"Decreased need for sleep"? Trying to figure stuff out.

Hi everyone

First and foremost - I haven't been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and nor am I looking to be by posting on this forum. In fact, I only vaguely suspect that something could be up - which is why I was hoping to see if anybody could relate.

I've got OCD. And it has been terrible in the past, but the severity has fluctuated. I've had horrible 'lows' with it, but last year I experienced an odd period (that's the only way I can really describe it) during which I did experience a few of the symptoms consistent with a hypomanic episode. As I said, this is only a very vague suspicion, but I'm planning on seeking treatment for my OCD soon and I'm trying to make sense of some of the stuff I've been experiencing.

The thing I wanted to ask about is - I did sleep less for some of this time, but not because I wanted to. In fact, I desperately wanted to sleep normally, but many nights I'd be up until like 2-4am just completely unable to (I was even up literally all night about three or four times, or only slept for like an hour). It got to the point where I unfortunately started trying to knock myself out with alcohol (I no longer do this, though). On the nights where I didn't have great difficulty getting off to sleep, I often woke up at like 5 or 6 the next morning. I didn't feel as tired as I would have expected a lot of the time, although there were several nights that completely washed me out. I ended up developing really bad worry about my sleep and had several (what I now believe were) panic attacks during the night because of it. So, in a sense I suppose it could easily be just OCD anxiety. But the fact that I experienced it (sort of) concurrently with some other symptoms (and the fact that it was seemingly just an episode) does put a bit of doubt in my mind.

I was wondering: In your experiences, can the decrease in need for sleep be a source of anxiety, too? I suspect I'm probably just prone to insomnia, but I have been ruminating about it quite a bit recently.

Thanks so much.

I know my anxiety, stress and the fact my mind never shuts down unless im asleep can keep me up for hours. I also have OCD' issues, So for me i know it effects my sleep. Its like if i dont take meds i dont need but a couple hours asleep a night