how would you define mania?

i find it hard to understand.....i dont have bipolar but do have depression....what is mania like?

Its like someone is putting a stimulant drug in your morning coffee everyday without you knowing about it. In the beginning it may seem great and happy but after awhile the lack of sleep and racing thoughts get to you. Some people get really bad and experience psychosis with the mania.

There are some commonalities about mania, and many individualities. For me, mania feels like I drank 4 shots of espresso. Initially, that is. I feel hyper-aware, my thinking is crystal clear, I have terrific creative ideas (which I usually do follow through on). I become extroverted, witty, very friendly. I'll reach out to people (whereas I usually isolate). Colors and music - unbelievable! Special messages and magnificence! It's all created by the Great God of the Universe - and how lucky I am to be able to see and hear what most people cannot. It's an extreme, an intense extreme.

Then I start to notice that people are moving so slowly. Speaking slowly, driving slowly, what is wrong with everybody? I'm thinking quick and sharp and they are all so slow! I have so much to do, I can hardly keep up with all of it! While I can't say I've ever been a reckless driver, I'll tend to be a more aggressive driver when manic. I'll take chances that I normally wouldn't because people are just dragging along so slowly.

I feel irritable. On edge. Angry. Enraged. That's where things can get dangerous. If someone says or does "the wrong thing" - or if an object displeases me - I lose it. I've been arrested for fighting, I've broken a desk to splinters, using only my hands. (Disclaimer: I have never lost it with children or animals. Thank the universe I have been able to control my anger in that way.)

Regardless of which stage of mania I'm in, I over work. I'll take on a project an work myself into exhaustion.

I don't think I have the typical manic "I don't need to sleep." But it's hard to tell, since I've been on meds for many decades. I do know that without meds I won't sleep - but I still feel tired.

So that's a very quick, general picture of what mania feels like for me. I've left a lot out, though...delusional beliefs, for example. Believing that God has chosen me to effect some kind of enormous change in social justice. Etc.

Even more challenging than mania itself is mixed-state mania and depression.

I get hypomania mostly. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m in a good mood or just manic. I can usually tell it’s about to come back when my sleep starts getting wonky again and I start restricting food and I rapidly lose weight.

I describe it like Tigger on speed.... (a) I have never met Tigger but we all get the jist of his personality right? And (b) I have never took drugs so unsure if this is accurate.... yet all the mental health professionals I have said this to, says iys a very accurate likeness.

Your fast, bouncing, scraping the ceiling, your thoughts are bouncing/fast/intertwining, your speech is fast/pressured/racing/quick/stuttery, your mind is wired like a million things are there, there is constant buzz within your being. Your racing a constant marathon. Your passing no-one but the finishing line isn't insight.... hyper beyond hyper.....

Then there is the bad side the psychosis.... the paranoia, delusions, hallucinations on top of all of the above and more.

manic .. ohh wow ! its a blessing .. its a curse!
you get all excited about going get millions of things going and get started on thousands of projects and you begin making all kinds of plans for what you will get accomplished next week, next month ...
you start gathering info and getting ideas together for resources to look into and see about.. you write endless pages of notes and write down important points and keeping all the phone numbers you might need all right in one tidy spot for yourself ...
you start pre stage set up, gather, destruct, whatever initial moves need to br made before its good to dig in and whoish thru completion...
and .. that snowballs . lightening fast .. and 1 leads to 3 leads to ?? numbers of projects you get started getting into all at once
you gotta keep paper and pen on your person 24/7 to stop what your doing - working on your job at work, driving in the car, at the grocery, going potty, ... and write down latest brainstorm so you dont forget it ..
you are full of enthusium, running energizer bunny full steam non stop work, store, home ... cloud like you are the happiest carefree person in the world ... bubbly full of excitement talking all about all these vundabar things going on in your llife .
you rarely sleep because so full of ideas and the urge not ti waste a minute more than you have to so hop hop hop chop chop... forward gungho...
and oh wowza it is amazing whst all actually you get caught up on .. you tidy, you clean, you pitch piles of uselrss stuff thats in your way while your digging around hunting for stuff you cant find anymore but its soo important you HAVE to hunt it down right this minute ...
and .... you get sidtracked...
and you get sidetracked off that sidetrack ..
then you start getting to double checking all your notes are in order and rechecking that you didnt transpose numbers so you look everyting all back up again and start new notes so you can compare the 2 sets later so will have that as back up incase of mistakes ..
then in process of re researching you .. sidetrack ... and now got a whole new seperate progect to for you to start to plan ..
and .. you run into different ideas for the things you had already settled on before but now this new stuff seems better than what you alresdy had planed..
and then... with everything all in a mis mash mess of 1/2 ready to start getting started & 1/2 a disaster because its all been undone to get redone new ...
your overwhemed, exhausted, confused yourself, in a daze where to start, what to begin next... and then ... there it all sits, everything stop abruptly..
manic fade out ... phase two depression sets in...

Other than refer you to the DSM symptom list, I have only a little more to contribute beyond some of the experiences already mentioned above. For the DSM description, see Table 11, DSM-IV to DSM-5 Manic Episode Criteria Comparison - DSM-5 Changes - NCBI Bookshelf You can see that in the recent DSM version 5, there have been changes from version 4. In my view, good ones, especially in terms of what used to be called "mixed episodes".

What I'll contribute is that people with bipolar disorder don't always exhibit hypomania and/or full blown mania exactly the same, but will have some common symptoms. Personality, triggering factors, changes in the course of the illness, etc., can be the cause of differences. In my case, I had only about five or six full blown manias before age 34 (after that numerous), but had very long-term periods of hypomania during those years. Obviously my full blown manias were far more dysfunctional states than the hypomanias, but hypomanias themselves, especially long-term, can be damaging in various ways. It's true that hypomania and mania can be most wonderous and elated mental states, but they can also be most horrific and frightening ones. Sometimes the elated ones seem great to the person with bipolar disorder, but aren't in reality. Or at least the aftermath can show as much. Such states can affect people with bipolar disorder socially, financially, physically, and many other ways. It's really bad news for most all who experience them. That's a good reason for people with diagnosed bipolar disorder to seek proper treatment. Treatment can suck, though. I won't sugar coat it. But sometimes one must follow the path of the least amount of trouble and destruction.

"Triggering factors" ^^^^^^^ Yes!

Intense

Intense colors

Intense sound

Intense thoughts

i get triggers. i dont get how to avoid all of them because i do avoid walking myself into what i know will trigger me off
ive finally rrsigned myself that no matter what i want to believe i can do with my triggers and how much i fool myself into thinking im able to manage my own controls ... hahaha ... not... so i am careful to stay clear and watch out for myself.
i cant forsee all this sneek up on you out of nowhere that hit wham whoop there it is in your face and here we go ...
ive triggered walking thru a store... caught a wiff of a smell ... tada .. middle of an isle full of other shoppers...
ive triggered during a business situation on some part of idle chit chat with a client b4 the actual business got started
ive also discovered "new to me 1st time never even knew the potential for it was a possibility b4 whopp wtheck is this going on here. hu? wait wait what? omg i never thought to thunk it!
so any ideas .. i tried curling up and living in my hidy hole shelter sneeking out & rush back only if i absolutely no other option to avoid it. that worked but started to backfire and started to turn to going all wrong so that ended that.
im functional ... i have a full time job .. i have friends, family, pets,.. i shop, blah blah .. i just need a way to stay maintained level rather than constantly be riding this up and down and wild f ing rollercoaster at the same time too

Imagine a hamster frantically running on its wheel endlessly getting nowhere. Thats mania.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nammu Intense Intense colors Intense sound Intense thoughts

Yes ^^^^

When you get scared of things and voices tell you to do something or when you have multi personailtys and everything is bad and racing thoughts... for me I always hate "going into my own world" like I can see people with dog ears and see things that are not real or pretend Im a doctor if Im playing games.. Mania is like throwing up(bulimia) 3-5x a day one meal after another and not stop till I see green bile from my stomach,.........

LOL ya thats makes perfect sense to me lol soo funny..not really

For me mania can be good and

That sounds awful that you've experienced these things, pricesscookie19. I have to say I have never experienced multiple personalities as part of my mania. More like my regular personality, but on steroids or just without inhibition and with less common sense. And in some cases, far more easily agitated/angered. I have never had any vomiting issues, either, as part of a mania. It goes to show that people with bipolar disorder can have unique (differing) experiences with mania.

For me, mania feels like a vice pressing on my brain and I can't control what I do even though I know it is destructive - my mind races, I feel way over stimulated, I can't focus on anything, I can't control my ability to say or do things I wouldn't normally do. I do anything, anything, to make the brain pain go away. My energy level is off the charts and sleep is extremely difficult. Relationships and physical, financial, and mental health suffer.