Did you ever do this?

When I read examples of manic behavior, I always see the same things: risky sexual behavior, expending too much money, etc. But for me, my (hypo)manic episodes are a bit different, like, for example: I have been driving a car and closed my eyes for a few seconds as the car keeps going, or driving really fast on a highway, or getting on a high place and thinking about jumping. My doubt is: are all this manic symptoms? does anyone else had experienced something like that?

When I get manic, I like to tear up the highway. I have a fast car, too.
Also, I've experienced the height thing before on the 14th floor of a hotel. It was quite scary.

Yes--the thinking about jumping & I've also tried to throw myself out of a moving car...

I think I was in a mixed state, though, as when I'm hypo-manic I feel really GOOD & rarely want to do anything destructive--but I do do things to extreme that end up being destructive...--Suzy

Yes i jumped from a moving car and then had my husband run after me for a mile. I can't remember why I was so upset but I was so angry with myself and life. I ran over a stop sign started fights with strangers.
All of this and who i really am is a very soft hearted person who cares deeply for family and friends. I feel like jeckell and hyde. Doing much better on meds but still feel a little anxious.

Yes, I too have the problem, esp with the heights thing. Where I used to work, I would park at the top of the high-rise parking garage. I would take the elevator down from the 10th story I think it was. The elevator was all glass in the back so you could see the view of the city as you rode down. I would get on the elevator and stand there at the back as it was going down and imagine I was falling instead of riding down. I brought this up to my T and she said it was more like and intrusive thought rather than anything related to manic. The driving too fast seems more like a hypomanic behavior. So I don't know what it is, but I do know that the height thing for me isn't related to hypomania. I was definitely depressed during that time. DOn't know if this was helpful at all.

Yes, maybe the driving fast is a characteristic of a (hypo)manic episode. I'm not so sure about the heights thing.

So, when one wants to hurt oneself by doing something that requires some energy, one is in a mixed state.

This sounds like a mixed state, am I correct?

I can think the following: when we do dangerous things without the clear intent to harm ourselves, then we are in a (hypo)manic state. Whereas when we are clearly wanting to hurt/kill ourselves, we are then on a mixed/depressed state. Do you think that is correct?

I've had the heights thing, I think more about how much fun the fall would be and less about the death part.

I took my daughters BMX bike on the roof of my garage last year-proceeded to run off into the huge amounts of snow we had received during winter. I just remember the desire to get out and remind myself I was alive. Granted any form of injury was far from my mind or motive, I'm not a self harmer. I'm thinking it was more of a need to get out of the house and prove to myself I am still who I am in the summertime. Winter does evil things when your trying to combat social anxiety/cabin fever.

YES!!!!! Definitely!!!!!!!

yes. i think those fall under lack of impulse control

Have had the heights issue where I can't go close to an edge or I just might jump. It's not that I want to kill myself, but because I have this urge to get down. I've been known to be impulsive, therefore I just don't trust myself enough not to jump.

I have the classic manic symptoms when manic of over spending, impulsivity, driving reckless, being confrontational, vulgar, irritable, grandious thinking, and hypersexual.

Yes.
Many reasons at once. Wanting or not wanting to be some where.
I actually like being manic........... I'll take that to one second of depression EVER.
Get accussed a lot of doing drugs - But it is after all isn't it it = chemical imbalance

Hi Cat

I can relate to your driving experiences. When I have been manic sometimes I have driven really fast and moved in and out of lanes like I was a race car driver. Thank God no one was hurt or killed. And no one ever reported me to the police.

I do some of those things, too. Especially the driving fast.

I'm new here, but the episodes that I think are manic are usually signing up for things that are too big, like traithlons, etc. Other things are making impulsive career changes into fields I have no experience in, changing apartments, having arguments with people and really letting them escalate...when these things don't work out, I fall into depression and quit the jobs, regret the new apartments and apologize for hurting people during arguments, and just being really hateful toward myself.

Does that behavior classify as manic? I don't have "classic" symptoms.

Gosh I do all these. I'll also think about how easy it is to jump of a bridge when I walk over it. I get these when I'm hypomanic or mixed.

(((((((((((BNLsMOM))))))))))), yes, I think that your behavior is very manic-like and very depressed-like. Definitely bipolar symptoms. But always remember, it is your illness and not you as a human soul that causes you to act this way. Take responsibility for your actions yes, and seek treatment yes, but know & remember you are a good person at the same time. Does that make sense?

I go through extreme mania every few days, alternating. (i really wonder i med would help anyway)

my expirience with these episodes have my answer as -absolutely-

try not to get hurt when youre feeling manic though, as its very easy to have an accident.

J.C. of TBC

JeNe, what you are experiencing is called “rapid cycling”—I have it too— and meds can help with it. A mood stabilizer and/or an anti-psychotic (not saying you or I are psychotic) can help with rapid cycling. They have helped me.
Lamictal is a good mood stabilizer.
Seroquil is a good anti-psychotic.
But everyone’s biochemistry is different and different brands of meds work differently for different people.

It sounds manic to me. My pdoc doesn't use the terms hypo manic, etc. He just says that it all falls under manic behavior.
Recently I was manic and got mad at a driver and decided to follow her into the parking lot of a store (meanwhile driving like crazy!). Then I got into a fight on the monorail at Disney. I also have these crazy ideas about suicide when I am like that. I think thoughts like, "What will happen if I slam my car into this pole?" My pdoc upped my meds after I told him about this!

Hm, I always thought it was just me who had these thoughts

I think there are many people who think like this. It's important for me to see my pdoc when I get like this. Mania gives you the energy to do these things if you are not careful. Mood stabilizers help me a lot.

I definitely have these behaviors & my pdoc has classified them as hypo mania as they do not interfere w/my functioning enough to cause big problems (except the overspending could if my husband didn't have a good job; my overspending is spending hundreds of dollars at a time whereas people in a full-blown mania have been known to buy a HOUSE on impulse {Jane Pauley did that} or several cars that they can't afford or a friend of mine literally bought hundreds of books on the Middle East as she thought she was going to go there to broker peace (delusions).

My hypo manias lasted quite long (6 mos.) & were totally enjoyable. I slept only 3 hours a night, but had extraordinary energy & had a physical thrumming inside me of adrenaline coursing through my body. I just felt so alive & full of self-esteem (not a common occurrence for me). I would join every group or cause (I call them my CRUSADES as I would get totally involved & would quickly rise to the top of the organization as I would be so devoted & do so much--even to the point of ending up on TV--and I am normally a very shy person).

I would become a different person--outgoing, the life of the party, awesome tennis player, run miles every day, lose weight & get down to wearing a size 2--actually turn into a much "better" person than I really am. My husband liked me better (certainly better than when I'm depressed, but also better than when I'm "stable" as I feel like a blob compared to my hypo manic self). It is like being on a feel-good drug. I HATE having to give up the hypo mania, but after not sleeping for so long I usually end up crashing & then getting overwhelmed w/all I've signed up for & cannot do anything so I leave everyone in a lurch & can get very depressed (2 1/2 yrs. ago I did a suicide attempt after a 5-month period of hypo mania).

So my doc says if I go 3 nights w/out sleeping at least 6 hrs. I have to call her & get highly sedated so I won't go back into hypo mania. I do have a lot of trouble sleeping.

I have been dxed as bipolar 1 despite never having a full-blown mania because I have had mixed episodes (both mania & depression at the same time) & have had delusional thinking (believing something that is not true in reality).

As far as the thoughts or actions of jumping out of moving cars or jumping off cliffs, etc. I don't have those when hypo manic. I only have those w/depression or mixed (the depressive thoughts make me think of stuff like that). When hypo manic life is so beautiful. I miss it so much. I guess it IS like a drug to me.

i am 41 and I STILL do crazy things like closing my eyes while driving or turning off the lights.. but only if i am driving alone.. I recently, in a manic episode, tried to show off to the kids at the skate park and rode a 3 yr old's tricycle of a rail and landed on my tail bone.. 1 month later.. still have to sleep on my side.. ouch.. but NEVER have I wanted to do anything like jump off a cliff when manic.. I only do things that make me feel alive.. a "high".. which always ends up hurting myself.. i am manic as i am typing this right now.. my bad.. can't stop.. just joined this group.. I need help.. cheers - Mr. E

For me it's all of the above. I'd never had a ticket of any kind until I tried to pass 5 cars on a straight-away and then ran out of room; add in staring longingly over the side of a boat or a tall building and you have stereotypical risky behavior. I caught myself thinking about jumping so many times even when I wasn't depressed that I began to avoid such situations altogether whenever possible.