[Goals2017]

Does anyone else get depressed after recovering from an manic episode? If so, how do you recover from it? I’m still struggling with my own and I don’t know how to get out of it this time...

[Moose72]

No. My pdoc upped my Seroquel so that wouldn't happen.

I don't always get depressed after manias, especially if the mania was a relatively short-lasting one. Like Moose72 wrote, my Seroquel XR is pretty good at arresting my manias nowadays without allowing for any major switches. My last full-blown mania was in May and lasted about two weeks. It started during a trip to Portugal and continued until about a week after my return. My psychiatrist upped my Seroquel XR the day of my return. I then stabilized.

I've had some slightly down times since May, but nothing severe. Actually, stressors since then kind of made my moods go up and down a lot, but not beyond short-term mood elevations or mild to moderate short-term mood deflation (low energy, low motivation, down in the dumps). Some didn't even fully qualify as episodes.

I guess I'm stable now, but lower energy. Most of last week I was slightly up. Being "just right" is not always easy to obtain.

My most severe depression of my life lasted a little over one year, and actually did follow a very long period of almost non-stop manias and manias with mixed features. These manias came again and again over a period of 3 years, separated by only short stable periods or periods. Some were quite traumatic with hallucinations and delusions of persecution. Then was the major switch. I ended up having to get ECT because of the severe depression.

[WishfulThinker66]

My full blown mania has reached blow out proportions after which I immediately fell into some pretty heavy depression. Seroquel is in my cocktail.

[Guiness187055]

Yes I always get a severe bout of depression after a manic episode.

[tecomsin]

After a bad manic episode, which seem to come every 2 or 3 years, I get severely depressed and have no energy or motivation to do anything. Partly that is due to the consequences of having made bad decisions, and realizing my delusions of grandeur are not true but only part.

I can't take regular anti depressants because they can flip me back to mania. I took wellbutrin for awhile and that helped a little bit with the worst of the depression but also made my anxiety worse. Now I am just on rexulti 1 mg and 50 mg lyrica and 50 mcg synthroid. Rexulti has kept me stable. I am only mildly depressed, not severely like when I came out of mania. I am hoping this is the end of my manias

[Blueberrybook]

Not usually, but only because I had a very good pdoc who would adjust the meds accordingly. I am so sad she’s retiring. I have done better since I’ve been on Seroquel.

[SorryShaped]

Yeah. I'm in one right now. I'll fight it with mega doses of exercise, like today, and probably caffeine, also like today, which I can't recommended but works somewhat for me. This combined gives me enough reasons not to stay in bed, which is essential to me coming out of a depression. Letting myself sleep too much makes me worse

[wildflowerchild25]

Yes for me it does. Even just hypomania is followed by a horrible depression. And it goes to severe really quickly, within days. Lots of SI, sometime self harm, and usually ends in hospitalization. I don’t know how to break the cycle. I usually can’t come out of it with meds. I hope I just stay stable on this combo. I’ve been stable since May.

[SorryShaped]

I'm sure my meds aren't working, but I've been approved for the vraylar after six weeks in the lurch, so we'll see

[cashart10]

It depends on the severity. Times I’ve had massive life altering manias, I’ve had depressions that have lasted sometimes several years. If it is a short, less intense mania, I may get by without the depression.

[Row Jimmy]

For me it was mania then a mild depression (reticence, self loathing). For fun, I'd toss in booze and dope in between, making things a little bit more interesting as I came off my manic journey. All this being said, it was difficult for me to recognize the cycle before my diagnosis. In truth, it's still difficult to pin down.

[~Christina]

Mania them Depression 90% of the time. Sucks

[Unrigged64072835]

I can't think of a time when it didn't.

[raspberrytorte]

Yeah. I cried in a closet a lot after my last experience.

Yes. It's not exactly right after the manic episode but it's a few weeks of gradually sinking lower and lower usually.