Our partner

What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Bipolar Disorder message board, open discussion, and online support group.

Moderator: Otter

What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby Spearmint Nightmare » Fri Apr 17, 2015 3:42 pm

Hello,

I've recently been diagnosed with Bipolar II. During my hypomanic episodes I tend to research topics (staying up all night doing so), or randomly deciding that I want to change jobs, or learn a new language. I've studied for an undergraduate and a graduate degree at the same time while working full time (on the spur of the moment after becoming obssessed with 2 different academic disciplines).

What are some of the things you do when hypomanic?

Thanks :D
Spearmint Nightmare
Consumer 0
Consumer 0
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2015 3:35 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)


ADVERTISEMENT

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby voracious_lemon » Fri Apr 17, 2015 6:01 pm

I have a habit of climbing up and jumping off of things that should not be climbed or jumped off of, including but not limited to my neighbor's roof, my back porch, the stairwell at a hospital, and some cliffs by my house. I run around the neighborhood when night turns into morning, and talk almost non stop to anyone who will listen. I have applied to many jobs including those at strip clubs and also become hypersexual. I have a habit of going on destroy-clean cycles in my room and spend hours dancing and signing. I'm so very much addicted to hypomania, but I'm BPI and I cross over into the manic territory pretty easily when these "fun" times get pretty out of control and I'm playing in traffic or running through the woods on a cold wet day in early winter in the nude :oops:
All I saw was the Devil's soul
And it looked a helluva lot like my own
voracious_lemon
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 1154
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2015 5:54 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 3:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (10)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby turnaround » Sat Apr 18, 2015 2:12 am

I definitely do the reading up on new topics and deciding to start new languages. Of course, it depends on what you count as a hypomanic episode. I do get obsessed over things that then dry up as quickly as they arrived. I've had some grandiose delusions that completely took over my head for a few days but without meeting other criteria for formal hypomania. They were prolonged, very intense daydreams to the exclusion of most other thoughts.

"Official" episodes start very cranky; sleep slowly dries up, I get restless and get progressively more of a bitch to work with. If I can hold out for a couple of weeks like this without sleeping tablets, I get a short period of sheer joy. Colours are vivid. I fill the house with flowers and spend ages entranced. You would not believe the hypnotic intricacy of a daffodil when I am high.

I don't go out much in this state - why would I? I blast music in my headphones and dance around my house in sheer delight. Last time I was high, my head exploded in divine light. There is just no other way of putting it.
CJ

Meds: Depakote, quetiapine
Diagnosis: Bipolar II

"Fasten your seatbelt. It's going to be a bumpy night"
turnaround
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 805
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:43 am
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby Kamia » Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:10 am

I love CJ's description there! I stay indoors too, marveling at music etc.

In the past when my life style was different, I was the life of the party type hypomanic. Not just in my head either, a night out wasn't a night out without me. Everyone planned their night out around me, such great times! I could also pour the energy into uni and did the best work during those times and catch up on months of slacking in a week. Now I am literally a hermit and often find it frustrating that I want to go and do things but don't have the option to.
That's what life's about man, good times, a little salad.
Kamia
Consumer 5
Consumer 5
 
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:31 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby Oliveira » Sat Apr 18, 2015 11:19 am

Similar here. In my longest hypomania -- before I got diagnosed -- I went out almost every night. I had loads of sex with lots of people. I drank a lot. I worked for 16 hours a day. Slept 3-4 hours, because I couldn't fall asleep with all the amazing ideas in my head. I started a business. I started an alternative career as a bartender because why not -- I was at that bar all the time anyway :P

Nowadays hypomanias last at best for a few hours and I just enjoy it. I dance rather than walk down the street, I love music, I feel all tingly from happiness. Then it goes away. On the plus side, my depressions also last for a few hours max. And I am a hermit too. One kinda has to when one needs 10 hours of sleep EVERY night.
Currently working on my upcoming signature.
Oliveira
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 7287
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:29 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby CrackedGirl » Sat Apr 18, 2015 2:27 pm

Bits and bobs :mrgreen:

Spending money I should not, unwise sex, impulsive big life decisions, travelling impulsively, drug and alcohol use esp in the past, getting grumpy at ppl, driving way to fast down the motorway and not driving safely, being inappropriate with ppl in various ways, dressing brightly and/or wearing bright make up, finding things so beautiful it makes my heart ache, being disinhibited online

Those are some of the things I do

Cracked
So long and thanks for all the fish

Now we are out of the sea and we're keeping away from the sharks

We don't delete posts on demand

The Rules

When all else fails, hug the CAT



Obey The Moderator

Image
CrackedGirl
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 51411
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:51 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (177)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby Ennui » Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:02 pm

Ha, you don't want to know! :wink: Seriously though, my hypomania usually ramps up into full-blown mania scarily quickly (i.e. it usually only takes 7-9 days without a meds change), but this is how my highs usually start off:

-Start getting super productive and raring to go e.g. getting through mountains of work, and have landed jobs unusually quickly in this state (only to be too manic/depressed to work them later!)
-My introverted and reserved personality becomes chatty, 'fun' and really social. I've actually got compliments about how I've changed for the better from people who weren't close to me.
-Want to party and this coincides with some pretty obvious hypersexuality
-Irritability creeps in and I can start to appear arrogant and abrasive

Then what usually happens is I get less and less sleep, until I'm down to nothing, and psychosis enters the picture. (Luckily this hasn't happened for over 4 years though, since I now get myself to a pdoc at the first sign of a high).
'Un ennui...' (Mallarmé)

'Perseverance is power' (Japanese proverb)

'All the world's a stage,/And all the men and women merely players'

Diagnoses: Bipolar affective disorder, GAD

Medications: 800mg Tegretol XR, 5mg Zyprexa
Ennui
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 1383
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:10 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby CrackedGirl » Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:15 pm

mine flips to mania and psychosis too - I think that is something in retrospect which distinguishes the two - things get out of control with mania and psychosis. I know hypomania can be out of control for some too but, in my experience, being hypo can be fun whereas with mania I do things which are really out of control and which I have no insight about.

Cracked
So long and thanks for all the fish

Now we are out of the sea and we're keeping away from the sharks

We don't delete posts on demand

The Rules

When all else fails, hug the CAT



Obey The Moderator

Image
CrackedGirl
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 51411
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:51 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (177)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby Ennui » Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:29 pm

Definitely, Cracked. My hypomania has always had a fun, exciting feel to it, but my manias have been very frightening and feel as if I'm being dragged along for the ride with hardly any control over it... That's why, as amazing as hypomania can feel, it's just not worth it for me to let it carry on nowadays.
'Un ennui...' (Mallarmé)

'Perseverance is power' (Japanese proverb)

'All the world's a stage,/And all the men and women merely players'

Diagnoses: Bipolar affective disorder, GAD

Medications: 800mg Tegretol XR, 5mg Zyprexa
Ennui
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 1383
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:10 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What do you get up to when Hypomanic?

Postby CrackedGirl » Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:35 pm

Totally agree about not letting it continue. I know that I have a relatively small window where I can catch things so am sure to look out for EWS. I think that learning EWS is so important for catching things early and making the difference between feeling buzzy and feeling totally out of control and then losing insight

Cracked
So long and thanks for all the fish

Now we are out of the sea and we're keeping away from the sharks

We don't delete posts on demand

The Rules

When all else fails, hug the CAT



Obey The Moderator

Image
CrackedGirl
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 51411
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:51 pm
Local time: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:30 pm
Blog: View Blog (177)

Next

Return to Bipolar Disorder Forum




  • Related articles
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests