Short-lived manic episodes

I guess I should start this thread off by saying that I am an adolescent -- specifically, I am 16 years old. This is mostly because I hear that bipolar disorder, like many mental illnesses, manifests differently in teenagers and children than it does in adults.

Now, ever since elementary school I would experience these phases where I would just randomly get really hyper and talkative and creative. I would just get the urge to move around, I couldn't calm down, I had SO much energy, and I would just keep talking and talking and talking and I felt pressured to keep doing it. I also spoke very quickly. The words would just come rushing out of me and other people wouldn't be able to understand what I was saying. I became more confident during these phases, more cheerful, more friendly, more ambitious, and came up with jokes easily. My thoughts would race, always switching from one topic to another, and the same would happen when I talked. I got distracted easily. I became restless, couldn't sleep. In some cases they would occur as a result of something good happening (does that disqualify it from being mania?) but normally they would come out of nowhere.

These phases rarely lasted a week. They would last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The most recent one happened a couple weeks ago.

I have mixed episodes too, in which I am extremely energetic but at the same time hate myself and get extremely irritable and can become very aggressive and violent. I spent pretty much all of 2013 like that. It was awful.

I have also been depressed in the past. Not majorly depressed, but depressed to the point where it made things difficult for me. Depressed to the point where it made my grades slip and I was suicidal. I could still function somewhat, however. The manic episodes occur more frequently than the depressive ones, though.

Does anyone here have any experience with what I'm talking about? Does this sound like bipolar mania?

I can identify with a positive mania turning into irritability, anger and violence.
It seems to be well under control now after lots of talk therapy and medication.

Sorry to hear you are experiencing all this.
I had positive hypomania during highschool.
I got a part time job in April the year I graduated.
I worked 35 hours per week in May and June and maintained my marks.

Is there a counsellor you trust at school? Someone you talk to once a week about how school and life in general are going for you.

Take care,

skilsaw wrote:I can identify with a positive mania turning into irritability, anger and violence.
It seems to be well under control now after lots of talk therapy and medication.

Sorry to hear you are experiencing all this.
I had positive hypomania during highschool.
I got a part time job in April the year I graduated.
I worked 35 hours per week in May and June and maintained my marks.

Is there a counsellor you trust at school? Someone you talk to once a week about how school and life in general are going for you.

Take care,

There is a counselor at my school, but I'm not seeing her. I used to see a counselor in the past because of my anxiety, but I thankfully have been rather stable the past couple months, though I still have some episodes... I might look into it, though, in case I get bad again. I am currently seeing a therapist and psychiatrist and am not on any medication. I haven't brought up my mood problems with either of them yet. I think I should the next time I see them.

I'm 21, and I can relate to hypo/manic episodes lasting hours-days. Anecdotally though, I think they're getting longer than they were when I was a teenager. Maybe episodes get drawn out as you age?