Been up for 29 hours straight.

I've been up since 11 am yesterday. It's now 4 pm. I've done so much in between then and now. I've walked over three hours to and from places, mostly school. I've sat through a three hour class yesterday, studied for 5 hours, sat through a two hour exam, and randomly decided I MUST adopt a cat and ran over to the shelter.

My mind is absolutely racing. I feel, crazed. It's so confusing. They just revoked? I guess is the right word, my bipolar 2 diagnosis. I've had stints in the past where I've gone 72 hours like this, it happens quite frequently recently. Even when I take seroquel, benadryl, sleep aids. I am wired. They told me I have PTSD, Borderline, and Avoidant personality disorder traits. I'm making a journal of my days until I see my therapist because this is not right. I am not myself right now. I'm just, I feel like I could burst from all this energy, and all I want to do is rest. My body is not keeping up with my mind.

Is stretches of sleep disturbances something any of you have dealt with? I just accepted I don't have bipolar 2. I told everyone who knows me it's not bipolar, I've been talking so much lately. I talk and talk and talk even when no one is listening. I'm just confused. I want a set diagnosis but I don't think I ever will.

I go through this a lot with the insomnia and it makes me very manic. I have been up a week in the past which is really scary when you start hallucinating all kinds of odd stuff like an acid trip. It is hard to control the pressured speech when hypomanic/manic. Are you on any kind of medication that may help control the mania? I know as difficult as it is to give up the mania, it is the best thing you can do for yourself (easier said than done also). Also, if you think you're having a difficult time getting a diagnosis right now from your current team and feel they're inadequate, it may be a good idea to look for someone else who is more competent.

ChasingVisions95 wrote:Is stretches of sleep disturbances something any of you have dealt with?

Yes. Now too, second day of staying awake over 24 hours straight. I tried to shift my sleeping pattern so I had a 5ish hour nap between, but now I'm still not really tired - or back to my usual I don't want to sleep -variant of insomnia.

I was told to find proper level of quatepine and stick to it, but I really dislike the drug and have been avoiding using it..

ChasingVisions95 wrote:I just accepted I don't have bipolar 2. I told everyone who knows me it's not bipolar.

Revoked BP diagnosis? I wasn't aware that's even possible, I thought if you have the symptoms even once within the set time limit (it can be like years between polar opposites, iirc) you'll always have BP diagnosis - even if the symptoms won't reappear for years..

Have you tried exercising or deep breathing/yoga/meditation to relax? If these don't help you doctor may suggest taking a benzodiazepine such as Klonopin or Ativan to calm your nerves or increasing the dosage of your medicine. Regular sleep is important for your health and esp. mental health. Try sticking to a routine.

I think the OP means more "changed" than just "removed" -- i.e. the diagnosis has been shifted from original BP2 to something else.

I am sorry to hear about your sleep problem, ChasingVisions -- you're bound to have racing thoughts and feel like this with sleepless nights. I hope you can see a doctor soon. If the best your psychiatrist can do is this, change your psychiatrist (and quick).

When I was hypomanic, I slept 3-4 hours per night and stayed energetic. It was odd -- I did go to bed, I just didn't sleep, I was too busy having racing thoughts and coming up with amazing ideas etc etc. So many ideas I couldn't catch up with them anymore. I didn't have time to realise something was wrong.

Nowadays I sleep 8-9 hours per night and I'm doing OK, but when I lost sleep a few times in a row I immediately felt this feeling creeping back. Hugs -- hope you can get it in control ASAP.

My therapist sees me every two, three weeks. Psychiatrist every six weeks. I'm a new patient and I've made it clear to them I am in an awful state. I think I need to be more direct about seeing them more often if I can.

Thank you everyone! I have an ativan. So excited to get some rest hopefully.

My bipolar 2 diagnosis was considered a misdiagnosis just this Monday. I have no full blown mania, so they were like, no, she's not bipolar. They have been iffy about me from the start. It's like they don't believe I am for some reason. I have all the criteria for avoidant, most of borderline, and PTSD. So they just said nope, you're not bipolar you're xyandz. I have family history of Bipolar 1 and 2, so the genetics are there. When they told me I'm not, I was like okay! Whatever you say, just help me! lol. She said my sleep disturbances are from my PTSD? I had childhood issues/ was a victim of sexual assault as a teenager, which is where they get the PTSD. But I feel, (hypo)manic is the only way to describe it. I feel wired, and not anxious, not scared, just like I want to go, and do something crazy with this energy. and talk and talk haha. Like I am here. That's from PTSD? and staying up 24, 48, 72 hours at a time. I have so many questions for them

I don't want to have bipolar 2, I feel like they think I just want to have it?? I just want to have answers. I like reading about symptoms, other peoples stories, therapy options, by diagnosis. So yea, I do like a set diagnosis. I feel it gives me answers. I don't think they want to give me SO many diagnosis. I really don't know what they're thinking.

ChasingVisions95 wrote:My bipolar 2 diagnosis was considered a misdiagnosis just this Monday. I have no full blown mania, so they were like, no, she's not bipolar. They have been iffy about me from the start. It's like they don't believe I am for some reason.

First time talking with new mental health nurse and her 15 minutes assesment of me was "you're just depressed".. First talk with new psychiatrist and he was convinced I'm BP II after 15 minutes chat. Next time took about 10 minutes chat to update diagnosis from plain BP II to one with rapid cycling..

I have feeling it's luck whether they believe you on first times or not.

And.. full blown mania isn't required for BP II diagnosis. Isn't that BP I requirement? I mean, I have only hypos, and no one's doubted my BP II yet (except one judgemental nurse.)

Also. *Hugs.*

Lanka wrote:First time talking with new mental health nurse and her 15 minutes assesment of me was "you're just depressed".. First talk with new psychiatrist and he was convinced I'm BP II after 15 minutes chat. Next time took about 10 minutes chat to update diagnosis from plain BP II to one with rapid cycling..

I have feeling it's luck whether they believe you on first times or not.

And.. full blown mania isn't required for BP II diagnosis. Isn't that BP I requirement? I mean, I have only hypos, and no one's doubted my BP II yet (except one judgemental nurse.)

Also. *Hugs.*

Yea it isn't required. I get hypomanias full blown though. I'm still up. after ativan and a couple beers a few hours later.

Thank you so much I've been super sensitive lately. I'm already on mood stabilizers, so I guess I'll let go of the bipolar aspect. I need therapy more than anything. I'm still going to keep up with the daily journal entries for my therapist to look over. She's great, she really is. I trust her to lead me the right way and maybe a definite diagnosis isn't necessarily the answer.

ChasingVisions95 wrote:Yea it isn't required. I get hypomanias full blown though. I'm still up. after ativan and a couple beers a few hours later.

Thank you so much I've been super sensitive lately. I'm already on mood stabilizers, so I guess I'll let go of the bipolar aspect. I need therapy more than anything. I'm still going to keep up with the daily journal entries for my therapist to look over. She's great, she really is. I trust her to lead me the right way and maybe a definite diagnosis isn't necessarily the answer.

Tsk. Who needs sleep anyways. 33 and counting. I was bored enough to go walk outside, then started to ramble myself about all the damn streetlights making it near impossible to have nice walk in dark and watch stars. Humans and their fascination with filling every last bit of dark with bright white light, even if no one's going to go there. *Sigh.*

As for the diagnosis. They don't really matter; most people just prefer to get one to have something to grasp to. Sort of proof that it's real and not imagination. Long as you are aware of your mood swings and personality disorders, and someone to talk with about them, I doubt a BP diagnosis would make much difference.

Then there's the whole mess of 'definite' diagnosis that are actually bunches of symptoms tied together and labeled. I don't have official diagnosis of personality disorder and after some light reading, self educating and self diagnosis I'd fall under "NOS". At the moment mental health care can only have limited amount of labels, apparently.

up until last year I would often go without 2 to 3 days of sleep. After 3 days reality started to get fuzzy and if I have ever been close to Psychosis it is after 3 days of no sleep. Not surprisingly, insomnia scares the daylights out of me.

Luckily Seroquel (Quetiapine) has done the trick since May of last year and I have only gone 24 hours without sleep, at the most.