Bipolar and anxiety

It has been a really long time since I've missed sleep due to anxiety. It seems like I just can't get my feet on the ground from December. I've gone from hypomania/mixed to depressed. Back to what feels like middle ground but anxiety has been raging for about a month. I've been eating healthier and exercising. Trying to do the right things but when I'm asleep, I just wake up in a panic. Can this be related to a mood change or is this something separate? I'm confused. I usually do ok as long as I take my meds and I've been taking my meds.

Are you experiencing any dreams you can recall before you wake?

I'm sorry you're feeling this way. Anxiety can be incredibly uncomfortable. Hopefully a resolution will appear shortly.

Yes! Severe anxiety can definitely be an aspect of BP. It's a "dysphoric mania", sometimes called agitated depression. When dysphoric (or euphoric) mania happens along with depression, it might be a mixed state.

I totally understand what you are referring to, UpDownMiddleGround. Though I don't always have issues with panic attacks or more generalized anxiety, I have intermittently throughout my life. I really wish I could put my finger on why that happens. I totally commend you on doing so many of the right things during this period. That is big!

I, too, had about a week maybe 3 or 4 weeks back, when I was waking up in a panic. In my case, I felt like I was waking up having trouble with breathing, though I don't have sleep apnea. I speculate that the cause was related to a certain trauma event. I'm not saying yours is, but I do think that mood shifts cause an odd chaotic transition, at times. I hope that your anxiety will ease quickly.

I am feeling the same way. Anxiety and depression seems to be related with me. I have never thought it as dysphoric mania. I attempted a guided meditation to help me, keep me from panicking. It helped some, but if I do this on a regular basis, it may help even more. I take CBD. This supplement does definitely help me in this regard. I hope you are feeling better soon!

Yes, I experience the same! I'll go as far as to say that mixed episodes/dysphoric mania and agitated depressions are by far the worst part of bipolar, at least for me. Much harder to deal with than "just" depression.

For me the difference between agitated depressions and mixed episodes is pretty fuzzy sometimes. I guess the main difference is that in mixed episodes my mood becomes labile and I'll rapidly swing from very depressed to euphoric, whereas in agitated depressions my mood remains depressed the whole time. But both feature lots of anxiety and insomnia, paranoia, and so on, which are the worst. I guess I always sort of have a baseline of anxiety, but it gets much worse during these sorts of episodes.

I have now moved into a depressive, anxious, irritable mix. Dysphoric mania. I'll have to ask my therapist more about that. I'm sliding down a hill. I'm not into telehealth and my therapist may not be seeing people right now. Great!

I find as my depression lessons my anxiety increases, though I often have both.

Yeah, I feel your pain. I'm in pretty much the same place as you are right now. I don't like "teletherapy" much either. I guess all we can do is try to distract ourselves as much as possible to try and make time go more quickly, and hope that before too long all this bs will be over. I'm trying not to think too much about corona because it sends me into a panic, but it's pretty much impossible. Nobody seems able to talk about anything else anymore.