[Blueberrybook]

I write a lot. Pretty sure it is some type of hypergraphia though some times I have more control over it than others, and one time I just literally could not stop even if I wanted to.

It tends to play out in long emails I shouldn't type, send immediately, and boom! Too late! The last one got my mother very upset today.

I don't know what to do. Typing & the internet makes things so easy.

Tried to blog once, and I found that just too demanding and hard to keep up with; it made me stressed & anxious.

Maybe going back to longhand with a notebook and pen, I don't know. It would at least slow me down. I'm a fast typist, and I can't exactly email longhand without scanning stuff into the computer & going through a lot of hassle or going to at the post-office to send my tomes through the mail.

Please tell me I am not the only one shooting myself in the foot with hypergraphia.

Oh, and it's not bad enough that I write & send too many emails, but I can literally talk to family about any and everything nonstop, not realizing much of what I am spewing may be hurting said person and/or not not giving time or an opening for the other person speak much at all and for me to completely spew everything on my mind, good, bad, no censor.

It's not the meds I'm on right now; I had the hypergraphia that was nonstop for hours & hours when I got the BP 1 diagnosis (along with other manicky stuff). The only meds I was on at that time that I still take are Klonopin and Lamictal.

Go long-hand maybe with writing? But what about the nonstop, non-thinking talking stuff? How to deal with the talking issue?

[Wild Coyote]

When I am feeling impulsive, I forbid myself to write on the internet, to write emails and do not get into important discussions.

if I am very talkative, beyond my control, I do avoid conversations. I kind of "isolate," at least from certain people.

I do my best to get it under control asap, which usually means a med change for me.

I hope you find answer as to what works for you.


WC

Blueberrybook, you may recall me writing that I understand this issue well. I've known the compulsion. I've known the need.

I will only write this from MY heart. Others have their own views. I can say that I'd be happy to see you write 100 paragraphs, if it gives you some release, some relief, some pleasure amidst any hardships faced. If writing is the vomit you need to spew out, I say let it out! If the action of quickly dancing on your keyboard with your fingers brings you music, dance on!

We're not at work here. This is a bipolar support forum. We shouldn't have to always apologize for our symptoms, especially if they do little harm. If anyone is overwhelmed by our posts' length, why can't they just quickly scroll down the page or scan?

If you have written a very long post you fear others may not be able to handle, why not precede them with the words "Long...main points highlighted in blue, just for those of you who can't make it all the way through."

It's an interesting fact that many manic symptoms spark ire in others, even others with bipolar. "Shut up!", "You talk too much!", ""Control yourself!", "Get a...b..." And yet if one is depressed, it's sometimes quite different. Yes, depression is stigmatized by many, but mania is often stimatized by more.

[Moose72]

* have had the cant stop talking thing. I also cant sit still. I once made a hugely inapropriate comment to my good friend of many years. He forgave me though.

[~Christina]

I am lucky/unlucky that I always internalize everything first before I share.

I sent a handful of emails back in the day that I regretted a bit.

Honestly I didn’t know people still emailed lol

[liveforsummer]

I do both. I’ll write the same word (or pattern ) over and over until it fills the paper and sometimes I’ll write it backwards or upside down. I can’t stop until it’s full. It doesn’t bother me that I do it.
I can get over chatty in social settings to the point where I walk away and I can’t remember everything I said or wishing I hadn’t said stuff. That bothers me a lot. Then paranoia sets in.

[yellow_fleurs]

Blueberrybook for the emails maybe you could work on writing them out and saving the draft or walking away for 5-10 minutes, coming back re-reading and editing? I type fast so can really ramble myself if not careful. You could even wait to put the email address of the recipient in or write it in Word then copy and paste when ready to send to slow you down.

With overtalking, maybe you can practice your listening skills and actively taking a moment to ask the other person a question? Sometimes I find when I overtalk I haven't caught my breath to let the other person get a word in edgewise. I just noticed myself doing this with my SO on the phone. Then was like, oops, why don't you tell me what's going on with you? With some of my best friends it doesn't matter too much because we all talk a mile a minute when together and they can keep up. With others I need to make sure I slow down, though. Not sure if this idea would help or anything, but it's just a thought.

[Blueberrybook]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I am lucky/unlucky that I always internalize everything first before I share.

I sent a handful of emails back in the day that I regretted a bit.

Honestly I didn’t know people still emailed lol

I have a mom and aunt who do this. One sister too who gave up social media altogether (maybe she has the right idea with FB especially) because she said it made her feel inadequate as a wife & mother.

My mom is only email or text. H & I do not have an unlimited texting plan. Or direct phone.

[Blueberrybook]

Originally Posted by liveforsummer

I do both. I’ll write the same word (or pattern ) over and over until it fills the paper and sometimes I’ll write it backwards or upside down. I can’t stop until it’s full. It doesn’t bother me that I do it.
I can get over chatty in social settings to the point where I walk away and I can’t remember everything I said or wishing I hadn’t said stuff. That bothers me a lot. Then paranoia sets in.

Yes, I have had that too.

And one time I literally could NOT stop, post-it notes, notebook paper, computer paper, everything everywhere. That was so scary. I had 0 control over it.

[Blueberrybook]

Originally Posted by yellow_fleurs

Blueberrybook for the emails maybe you could work on writing them out and saving the draft or walking away for 5-10 minutes, coming back re-reading and editing? I type fast so can really ramble myself if not careful. You could even wait to put the email address of the recipient in or write it in Word then copy and paste when ready to send to slow you down.

With overtalking, maybe you can practice your listening skills and actively taking a moment to ask the other person a question? Sometimes I find when I overtalk I haven't caught my breath to let the other person get a word in edgewise. I just noticed myself doing this with my SO on the phone. Then was like, oops, why don't you tell me what's going on with you? With some of my best friends it doesn't matter too much because we all talk a mile a minute when together and they can keep up. With others I need to make sure I slow down, though. Not sure if this idea would help or anything, but it's just a thought.

That is a good Idea with the emails. Or maybe just put them into Google docs; MS Word is messing up on my computer, won't even open. Notebook, maybe.

You are right about the talking. I did actively work at it (hard!) one time, and it helped. I let that slip again. For all that I do let spew, people never realize I already am NOT saying 1/2, 3/4 of what I WANT to say. Same with writing.

I think part of the talking issue is I lack a friend nearby IRL. I don't make friends easily at all, an ongoing problem from elementary school onward.

I know there is a woman I went to high school with who works nearby and doesn't live very far away. I used to eat lunch with her & a few others in school even. She is nice. I am afraid to ask her to do anything, coffee, tea with me on FB Messenger. I know the worst she can do is say "no".

I'm scared of rejection.

[Moreta]

Sometimes I have this issue. Most of the time I don't even bother though. Nobody reads stuff I write or listens to me when I talk, so I just listen to people. People always say I'm a good listener.

[luvyrself]

I met my best friend on Nextdoor, a community website. If you don’t mind lost dog postings it’s great. No one is more positive, non judgemental than she is. She has had depression and has a bipolar son w adhd and more. Makes my probs seem simple. Her whole family just came over to move a sofa for me. Amazing!

[luvyrself]

I have the emailing, talking fast thing also. Trying not to demand so much of myself to make things seem less urgent. Was organizing my hundreds of photos. I did a lot and had lovely people and experiences who made it through the Depression, cancer, MS you name it. Things are pretty darn ok!

[Sunflower123]

I understand the hypergraphia. I write enough to fill a steno book and sometimes a legal pad a day. I think it’s what caused my carpal tunnel tbh. I don’t have any answers...it’s almost a compulsion with me. When my hand was in a cast for 3 weeks, I just took up writing with my left hand. Somehow I’ve got to cut back.

Just wanted you to know you’re not alone.

[Angelique67]

I know a lady with very bad over talking. Her son gave her a radio and headphones to help her decrease the talking. It worked pretty well, I think.

[Blueberrybook]

I've started trying to channel some of the hypergraphia into writing (pen & notebook type). I wrote 2 poems yesterday, though I'd only had the intention to write one, but the second one just naturally followed.

Since meds, bipolar, or life in general has killed a lot of my creativity as far as writing ideas go, I've found an online list of writing prompts.

Did the first one today, stuck to nonfiction, but I think I will repeat the same prompt again in poetry form and then short story form. Not going to pressure myself on it this weekend & next week; so many Halloween events are coming upt.

Beyond stressed about those, especially the one at my daughter's elementary school on Sunday with the CPS case, even if the investigation ruled in my favor. But it's elementary school, it's small, surely the caseworker talked to the principal, probably the counselor, likely my daughter's 2 main teachers. This school fall festival is never widely attended, so if any of the these people are present, they will see me.

Worse, H had phone conversations about school and my daughter with the principal yesterday (my daughter has some concern one of her teachers does not like her; she got banned from computer use in that class, and that made H furious). Today, he was supposed to talk to that teacher over the phone during his conference period and the other teacher over lunch (the second teacher is the language arts teacher, and because my daughter can read at a 12th grade level - she's in 5th grade - the LA teacher gives her a high reading goal to reach, at least she did this last 9 weeks, and it upset my daughter not to reach it. But she has to read harder and longer books, has a certain reading level she cannot go below. Not to mention, she is 10. She does not want to read about vampires, zombies, love stories, school shootings, teen suicide when it comes to fiction (and the library does not have many books to meet her reading needs/goals).

So I cannot wait until the weekend and Halloween are over and done.

[Faltering]

I feel like I have the opposite problem. I don't talk much and when I write I'm usually brief.

I'm glad you're getting into creative writing again. That's a great outlet.

[unaluna]

Has your daughter read the Maud Hart Lovelace books? Louisa may alcott? Aside from little men and little women, i loved her Eight Cousins.