Anyone been hypomanic?

[mememe]

Hi all. I'm waiting to see a psychiatrist to try figure out if my mood swings are bipolar disorder but I've never had a manic episode. I'm wondering if my 'hyper happy' moods and irratibility are 'normal' happiness or hypomanic happiness. Anyone describe what's they've felt when hypomanic? I just don't know if what I feel is normal or not. And I want to explain it as best i can to the psychiatrist. Thanks x

 

[lucid scream]

i think so. thats how my manic episodes manifest usually, i get ecstatically happy, or irritated at every little thing. either that or i become super-efficient, but that comes with a super-ego, which leads to a worse crash.

 

[Lozzi_1004]

Same as Lucid... I've had both mania and hypomania. The difference being severity in symptoms but then again it's all personal, my hypomanic episodes it's hard to tell from when I'm in a REALLY good mood because generally I'm not irritable until after a week or so of no sleep but yet I never feel tired. I'm number one (and no-one is to question it), I excel in my work, housework and because I've got tonnes of energy my social life is usually crammed.

 

[daffy]

Like others have said here, I behave much the same. I feel i could mend all the ills of the world, and when i was working i felt i was doing everyones work. I would go in 2 hours early and leave 2 hours late and not put in for overtime. I also become very argumentative and on my most recent which landed me in hospital i started shouting in i supermarket carpark, telling people off for how they had parked. I really do think im being super efficient when in reality im not!!

The daft thing is i dont mind being high its the lows i cant stand

 

[Lozzi_1004]

The daft thing is i dont mind being high its the lows i cant stand

I second that!

 

[Dollit]

Hypomania is a diagnosis given to people who have a less severe form of Bipolar Disorder - it's also called Bipolar II, Bipolar I being the most severe. Hypomania is still about highs and low and sometimes they can be quite high highs and quite low lows but there is other behaviour involved in Bipolar I. Mania is only one part.

And irritability is part of manic behaviour. I rarely get what people would consider to be traditional highs. My mania tends to be a magnification of what I feel, not about being elated (if only).

 

[mememe]

Anyone get rapid cycling???

I have two relatives with Bipolar II so that's why I suspect it in myself. But my mood swings are much more rapid than the standard criteria like DSM says. If those symptoms you described are hypomanic then I've definately had them but it only lasts a couple days before I go plumeting down to depression. I have about a one week cycle of being up for a couple days then down for a few more. It's a very predictable pattern. But I can also swing up and down in the same day. Does anyone else do this? Or could it be another disorder like borderline pd or something?x

 

[Dollit]

It's called rapid cycling and it is, for some people, part of their Bipolar Disorder. Have you considered asking for a diagnosis - it's much easier to deal with something if you have something concrete.

 

[mememe]

Yeh. I'll ask the psychiatrist when I see him next week. It's weird. Part of me is deperate for a diagnosis to help me understand my problems more but part of me is more terrified of him saying 'you're fine!'. Thanks for the info x

 

[Hazard]

Rapid cycling

I have two relatives with Bipolar II so that's why I suspect it in myself. But my mood swings are much more rapid than the standard criteria like DSM says. If those symptoms you described are hypomanic then I've definately had them but it only lasts a couple days before I go plumeting down to depression. I have about a one week cycle of being up for a couple days then down for a few more. It's a very predictable pattern. But I can also swing up and down in the same day. Does anyone else do this? Or could it be another disorder like borderline pd or something?x

Absolutely, I can go up and down like a yoyo if I'm not careful. I don't know what causes it, because I'll also have episodes lasting weeks, but I'm prone to rapid cycling too

 

[herbie]

yes, I have rapid cycling with hypomania and it's just like that. I actually quite like the hypomania phases because I feel good for a while, and I often get a lot done. The trouble is I'll go for 3-5 days with hardly any sleep, and often hardly anything to eat either, and eventually the body just gives in. But then when I have a down phase it lasts longer, I wish those would be over in 3-5 days too but the downs last more like 3-5 months. The irritability/anxiety phase happens in the days after the mania, as I'm coming crashing down.

 

[jamesdean]

I'm only say this because I think I understand how you are explaining a hypomania, I have on occasions taken some speed in the past & people have said I dont stop talking & i know you can just keep going n going like once I just kept cleaning I just couldnt sit down for about three days, The only reason why I've said this is because I thought that I didnt understand, but I can relate though under normal circumstances I only really understand the lows because I dont have highs.

 

[herbie]

I've had people ask me, if I've taken speed, when I haven't. I didn't understand it at the time, now I do.

 

[finetime]

just like say hi first I've had both mania and hypomania my last one was a week ago i ended in in Curry's and Dixon's getting well intolerant with the staff as thay would not take 100 pounds of a 1200 computer like i seen on the net my friend had to get me out of the shop i was speaking to fast the more thats was happing the better i felt,i got home had the tv,music player ,computer on at the same time..the at a constant with cleaning,talking,then other times i can play a few games of cards,chess,Dom's at the same time also gamble,i end up finishing people sentences as there are to slo in answering etc plus i could end up anywear.and sometime run around like a headless chicken.do fast ps3 games etc..and sometime drink that makes in worse but most of all its like my brain as been open to every thing and i hav to take it all in and out .just some of what i experience.....

 

[chesya]

I constantly went on about being misdiagnosed, because my feelings feel normal to me. It took careful and calm explanation that moving from suicidal depression in the morning to hypomania in the evening represented a disorder.

When going into it deeper I realised that unpleasant non-depressed phases that didn't involve sensory delusions were probably hypomania and not just me being a difficult and/or bad person. Extreme irritation and 'over-reaction' are the most irksome.

So my answer is, yes, feelings that kinda seem in the normal range for us can be part of the disorder and no-one should feel bad about getting treatment for them.