Night Shift

Hi @Appleblossom @Mazarita @Decadian @Former-Member

So many people having hard times at the moment. Sending strength to all those who need it.

@Mazarita sorry about your partner's bad news today. And that your sleep has dropped even lower. Have you let your docs know what's happening?

Hi @eth, I'll be seeing the GP on Thursday and may mention it to her. Part of why I couldn't sleep last night was I had the creeps in my bedroom and kept waking myself up with it. Occasionally this happens to me. I tend to want to wait for dawn to arrive before going to bed when I'm like that. I'm okay, just haven't been able to do much today and have napped a couple of times. Managed a walk to the local shops though so at least I got out of the flat. How are you today?

I'm ok thanks @Mazarita. Haven't been out myself today but did have a nice evening visiting a friend yesterday. She's the closest friend I have and left today for 3 weeks in Bali so I'm a bit flat about that. Also got pretty involved in a thread on here with someone who was wanting to 'throw in the towel'. It's very rewarding to help someone turn things around but a bit draining too. We have to look after ourselves first and foremost don't we?

What is it that creeps you out at night? Are you able to talk about it? I've been looking forward to another chat with you.

@eth, glad you had a nice evening even if your good friend is now away for a little bit. Three weeks will hopefully go very quickly and she'll be back again. Lovely that you have her there most of the time. I had a look at the thread you were mentioning but was too exhausted to participate. You and @MoonGal were doing a great job of supporting but, yes, be careful of looking after yourselves in the process. Sometimes, in situations like that, I have written email to the moderators asking for assistance. Talking someone through their suicidal feelings is very challenging when we are struggling with our own mental illness. About the creeps I sometimes get at night, it crops up a bit randomly, not very often fortunately, and usually has a supernatural feeling to it.

The moderators were involved @Mazarita.

I've had creeps of a supernatural nature on occasion too. I think staying up and doing something that brings you into the here and now is a good idea. Did you work on your creative project?

@eth, ah, that's good that the mods were there. I didn't read the whole thread. Yes, I worked on creative things last night and today but at a much slower pace than I have been doing over recent days. I will certainly be mentioning the ups and downs I have been experiencing to my psychiatrist next time I see him. Mostly I'm very used to going up and down to some extent and don't really expect that to be 'cured'. My life is so much more moderate and regular than it was when I was younger and I'm very grateful for that. Glad to hear your 'creeps' at night are also only occasional too.

Glad you have slowed down a bit @Mazarita. Hopefully we'll both get better sleeps tonight. I'm still getting 4-5 naps overnight with breaks in between but thankfully haven't escalated into hypomania. If anything I've been on the down side of centre. I feel the same as you about not being 'cured' but rather knowing I manage better than I used to and the swings are not as extreme. And if things change I can usually recognize early symptoms and put my WRAP into action.

@eth, you seem to have a very firm grasp on your states with bipolar. I think the tendency to depression may be related to sleep issues too. Hard to feel good when we are experiencing long term, serious sleep disturbance. As you kind of suggested the other day, I may experience hypomania with the creativity more than I choose to fully recognise. Feels so good at the time, it is a big challenge for me to find balance with it. I have observed that I tend to go through these cycles of intense creative activity and then crashing out in between pretty much as part of my daily to weekly rhythms.

I'm zoning out a bit here so I'll say goodnight @Mazarita and hit the hay. Will no doubt be on during the night at some stage. Take care.

@eth, nighty night and hope you get as much sleep as possible. Thanks for the chat.