Other People Affect My Mood the Most

Other people seem to affect my mood more than anything next to the amount of sleep I get. If someone is really nice and fun I am euphoric. If someone is a jerk it really puts me in a foul mood. Even stuff like driving at rush hour and other drivers can greatly affect my mood.

z7z wrote:Other people seem to affect my mood more than anything next to the amount of sleep I get. If someone is really nice and fun I am euphoric. If someone is a jerk it really puts me in a foul mood. Even stuff like driving at rush hour and other drivers can greatly affect my mood.

I can relate to this big time. It is like a flip of a switch. Just out of curiosity, are you a rapid cycler?

z7z wrote:Other people seem to affect my mood more than anything next to the amount of sleep I get. If someone is really nice and fun I am euphoric. If someone is a jerk it really puts me in a foul mood. Even stuff like driving at rush hour and other drivers can greatly affect my mood.

On some really good days (subjective; people putting up with the yamerring may disagree) my sleep is affected by my mood rather than the other way around. I have averaged about 3 hours a night the last couple of nights and I feel great!

In some respects, I think mood is an overloaded term. I can absolutely be in a foul mood without being depressed and I can experience some euphoria while depressed that is just a temporary respite. I think that calling them "mood disorders" was a mistake that furthers the fallacy that we can just "get over it".

seekinghelpforbpd wrote:I can relate to this big time. It is like a flip of a switch. Just out of curiosity, are you a rapid cycler?

Kind of along the same lines, if there is a conversation I need to have and I know it is going to be depressing, it is almost impossible to have that conversation if I am depressed to begin with. I am not the OP you were questioning but I think I rapid cycle sometimes. However, I don't consider a conversation bringing me down and then my mind moving on to something else as rapid cycling. Having said that, I did recently have a conversation that brought me down hard enough that I didn't rise back up. Triggers are real IMO.

seekinghelpforbpd wrote:

z7z wrote:Other people seem to affect my mood more than anything next to the amount of sleep I get. If someone is really nice and fun I am euphoric. If someone is a jerk it really puts me in a foul mood. Even stuff like driving at rush hour and other drivers can greatly affect my mood.

I can relate to this big time. It is like a flip of a switch. Just out of curiosity, are you a rapid cycler?

I am not a rapid cycler. I have mostly mania rather than depression which sounds nice but it really isn't. I am more destructive when manic than depressed. Lying in bed all day isn't as bad as staying up all night reading conspiracy theories.

This might not be in line with the OP, but I may have a contribution!!
First, I dont have bipolar, however I have NPD, and I have experienced a hypomanic states, I think, and I shall elaborate while keeping it as brief as possible.
When I round up my loyal companions, I am the leader of the pack, guiding, making decisions. And, when I round up my boys for our activities, I drift into a hypomanic state, like norepinephrine and GABA are producing an immense potency emanating from me cerebellum. When I am in such a state I can use my full intellect and wit. I skin a fine cigarette, soon I become more destructive and impulsive, and a masterful orator. I derive a great nucleus accumbens hit too with added illegal activities. I will refrain from describing these activities. I could convince, manipulate, charm, all with extreme ease and naturalistic style. I become brash, humorous, maybe dangerous.
The main point is, when I band my loyal cronies together, my profound leadership and intellect really shines, I become euphoric and destructive.

This rarely happens alone, but not unheard of!

The only thing people do for my mood is piss me off. I'm better off left alone than have to socialize with the human race. My mania and depression strike w/o warning, and w/o triggers. My bipolar is so different than every single person in this forum that I feel I do not fit in and don't relate with anyone.

Yes yes, I relate!

Is this mood something that splashes on the surface, or does it affect you deeper, at the level of opinions and perhaps even decisions? Changing something familiar into boogeymen?

z7z wrote:

seekinghelpforbpd wrote:I am not a rapid cycler. I have mostly mania rather than depression which sounds nice but it really isn't. I am more destructive when manic than depressed. Lying in bed all day isn't as bad as staying up all night reading conspiracy theories.

An odd tangent - one thing I did not recognize as a symptom was staying up all night reading about making passages in small boats and participating in forums planning trips I was never going to take. I did own a small sailboat but it was in no way capable of those voyages and I had way too many responsibilities to just take off and do a trip (besides, my likelihood of a successful crossing would not be very high). I thought of it as a harmless "Walter Mitty" sort of fantasy. But there were many weeks where I would be up past 2 am 4 nights in a row. So in retrospect...

Sixoclock0 wrote:Yes yes, I relate!

Is this mood something that splashes on the surface, or does it affect you deeper, at the level of opinions and perhaps even decisions? Changing something familiar into boogeymen?

Yes, I've found I am more easily manipulated than I think I am. I have to keep my guard up around people even if they have the best intentions they can negatively influence my mood and yes decisions too.