advertisement
Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
MuddyBoots
Monster on the Hill
 
MuddyBoots's Avatar
 
Member Since Sep 2020
Location: by the river
Posts: 5,236 (SuperPoster!)
4
6,017 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 30, 2024 at 02:12 PM
  #1
How do you know if you're truly interested in something and picking it up as a hobby or if that's one of the signs things are getting or are still problematic.

I'm trying to expand my list of early warning signs, and I was just wondering if you knew the difference if there is one. I know some people get hyperfocused on something and go all in, and that's me, but I don't know if that's manic me or just me me.

__________________
[Insert thought-provoking and comedic quote here]
MuddyBoots is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
bizi, JaneOnceMore

advertisement
BeyondtheRainbow
Wise Elder
 
BeyondtheRainbow's Avatar
 
Member Since Apr 2015
Location: US
Posts: 9,529 (SuperPoster!)
9
11k hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 30, 2024 at 02:46 PM
  #2
I tend to hyper focus on the same things. It’s like hypo or mania
Just puts my OCD on fire. I haven’t done that severely since being on clozaril
But we used to know I was up based on what I was doing. When I lived in my
House it was always trying to scrape wallpaper off or tear up basement carpet
Since those things involved sharps I was always made to stop or turn over the blades.

__________________
Bipolar 1, PTSD, GAD, OCD.
Clozapine 250 mg, Emsam 12 mg/day patch, topamax 25 mg, ,Gabapentin 1700 mg & 100-2 PRN,. 1.5 mg clonazepam., 50 mg Seroquel
BeyondtheRainbow is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
bizi, JaneOnceMore, MuddyBoots
MuddyBoots
Monster on the Hill
 
MuddyBoots's Avatar
 
Member Since Sep 2020
Location: by the river
Posts: 5,236 (SuperPoster!)
4
6,017 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 30, 2024 at 05:27 PM
  #3
Do you mean with each episode it was the same thing or within an episode you'd hyperfocus on one thing throughout the episode?

I'm noticing a general trend in my interest in math/physics/bit of chem and it becoming stronger as (hypo)mania comes about. Sometimes it ventures into more life and earth sciences, but that's more so to arm myself for debates while I feel like I can take in information in the early stages. I was organizing my google drive and I made charts and graphs showing trends in climate change on average by thousands of years and that trend compared to the trend on a year by year basis since the ability to find yearly averages in 1875. Today I've been into chemistry. But yeah, a lot of the time I'm in the hospital for mania I'm just in there charting away at complex analysis problems I made up because it seemed more important to figure out sqrt(-6x+5) than go to group. I'm wondering if there's something to that, or if I actually like this stuff and I have more energy to dive into it when I have more energy from being up.

__________________
[Insert thought-provoking and comedic quote here]
MuddyBoots is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
bizi, JaneOnceMore
BeyondtheRainbow
Wise Elder
 
BeyondtheRainbow's Avatar
 
Member Since Apr 2015
Location: US
Posts: 9,529 (SuperPoster!)
9
11k hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 30, 2024 at 07:17 PM
  #4
Every episode I did the same thing. Usually I'd be scraping the wallpaper at 2 AM and not realizing this was not normal until my therapist would ask if I'd been scraping wallpaper. Then I'd realize I might need to consider a med change. I had some insight into it once it was pointed out that it was not normal or healthy but I'd forget the next time.


It's been a few years since I've had a distinct up. I'm not sure what I would do here in this house. I need to keep my hands busy to distract me from racing thoughts that I can't follow. I'm not sure how I've done that here. I've not torn the place down so obviously I've not gotten too far out of hand.

When I was in grad school I remember sobbing over assignments that required analysis that my racing brain couldn't do but I had no choice because things were due when they were due, not around my mood swings that I wasn't admitting I had. I particularly remember crying for hours over a one page paper on the Americans with Disabilities act. I never did what you did and had heightened interest in problem solving.

__________________
Bipolar 1, PTSD, GAD, OCD.
Clozapine 250 mg, Emsam 12 mg/day patch, topamax 25 mg, ,Gabapentin 1700 mg & 100-2 PRN,. 1.5 mg clonazepam., 50 mg Seroquel
BeyondtheRainbow is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
bizi, JaneOnceMore, MuddyBoots
JaneOnceMore
Member
 
JaneOnceMore's Avatar
 
Member Since Feb 2023
Location: Ontario; long-time member, just under other names
Posts: 481
1
3,452 hugs
given
Default Aug 30, 2024 at 10:42 PM
  #5
I feel it always comes down to a question of whether it's effecting my functioning or not. One time i was hypomanic and planned a grand renovation of my condo and i would stay up all night surfing the home improvement site. I was gonna tear down all the interior walls and make my place into a giant studio. I got as far as submitting the project and paying for it but fortunately it never got scheduled and i got back down to Earth and got a refund before anything was done.

In that case, i feel because i wasn't sleeping and narrowly averting spending tens of thousands of dollars, it WAS problematic. I've had other times where i just really got into God and those were harmless. My warning signs are whether i'm not sleeping and am spending a lot of money. If you're skipping Group to indulge your fancies, i would say yes, that's problematic. It seems that health professionals will only involve themselves if we're not eating and sleeping tho. Eating? Check. Sleeping? Check. Next!
JaneOnceMore is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
bizi, MuddyBoots
bizi
Bizi is bizi
 
bizi's Avatar
 
Member Since Nov 2005
Location: cajun country
Posts: 11,014
18
45.8k hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Red face Aug 31, 2024 at 12:04 AM
  #6
I start journaling and none of it makes sense. I had planned an inservice about finacial business. Convinced the fidelty folks to send over hundreds of packets for the whole company. I was so manic and undiagnosed until it was all over. Then I put a note on the front door that I was having a nervous break down. When hubby came home I asked demanded that he pray with me.I told jeff that I was trying to get jesus out of my head and into my heart. jeff was able to call 911 and leave the phone off the hook.
2 policeman showed up and I got hauled off to the psych hospital. In hand cuffs.
I was put into 4 way restraints, no not fun.
sorry did not mean to hog up your thread.
There is a book about it is called driven to madness. It is a good book.
kay jamerson wrote it about her life.
bizi

__________________
lamictal 2x a day
haldol 2x a day
cogentin 2x a day
klonipin , 1mg at night,
fish oil coq10
multi vit,, vit c, at noon, tumeric, caffeine
Remeron at night,
zyprexa,
requip2-4mg





bizi is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
MuddyBoots
FooZe
Administrator
Community Support Team
 
FooZe's Avatar
 
Member Since Apr 2009
Location: west coast, USA
Posts: 26,236 (SuperPoster!)
15
5,114 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 31, 2024 at 02:37 AM
  #7
Quote:
Originally Posted by MuddyBoots View Post
... a lot of the time I'm in the hospital for mania I'm just in there charting away at complex analysis problems I made up because it seemed more important to figure out sqrt(-6x+5) than go to group. I'm wondering if there's something to that, or if I actually like this stuff and I have more energy to dive into it when I have more energy from being up.
Almost certainly both. I'm pretty sure there's no cut and dried answer, and you'll have to sort out for yourself, situation by situation, how much of which best helps you get through what.

If you take the position that group seldom does much for you and is well worth avoiding, then working on sqrt(-6x+5) is bound to feel like a better way to occupy yourself -- even more so if you already find problems like that inspiring.

If, on the other hand, you already know that group most likely would be worth going to but you also didn't like the idea of what stuff it might stir up for you or what uncomfortable situations it might jam you into, you might then choose to view math problems as a distraction from taking care of yourself.

At any given moment, is the glass half full or half empty? (And either way, who says so?)
FooZe is online now   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
MuddyBoots
Monster on the Hill
 
MuddyBoots's Avatar
 
Member Since Sep 2020
Location: by the river
Posts: 5,236 (SuperPoster!)
4
6,017 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 31, 2024 at 07:03 AM
  #8
Quote:
Originally Posted by MuddyBoots View Post
..figure out sqrt(-6x+5)...
ughh this is really bothering me but I meant -6i not -6x

__________________
[Insert thought-provoking and comedic quote here]
MuddyBoots is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
MuddyBoots
Monster on the Hill
 
MuddyBoots's Avatar
 
Member Since Sep 2020
Location: by the river
Posts: 5,236 (SuperPoster!)
4
6,017 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 31, 2024 at 07:06 AM
  #9
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizi View Post
I start journaling and none of it makes sense. I had planned an inservice about finacial business. Convinced the fidelty folks to send over hundreds of packets for the whole company. I was so manic and undiagnosed until it was all over. Then I put a note on the front door that I was having a nervous break down. When hubby came home I asked demanded that he pray with me.I told jeff that I was trying to get jesus out of my head and into my heart. jeff was able to call 911 and leave the phone off the hook.
2 policeman showed up and I got hauled off to the psych hospital. In hand cuffs.
I was put into 4 way restraints, no not fun.
sorry did not mean to hog up your thread.
There is a book about it is called driven to madness. It is a good book.
kay jamerson wrote it about her life.
bizi
You're all good bizi Kay Jamison also wrote "An Unquiet Mind" which one of my NPs gave me a copy of and it was excellent

__________________
[Insert thought-provoking and comedic quote here]
MuddyBoots is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
MuddyBoots
Monster on the Hill
 
MuddyBoots's Avatar
 
Member Since Sep 2020
Location: by the river
Posts: 5,236 (SuperPoster!)
4
6,017 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 31, 2024 at 07:26 AM
  #10
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow View Post
Every episode I did the same thing. Usually I'd be scraping the wallpaper at 2 AM and not realizing this was not normal until my therapist would ask if I'd been scraping wallpaper. Then I'd realize I might need to consider a med change. I had some insight into it once it was pointed out that it was not normal or healthy but I'd forget the next time.


It's been a few years since I've had a distinct up. I'm not sure what I would do here in this house. I need to keep my hands busy to distract me from racing thoughts that I can't follow. I'm not sure how I've done that here. I've not torn the place down so obviously I've not gotten too far out of hand.

When I was in grad school I remember sobbing over assignments that required analysis that my racing brain couldn't do but I had no choice because things were due when they were due, not around my mood swings that I wasn't admitting I had. I particularly remember crying for hours over a one page paper on the Americans with Disabilities act. I never did what you did and had heightened interest in problem solving.
Oh yeah, I wouldn't be able to do things that were required for school or anything (it's actually why I flunked psychology...go figure ) I had a lot of essays that I just gave up on sounding like they made sense and turned in a lot that my teachers/professors didn't even grade, just gave them back with a good ole' question mark on them. Could always do math though. Before this last episode I started connecting things about how we perceive senses and how sight is the weirdest, then with sight came a lot of learning about light and that turned into protons and seeing the space between things that were what I guess you'd call touching each other (but they're not really touching touching) and that turned into the proton shyt and emailing a bunch of places and thinking MIT was going to give me a full scholarship.

Bizi--I'd do a lot of nonsense journaling too. You can really tell by what I've written by both content and handwriting that I was hypomanic or manic.

@JaneOnceMore that is very fortunate you didn't/couldn't go through with that "little" project. Yeah, the mental health system is awful. I go to the ER sometimes clearly unable to do any real thing, but if I've eaten at all that day and I don't need a certain amount of stitches/staples (four isn't enough, 18 is. Not sure where the cut off is) then they do not care. I literally went into the ER last year hallucinating constantly, haven't slept for over 3 days (and yes, I told them this), and overall probably just really disorganized. They gave me a fking HYDROXYZINE and sent me home...without a ride..middle of the night in a NH winter, and wouldn't let me stay. Thank God they at least let me use the phone and I found someone awake enough to answer and give me a ride!

__________________
[Insert thought-provoking and comedic quote here]
MuddyBoots is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
JaneOnceMore, Moose72
 
Thanks for this!
JaneOnceMore
bizi
Bizi is bizi
 
bizi's Avatar
 
Member Since Nov 2005
Location: cajun country
Posts: 11,014
18
45.8k hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Red face Aug 31, 2024 at 11:05 AM
  #11
Quote:
Originally Posted by MuddyBoots View Post
You're all good bizi Kay Jamison also wrote "An Unquiet Mind" which one of my NPs gave me a copy of and it was excellent


you are right t is called the unquiet mind! Great read for any one struggling with mania.

__________________
lamictal 2x a day
haldol 2x a day
cogentin 2x a day
klonipin , 1mg at night,
fish oil coq10
multi vit,, vit c, at noon, tumeric, caffeine
Remeron at night,
zyprexa,
requip2-4mg





bizi is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
SquarePegGuy
Veteran Member
 
SquarePegGuy's Avatar
 
Member Since Mar 2020
Location: Northeastern USA
Posts: 737
4
117 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Aug 31, 2024 at 09:03 PM
  #12
Quote:
Originally Posted by MuddyBoots View Post
ughh this is really bothering me but I meant -6i not -6x
OMG, thank you so much for that, because I was like, "What's to figure out?" But now I'm thinking about it...

__________________
Major Depressive Disorder; Sleep Apnea; possibly on the spectrum
Nuvigil 50mg; Effexor 37.5mg Wellbutrin 100mg; meds for blood pressure & cholesterol
SquarePegGuy is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Thanks for this!
MuddyBoots
MuddyBoots
Monster on the Hill
 
MuddyBoots's Avatar
 
Member Since Sep 2020
Location: by the river
Posts: 5,236 (SuperPoster!)
4
6,017 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Sep 01, 2024 at 06:40 PM
  #13
I'd usually start with an answer by taking some random complex number and square it, then take that and actually take the square to hopefully get the same answer (well, and then the other that comes up with the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra you mentioned (totally forgot that name or what the other answer's name is if there is one), so I would get a cleaner answer than sqrt(-6i+5)

Anyway, I think it's more of a whether it's an organized way of attacking whatever I'm studying or just a mess of ideas. Of course, with this rapid cycling shyt, it doesn't matter. If I'm "stable" I'm going to go up soon anyways, so I guess this isn't as reliable as sleep, increased and more impulsive drug use, and hypersexuality. Could probably use it to back it up though.

__________________
[Insert thought-provoking and comedic quote here]
MuddyBoots is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
FooZe
Administrator
Community Support Team
 
FooZe's Avatar
 
Member Since Apr 2009
Location: west coast, USA
Posts: 26,236 (SuperPoster!)
15
5,114 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Sep 01, 2024 at 07:52 PM
  #14
Quote:
Originally Posted by MuddyBoots View Post
ughh this is really bothering me but I meant -6i not -6x
I'm not a mathematician and don't play one on TV, so I'm usually happy to settle for an approximate answer. It looks as if (-1.185379618i + 2.5308348106) squared is very close to -6i + 5. And I didn't even have a group to avoid!

What bugs me about trying to work with complex numbers and other weird **** is that I find I can easily misunderstand or misapply the "rules." For me at least, there's usually no way to check my answer against something else, like a physical object, that's exists independently of those rules. If I square my answer and get -6i + 5 that's a good sign, but I'm still not 100% sure that I've correctly followed all the applicable rules for squaring complex numbers.

It's different when I'm playing with "my kind" of problem -- say, something like a set of data points meant to represent a 3D map of a landscape. If I also have a photo of the same landscape, I can calculate where in the photo each landmark should appear. When (as often happens) some of my data points don't fit the picture perfectly, I get to reexamine my data points, tinker with my estimate of where the picture could have been taken from, and try again.

I'm not sure how manic I've ever gotten (probably not very), but knowing that I can successfully pull off a bunch of intricate calculations and have the result agree with other, independent information says to me that I could very well still be making sense.
FooZe is online now   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
MuddyBoots
Monster on the Hill
 
MuddyBoots's Avatar
 
Member Since Sep 2020
Location: by the river
Posts: 5,236 (SuperPoster!)
4
6,017 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Sep 02, 2024 at 12:19 PM
  #15
I hate irrational numbers though, so when I solve I just keep things under the radical. Can't cheat that way either

__________________
[Insert thought-provoking and comedic quote here]
MuddyBoots is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Differences real or perceived among Generic Xanax Jester's Rags Psychiatric Medications 2 Dec 07, 2019 06:30 PM
Differences btwn therapy & real relationships BudFox Psychotherapy 75 Dec 04, 2017 03:59 AM
changing interests, loosing interests CobolCapsule Bipolar 12 Oct 04, 2017 03:53 PM
No real aspirations, no huge interests, yet don't feel depressed? Anonymous33537 Other Mental Health Discussion 4 Mar 26, 2014 04:02 PM
Mania, ADHD, and not knowing what is real or what is in my mind? Simcha Bipolar 5 Oct 09, 2008 10:14 AM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:51 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® — Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.



 

My Support Forums

My Support Forums is the online community that was originally begun as the Psych Central Forums in 2001. It now runs as an independent self-help support group community for mental health, personality, and psychological issues and is overseen by a group of dedicated, caring volunteers from around the world.

 

Helplines and Lifelines

The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

Always consult your doctor or mental health professional before trying anything you read here.