3 ms·

I am not a psychiatrist, but it does sound like you have bipolar symptoms, especially if you have the hypo-maniac episodes. Bipolar is sometimes misdiagnosed a

by baus 8y ago

I am not a psychiatrist, but it does sound like you have bipolar symptoms, especially if you have the hypo-maniac episodes. Bipolar is sometimes misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder, because the mania doesn't seem like a problem. Who doesn't want to feel more productive and on top of the world? I know I've failed to recognize a manic episode, and wow did I end up paying the price when the pendulum swung the other way.

ModernMech 8y ago
> because the mania doesn't seem like a problem. To be clear, the feeling of being on top of the world and superhuman is hypomania, and not full blown mania (hypo indicating "less than" mania), which from my experience, is far and away worse than the depressive episodes. Don't get me wrong, depression is bad and you can literally end up dead from it. Not going to minimize that. But the mania I've experienced? Watch out. Buying things you don't need, quitting jobs you need desperately, ending relationships on a whim, engaging in random sex, random drug use, not sleeping ever. And if that weren't enough then there's the paranoia and delusions. The government is out to get me kind of stuff. The "I'm the second coming of God" kind of delusions. The CIA installed microchips in my cats and they're using them to spy on me kind of paranoia. That plus the sensitivity to light and sounds. I had to take the batteries out of my smoke detectors because the tiny LED felt like a spot light at night, watching me like the Eye of Sauron. And if I haven't burned every bridge I've ever made, earned the scorn of everyone whose ever loved me, and spent every cent I've ever earned, I can consider myself lucky for not ending up in jail or an institution. The hospital is a whole different level of fun when you're susceptible to the idea that there's a conspiracy against you. So yeah, while depression is bad and hypo-mania is fun sometimes, full blown mania isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. It's the devil incarnate as far as I'm concerned.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  Thank you for this comment. It's enlightening.
- psyc 8y ago
  This is accurate regarding the worst case. I’ve also had full psychotic manic episodes I would not trade for the world, although they were challenging.
- PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  > To be clear, the feeling of being on top of the world and superhuman is hypomania, and not full blown mania (hypo indicating "less than" mania) Which, unrelatedly, always confused me. "Hypo" in medicine usually means "a dangerous lack of something"--hypoxia, hypothyroid--not "too much of something, but not way too much." The first time I heard "hypomania," I assumed it meant depression! It seems like "semi-manic" or something along those lines would have been clearer.
  - DoreenMichele 8y ago
    Hypo just means low. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. Hyperglycemia is high blood sugar aka diabetes. Hypomania would be low mania. It's kind of like saying a little bit of mania.
- baus 8y ago
  Point taken regarding the difference between hypomania and mania symptoms. But not everyone, including those with BP2, experience the extremes of mania. From my own experience I failed to recognize a hypomanic episode until it was far too late because I felt great and didn't realize something was wrong. It ended with one of the most severe manic/mixed episodes I've ever experienced. It was one of those experiences you hear can happen to BP patients, but you don't believe can happen to you until it does. When I finally snapped out of it, I was pretty damn shaken up about what had happened, and probably for the first time I came to terms with how dangerous this disorder can be. So I agree, I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone

by baus 8y ago

ModernMech 8y ago

> because the mania doesn't seem like a problem. To be clear, the feeling of being on top of the world and superhuman is hypomania, and not full blown mania (hypo indicating "less than" mania), which from my experience, is far and away worse than the depressive episodes. Don't get me wrong, depression is bad and you can literally end up dead from it. Not going to minimize that. But the mania I've experienced? Watch out. Buying things you don't need, quitting jobs you need desperately, ending relationships on a whim, engaging in random sex, random drug use, not sleeping ever. And if that weren't enough then there's the paranoia and delusions. The government is out to get me kind of stuff. The "I'm the second coming of God" kind of delusions. The CIA installed microchips in my cats and they're using them to spy on me kind of paranoia. That plus the sensitivity to light and sounds. I had to take the batteries out of my smoke detectors because the tiny LED felt like a spot light at night, watching me like the Eye of Sauron. And if I haven't burned every bridge I've ever made, earned the scorn of everyone whose ever loved me, and spent every cent I've ever earned, I can consider myself lucky for not ending up in jail or an institution. The hospital is a whole different level of fun when you're susceptible to the idea that there's a conspiracy against you. So yeah, while depression is bad and hypo-mania is fun sometimes, full blown mania isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. It's the devil incarnate as far as I'm concerned.

DoreenMichele 8y ago
Thank you for this comment. It's enlightening.
psyc 8y ago
This is accurate regarding the worst case. I’ve also had full psychotic manic episodes I would not trade for the world, although they were challenging.
PhasmaFelis 8y ago
> To be clear, the feeling of being on top of the world and superhuman is hypomania, and not full blown mania (hypo indicating "less than" mania) Which, unrelatedly, always confused me. "Hypo" in medicine usually means "a dangerous lack of something"--hypoxia, hypothyroid--not "too much of something, but not way too much." The first time I heard "hypomania," I assumed it meant depression! It seems like "semi-manic" or something along those lines would have been clearer.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  Hypo just means low. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. Hyperglycemia is high blood sugar aka diabetes. Hypomania would be low mania. It's kind of like saying a little bit of mania.
baus 8y ago
Point taken regarding the difference between hypomania and mania symptoms. But not everyone, including those with BP2, experience the extremes of mania. From my own experience I failed to recognize a hypomanic episode until it was far too late because I felt great and didn't realize something was wrong. It ended with one of the most severe manic/mixed episodes I've ever experienced. It was one of those experiences you hear can happen to BP patients, but you don't believe can happen to you until it does. When I finally snapped out of it, I was pretty damn shaken up about what had happened, and probably for the first time I came to terms with how dangerous this disorder can be. So I agree, I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone