is my normal.

Manic I can go 5-6 days without sleep , at that point I start to lose any rational thoughts.

Studies show many people hypo sleep pretty well.

[All Is Revealed]

Originally Posted by Ralau

I guess I just want to know if it is possible to be hypomanic without very much of sleep deprivation, because right now I doubt my diagnosis. I think that I only have recurrent depression.

Yes, it is very possible. I've been diagnosed as severely hypomanic. Sleep deprivation is not a symptom of all hypomanic people. I sleep 9 hours every day, even when I'm having recurring hypomanic episodes. I gamble excessively when I'm having a sudden hypomanic episode. I can gamble for 15 hours a day, but I would still need my 9 hours sleep.

Originally Posted by Ralau

I don´t know what it is, but at times I am sure that I will become something great and I´m also very pissed by other people because they don´t realize my value and respect me enough. Maybe I´m just narcissist.

People (in real life) don't appreciate my presence so many are not worthy of my friendship. It sounds Narcissistic, but it's not. I've confirmed this with 4 therapists and 2 pdocs. It's called self-love.

If someone doesn't appreciate your greatness and value today, how can they respect you when you do become someone powerful?

[BipolaRNurse]

I can almost always sleep, even when full-blown manic---maybe not all that much, but I do sleep. My normal is 8-9 hours when I'm stable, 6 hours when hypomanic, and 3-4 hours when manic. It's always been this way. The only time I DON'T sleep is when I miss my nighttime meds.

[tsrc78]

Originally Posted by Ralau

Hello.
I would like to hear about your experiences - is it possible to be hypomanic and sleep nearly normally?

I have recently stopped taking my mood stabilizer because I felt depressed and tired all the time. I do have ADs and I still take them but not very regularly. Also I kind of started thinking that I am not bipolar at all.

Now I have times when I stay awake for two or three days straight, or with very little sleep (4h). Then after that I sleep for 10 hours. I know this isn´t a normal sleep pattern, but I don´t think I suffer from very much of sleep deprivation. But I do have some weird symptoms though. At times I´m very restless and just pace around in my apartment (it feels a bit like anxiety or something - like I should get out of my skin), I feel huge desire to be social and talk and I get frustrated if there is nobody to talk to, I have been cleaning in my house a lot recently, and the need to be social and stuff is just killing me. The only thing that calms me down is shopping. I´ve been shopping online and also I went shopping yesterday as a result of a "restlessness attack". I spent three times as much money as I was supposed to, but I think I do have some control left.

I don´t know what it is, but at times I am sure that I will become something great and I´m also very pissed by other people because they don´t realize my value and respect me enough. Maybe I´m just narcissist.

I guess I just want to know if it is possible to be hypomanic without very much of sleep deprivation, because right now I doubt my diagnosis. I think that I only have recurrent depression.

Personally, I don't know if going two to three days with no or very little sleep and then sleeping 10 hours is getting a normal amount of sleep. Eventually your body will just crash into sleep, even if you don't feel sleep deprived. I think there is a focus more on the one day you get normal sleep rather than the 2 or 3 days you are getting no sleep. I don't sleep well in general, especially when I'm hypomanic/manic, but when I am like this I can get 3 - 4 hours of sleep every single night and still never "feel" sleep deprived.

I would talk to your pdoc more about bipolar disorder and why you feel you have this diagnosis. Talk about your concerns of having this versus just depression. Ask what is it about your symptoms that makes a bipolar diagnosis more appropriate than a depression diagnosis? Your pdoc can and should answer this question.

I CANNOT and should not give you a diagnosis, I can only tell you about my personal experiences. For me, almost everything you described (the restlessness, the pacing, the wanting to be social, the obsessive cleaning, the impulsive outlet, the feeling like I'm great) is clear hypomania/mania for me. I don't really get angry at people for not realizing I'm great, but I just get angry and pissed off in general, at anything. I NEVER stay as consistent with my meds, will stop and start meds all the time, when I'm manic. Much more consistent with meds when I'm depressed because when you are depressed you more easily feel like something is "wrong" and you want help. Just recently, I was manic for several months, and it wasn't until I crashed into severe depression that what I thought was "normal" was actually "manic". I told a doctor recently that what I think is "normal" is actually "hypomanic", I just think it's normal at the time, if that makes sense. I was incorrectly diagnosed as being depressed for almost a decade before I was diagnosed with bipolar. As much as I hated, and still hate, the diagnosis almost another 10 years since being diagnosed, it makes more sense for me. I absolutely cannot take antidepressants anymore, once I learned they made me hypomanic/manic.

Regardless of what is going on with you, whatever the diagnosis may be, it can take awhile to find the right meds for you, and even then, they will likely have to adjust over time. Hopefully you will find a good combination of meds soon.

[Ralau]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. As Kafka called it, "weird pattern" is what describes my sleeping better. I know it's not a normal sleeping pattern, but I have had it much worse before.

I think I have had problems with sleep since childhood, so it's hard for me to tell what's normal The only time when I actually sleep well is when I'm depressed, and then I tend to sleep too much.

But again, thank you, it was interesting to hear about your sleeping patterns.

[WildcatVet]

Same as BipolaRNurse. I sleep more or less okay when I'm hypomanic...about 5-6 hours.