Unusual tells for episodes?

[StriderEnglish]

So, as of recently I'm recently in what I think may be a mixed episode of some sort after being asymptomatic for awhile and something I had completely forgotten about has reared its ugly head. I haven't really experienced an elevated state of any kind in nearly a year (BP2 so not really much of a surprise I'm largely depressed). 

So my question here. What's something that isn't on the diagnostic criteria but, for you specifically, is a tell that you're entering some sort of episode because it's a pattern you've noticed? 

The big one, the one I'm talking about, is the fact that I grind my teeth a lot during mixed episodes and hypomania and I often suffer from a sore jaw because of it. And I have had a dentist tell me how to tell the difference between a cavity and the fact that you're clenching/grinding your teeth in your sleep, so I know it's that. I'm curious if anyone else experiences something like this though. Not necessarily the same "tell", but the idea.

[confused]

I get irritable, snap at people which is unlike me. a pdoc once told me if people are looking at me strangely that could be a sign,  I don’t know if he meant I would be acting a little strange or be paranoid.  I get really impulsive, need answers or things done now.  My husband will point out if I am not sleeping much.

[Iceberg]

Hearing people chew makes me want to scream or leave or usually both... usually I can somewhat control it to a very nasty glare at the offending chewer but sometimes I just wander off and eat on my own 

[Banana Smurf]

Not that unusual, but feeling like my thoughts are so crowded and pressing that I can't help but interrupt people, because I'm usually not much of a talker.  Suddenly feeling like sunlight is unusual because I tend towards not getting outdoors time in any mood episode.  Rubbing my nose a lot because I do that when irritated.  Sometimes it just looks red a lot.  

 

I have rage attacks when I hear chewing most of the time, but I do think it is worse during a mood episode.

Edited August 9, 2020 by Banana Smurf

[Catnapper]

Unplanned travel is a good objective marker for me. When it occurs when I'm well, it's not a good sign, because it means a short but fun hypomania is either unnoticed and underway, or about to start. Like everyone else, I love hypomania, but the inevitable crash is so terrible. 

If I'm fine and functioning and working, and on the way home on Friday afternoon I suddenly decide to drive or fly to see a friend, or just go to New York or something for the hell of it, that's a big red flag. When I say suddenly, I mean start my trip right then in the middle of my commute without stopping at home to get clothes or anything, just get on the highway or head for the airport.   

As far as mixed episodes, I've only been made aware of them by my pdoc in the last couple of years, so although I know I've had them in the past, it never occurred to me that they could (or should) be separately identified. I don't think I've ever gone from euthymia straight into a mixed episode - they only seem to come up during depressive episodes.

My pdoc has been concerned over a couple of mixed episodes I've had in the last couple of years during the middle of a long (three years +/-) and debilitating depressive episode. As he pointed out, it's a really dangerous time when all that depression is combined with feeling like I need to jump out of my skin, and it's the only time he's suggested I should consider going to the hospital. 

[0112358]

One weird and distressing thing that can happen to me is that if I start planning something (not in a hypomanic way) that's fun in some way - my dream work project, or a vacation - it turns into mild hypomania, and then it will usually turn into depression within a month or two, and the depression can last for a very long time.

Another weird trigger for either a switch to a normal mood from depression, or to hypomania, is having some crisis or emergency or stressful event happen.