[ladyxen]

First of all, my mother is bipolar and my family has a history of mental illnesses.

Secondly, I'm 17, but I don't believe my behavior is just because I am a teenager.

Many days, I find myself overly productive. In class I am known as the overachiever and I am constantly working, and I really enjoy it. I tend to keep everything very organized, and if I finish my work early I have been known to organize shelves in the classroom. I am known for having a very large ego and extremely prideful. I go to bed a 3am and wake up at 6am and I run on adrenaline and coffee all day long, and of course that makes me jittery. I'm known to speak incredibly fast and I stumble over words when I speak as my mouth cannot keep up with my thoughts. This is not all days, of course, but it is often enough that people really believe me to be egotistical, when I'm really not.

However, when I get home any notion of me being an overachiever disappears completely. It takes me hours to force myself to do any amount of homework, and most nights I don't even open my bag. On weekends I can fall asleep after school Friday and wake up at 2pm Saturday morning without ever waking up, and often I will roll over and go right back to sleep.

I'm often seen as either serious, as I am working, or overly happy and bubbly, often seen dancing in the court yard during lunch, I make everyone laugh and I talk to people easily. However later that same day, usually more often at night I become very lonely and depressed. I often find myself crying when I really don't have anything to be sad about.

When I was younger, I noticed my mothers tendencies to spend lots of money when she was manic, and having a job of my own now, I frequently get urges to spend every bit of money in my account, which I may have been saving for months.

Is this normal? Or nothing to be worried about?

[HALLIEBETH87]

only a psychiatrist can diagnose u.

[DaveyJones]

Sounds like you need to mske appointments with a psychiatrist and a therapist... if your mom is bipolar that raises your odds, but you could be simply modeling the behavior you watched growing up!

Don't go so far in either direction that you hurt yourself. Go to the emergrncy room if you feel like that. Promise?

[MyBestKids2]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to make an appointment with a doctor to possibly assess your symptoms.

Take care,
Dee