I’ve heard/read that the older one gets, the more likely that bipolar evolves in to depression with mania fading away.

As a young tot I’d have these hallucinations which I thought of to be wake dreams...scary stuff....but they faded on and hallucinations stop shortly after.

Right now I can say my moods can tip the scales, but being medicated...I can tell they are there being not completely suppressed due to the want and desire to function well instead of zombification.

So, has anyone by personal experience noticed this to be true? Just wondering.

[Nola0250]

I have not. I am 47 years old and I just sought treatment within the last year. My issues were anxiety, panic, rage. Mixed episode. I've had one other that bad in my lifetime when I was 22 but thought it was panic about finals. In between I've had milder episodes of hypomania and depression until a significant depression that lasted about 3 years, which was followed by the recent episode. I'm diagnosed type II but given how my recent episode was cycling up and building on itself, I'm pretty sure I'd be diagnosed Type I if I had to wait much longer to get meds. I wish it would fade to a simple depression that I could control with one medication. Right now I'm on 4. I know some people need a lot more and I shouldn't whine about it, but taking a handful of pills really reminds you that you have a chronic problem that you have to manage daily. Hate that.

Edited to add: the people whose mania fades as they age may be well treated on an antidepressant, not need as much support, and might not be found on a forum. So whatever answers you get here might be skewed by that. Just a thought.

[Cocosurviving]

I was first diagnosed (bp1) almost seven years ago. I will be 42 years old next week. At first I would have mania/ hypo in the spring and summer. Depression/mixed in the fall and winter. Then in 2016 I only had depression and it’s been that way since. In 2017 I had some depression and I am not having much luck with antidepressants.

I find this very interesting. I will be 59 in July, and have had episodes of depression since I was 14. It would alternate with periods of extreme happiness where I drove too fast (15-20 speeding tickets and other driving infractions), and abused substances too much (rehab when I was 35). I haven't had an episode of hypomania in years, just that god awful depression. I do have periods where I feel good, sometimes really good, but I am always aware of that depression lurking just below the surface ready to grab me at any time.

I actually think I'm kind of sad about this as I always enjoyed the hypomania.

[pirilin]

I have suffered from depression since the day I was separated from my father, Age 13.
On and off, of course.
Just came out of one that lasted three years. Do to retirement and feeling unproductive. and the fact that my wife still works. Years away from retirement.

So now I'm the houseAZZhole. And I don't do it well.
She still deals with the laundry and dirty dishes. I can't . And cleans after me sometimes.

In spite this situation, I've recovered I think fully to my old self.
I do stuff. A lot of stuff a 68yrs old won't do.
I want to live. Not for my Mother (who passed in June). Not for my kids, relatives or friends.
I want to live for my life. I'm happy to be alive and hyper.
I might not be the real Superman. But I'm the Old Fart of the Century.
My secret?. Avoid old people like the pest. Roam around the young. Both rub on you.

As a rapid cycle at 50....if not medicated...I still suffer from anxiety, high highs, glee, intensity, superiority, high sexual drive,....all the fun things of mania and the unfun mixes like paranoia, agitation, anger, rage....they also trigger my alters that holds them emotions or beings.

I was wondering waiting/hoping for this to happen.... to chill out and maybe less bipolarish. I can feel the cycles even though I’m medicated....but a more subdued thing being I don’t want to be stupored

Last night my truck’s gear box fell apart...lost clutch and all gearing....d.o.a.

Paying a pdoc cash now is an impossibility for I need another truck on payments. Just going to beg MD to keep prescribing. At least right now I can use the company van to get back and forwards.

[wiretwister]

I am not so sure depression as much as just accepting (giving up) to your fate ... being too tired to fight anymore ... at least for me ...

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by Colleen007

I find this very interesting. I will be 59 in July, and have had episodes of depression since I was 14. It would alternate with periods of extreme happiness where I drove too fast (15-20 speeding tickets and other driving infractions), and abused substances too much (rehab when I was 35). I haven't had an episode of hypomania in years, just that god awful depression. I do have periods where I feel good, sometimes really good, but I am always aware of that depression lurking just below the surface ready to grab me at any time.

I actually think I'm kind of sad about this as I always enjoyed the hypomania.

I am about the same age. I turn 60 late this year. Last year about this time I was having a lot of hypomania but I had gone off meds for quite a while and just started back. The weird thing is when I first started taking lamictal, I had more hypomania than I have had in years but then it finally settled and I haven't had any since late last summer. I have had what feels like the start of it but then it doesn't progress. I used to be at least slightly depressed most of the time. For most of the last year, it has been less frequent and less severe. But I have been experiencing the low key sulk fairly often lately. But I am not sure whether it is depression making me feel down about getting older and realizing some things I wanted to do are not going to happen or whether it s me thinking about those things that is making me slightly depressed.

[SparkySmart]

I'm 65 years old and am finding that my mood fluctuations (both extremes) are increasing in occurrence and severity. My pdoc says that this is not uncommon.

Met a man in IP in his 40's he said it has changed. When he was young he was mostly manic and now he's mostly depressed.

[*Laurie*]

Just reading this thread tells me that there are great variations.

I'm 55, been bipolar all of my life. If anything I have noticed an exacerbation in distinct manic vs. depressive symptoms since my late-40's. I have attributed that to meds not working as well as they used to, but perhaps it's me, not the meds. ??

[Wonderfalls]

There's been a whole lot of serious in-depth research on the presentation of bipolar with age. Do episode come more frequently or instead further apart? Can they cease with age?. Do they manifest themselves with more of one extreme than the other? If you're interested you can track down these studies. There's a book by Frederick K Goodwin and Kay Redfield Jamison that goes deeply into the subject, called "Manic Depressive Illness".

[~Christina]

Mine seems to be getting worse over the last 2 years even tho I have tons of coping skills , they are useless for ptsd.