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Can you tell while you're hypomanic and/ or manic? Or is it always hindsight? For me, I have a hard time detecting my ups and downs during a single day, let alone several days or weeks though I'm getting much better at it now. Historically, I have not noticed I was hypomanic until it was over and things calmed down. It took me over 2 weeks to notice but do know I'm definitely in a hypomanic phase right now, some days way more exciting than others, but clearly hypomanic. For me, and probably most of us, this is difficult thing to do since we've probably gotten so used to just being very emotional all the time. When that becomes the norm, it's nearly impossible to detect, for us at least. It stands to reason that we might be able to control and even harness those periods if we were really aware of them early on. Thoughts? Experiences? I'd love to hear some.

Day two of a hypomanic episode and idk how much longer I can deal with it. On top of that I got into a fight with a friend that ended with him saying that I'm dead to him. Taking tomorrow off work to see my psych but I'm worried I won't get in. Have any of you called in last minute? I'm worried about that more than anything. I know I'll deeply regret burning another bridge but right now I just want to focus on feeling better.

Greetings everyone, I had honestly forgotten about my mood disorder. I have gone for years without any major episodes. Over the summer I had renewed my eyeglasses/contact prescription from a clinic affiliated with my childhood. In my file they had mailed me, it stated a diagnose of bipolar. Yeah right, had taken medication in my younger years for both depression and adhd. I experienced extreme reactions to both. Whatever. Long time ago anyways. I'm just a dude with lots of empathy, my motto is care more. Never looked back. Then... yah know, 'till now. Heh... Had a long hypomanic period (almost a year) that enveloped two short states (about a week or two a piece) of depression. It ended in a four to five week period of mania. Not the feel good everything is sweet, but dysphoricky, psychotic kind, terminologies, mixed, mind trickery bleh. Sucky. I feel pretty fucking depressed right about now. Postdroming would be the hip lingo methinks. Or post-whatever-whatever. When I was manic I related my experience to times in my past I had felt similar. This most recent bout, the most extreme by far, is not the first time I have experienced hallucinations or delusions during those "difficult" times. Anyways, it seems that for the most part, I float from one period of hypomania to the next with intermittent periods of mild depression. Up and down, up and down for two, three, four years then... boom! Shit just gets unreal, blend of all symptoms. Depression for a few months, rinse and repeat. To pose my question, is there a possibility that one could spend so much time on the manic side of life? It is kinda opposite of the descriptions for bipolar 2 I have read, I dunno maybe. My depression only feels like contrast to my elation. Hard to describe. As difficult as it is right now, it is not nearly as terrifying as my mania. Also, is it realistic to pursue a life without medical attention until one should really be institutionalized during full mania? Would I be lying to myself by embracing my hypomania? Maybe I am just not experiencing any symptoms during those times and I'm just a philosophical, passionate, eccentric. It all just reads like hypomania...fuck. I don't know, I am trying to understand. Crazy talk... Though I have read that episodes can last for a long time. Maybe I have just learned to cope with depression but not mania. I don't know. I am not suicidal but have had suicidal ideations during my episodes. A close friend of mine since childhood had a psychotic episode or break last year and is being effectively treated for psychosis. I know that medication serves a very real purpose. I mean, my mother has struggled with controlling her bipolar type 2 with various medications her entire life, but it helps her control it. I have always had poor experiences with any sort of medicines aside from antibiotics. Hah! Had some pretty weird hallucinations after getting a tetanus shot with some added violent mood swings, paranoia and blacking out forgetting where you are kinda shit. Lasted three days. Hard to paint a house with that goin on. Avoid ladders... Maybe I'm just afraid... A lot has been going through my head. Not as bad as it was for a minute though. That being said, care more my friends and thank you for any input. May we build eachother up! We may not heal, we may not get stronger, but damn it, we will get better at fighting!

I'm stuck here in this place, my brain just won't shut down. It's like little firecrackers going off all over my brain. When I lay down and close my eyes it's like I see light that just forces me to open the lids and start working on my next project. I haven't been this way in a long while. Could my meds possibly be off? Med list is in my about me. Any opinions would be great. Thanks.

Over the past few days I've been quite snappy with my partner over small things like her not cleaning up after herself and other things I generally wouldn't be upset by. Pretty sure this is the beginning of hypomania again. Afterwards I usually feel fairly guilty and try to explain that I'm stressed or in a bad mood. I know everybody can get angry but it's very out of character for me except when I'm episodic. Today it happened at work. Thankfully it wasn't aimed at anyone and it was just me muttering expledetives as I passed through the office. Inbetween these pockets of anger I've been quite elated, getting along especially well with clients at work, possibly too well with some if that makes sense. Basically my coping mechanism is to remove myself from peoples company, have a cigarette and try to calm down. I massively overshared some stuff with a workmate at lunch and was completely unprofessional with some colourful types that lease a shed from me. Anyway I was wondering what coping mechanisms people have for this kind of thing. I see my pdoc on monday so hopefully we can med tweak or something before shit gets real. From past experience I feel thats not far away. So if my meds go awry which has happened before how do I run damage control. I'm thinking this is brought on by stress because our rental manager quit so I'm doing his job and mine. I haven't eaten lunch for 3 days now and I'm drinking coffee like it's water which probably isn't helping. My concern is I can be quite self destructive so if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

so I am diagnosed with recurrent major depression and this has been going on for about 3 years. Recently I have had some mood changes which are unusual to me after coming out of a depressive episode.... I have been staying up until 6am and consistently running on 3 hours of sleep. I have been highly energetic and productive, I cleaned the house today because I felt like it and I have studied for my A Levels several topics ahead of where we are in class. I got kinda impulsive too, the other day while I was out with my friend I suddenly decided out of nowhere to get some facial piercings even though I applied for several jobs in catering and retail recently which probably prohibit piercings.... I have been reading about hypomania but I still can't tell if my state is hypomanic or if I am just extremely happy. If anybody has had similar experiences to me, it would really help me figure out where to go from here if you could share. Thanks in advance x

Anybody familiar with treatment of OCD that doesn't include antidepressants like SSRI's? I can't take them as I've realized they have been making me hypomanic.

I had my first hypomanic episode 2012 oct - dec. My second hypomanic episode was 2014 jan - march Both lasted around 3 months . The time interval between the ending of my first episode and beginning of second episode was exactly a year. Just trying to figure out if this cycle is going to remain fixed more or less or is there no guarantee whatsoever. Im not on any medications. I love my hypomanias too much and am not willing to give up on them yet. I feel that if 80 percent of the time im going to be depressed or semi depressed then the hypomanias are the only thing that will keep me going. So you can say im just waiting for the next hypomania and am trying to figure out how much more time it will take .

Definition Delusion: A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence. My question is; Is it possible to have delusions while hypomanic? Or is it solely a symptom of a manic episode? From what I've researched I could not find anything regarding a hypomanic delusion, only manic delusions and psychosis.

Jealousy is fricken crippling me. Me and my beautiful girlfriend started our new semester at school and ever since it started I can't help but to feel jealous about every little thing. I'm talking infidelity jealous; not "I'm jealous you got that new pen and I didn't". My girlfriend and I have a great relationship and neither of us would ever cheat and it's not even just the cheating. The male professors, and any male she's around or brings up makes me infuriated. I know these feelings will pass again...as this isn't the first time it's happened. It's just making me act like an ass. It's distracting to the point where i'll go to this weird place in my head that is nothing but anger and disgusting thoughts! So... does anyone out there have any suggestions on how to control this symptom? Meds? Tips? Tricks? Does anyone else ever get this way? Cause this time I can't take it.

Are any of you that are hypomanic, in love with house / electronic music? I find myself always pounding it really loud and fist pumping to it because its so high energy and lifts me up

Hi there, Today I visited a psychiatrist for the first time ever. I had a serious wave of anxiety pass over me last week, which was the second time in my life that it has ever happened, so I made an appointment. I'm a 26 year old guy. I'm the most enthusiastic, glass-half-full kind of guy you'll ever meet. I'm almost nauseatingly optimistic with my friends. Always high energy, always kicking ass, always having fun and bringing people up. I've had a weird bout of depression hit me once in college when I was 18. I told my doctor about it, was given a prescription for lexapro. Didn't even finish half the bottle because most of the anxiousness left after just telling the doctor about it. I felt awesome after taking it for 2 weeks and then just completely stopped. It never came back until last week (8 years later). Super weird. Anyways, a 2nd wave of depression-seeming feelings hit me. I went in, described what's going on my life, and the psychiatrist says I'm Hypomanic. Been reading about it all day today, and the symptoms I've read about describe my life almost verbatim. Almost like someone was behind my back writing down everything I've done for the last 26 years. My doctor said I need to stop drinking (2 nights a week, on weekends? Is that really that bad?), and so when i go back in 2 weeks, it sounds like I'll go on an SSRI. Any of you hypomanic? What's your experience like? Just to give you a description of my life: I'm fucking crazy. I have a lot of friends, wake up really early, try to accomplish a lot of stuff, have a good job and always doing lots of side projects. Partying alot, always trying to be the center of attention. I like to get a lot done. But now I'm reading up that hypomanic people are fucking psychos that wanna do big things but have an 18x suicide rate against normal society, and have predictibly gotten themselves into lots of trouble during their mood swings. Bill Clinton, Abraham Lincoln, Ted Turner, Kurt Cobain, Mozart and Ralph Waldo Emerson were some of the ones I've found. Anyways, would love to hear about how some of you are dealing with it. The coolest part about what I've learned is that if hypomanic people can channel their problem, it can do a lot of good for the world.