bipolar question, predictability and stability

@Jenn4 Hi Jenn4 for me I have no warning signs at all. It just happens like "Pow!" and then I am manic again. It is like waves. I can be manic overnight then in the morning be calm then the next day be manic again etc ....I only know when I am well and can remember certain instances that have occurred .... then I go "Oh dear I was manic then".

Example: I was getting up and driving/walking around during the middle of the night say around 3am. When I looked back at it when I was feeling well I was able to give my keys to my daughter to hide at night so that if I got up I wouldn't be able to drive/walk. She also locked the front door on me so I wouldn't be able to get out of the house. Now that my medication is right I no longer have these episodes (thank God!).

@Bunniekins wowsers that's scary! thanks for sharing. glad your meds are right now. so far since my diagnosis i can usually tell pretty well what's mania when it's happening for me even if i can't switch it off (sometime it's hard to know).

@Jenn4 I can tell sometimes i can tell when i am depressed but the manic stuff is harder normally i only really notice when people start looking at me weird either because i am talking fast or because i am just not being my "usual self" but there is no pattern or way of knowing when anything will happen it is all completely random for me.

Thanks for sharing @Eden1919.

Hi @Jenn4 I was diagnosed at 46, now 55. So I never even knew that my highs were mania until then. I only presented to a Dr when I was depressed. But once I was diagnosed bipolar 1 so much of my life made more sense. Periods of wild, risky adventures and over-the-top chaos. Hospital admissions where I wasn't diagnosed, just held and then released with no follow-up support and medications I had adverse responses to. Particularly all types of anti-depressant (and many were tried over 25 years) causing me to become manic.

Since 2009 it's been a long and sometimes steep learning curve. I keep charts where I monitor my moods (low to high on a scale), anxiety, agitation and irritability levels, hours slept and medications taken. I do this twice a day. It only takes a minute (you can get these charts from your psychiatrist or psychologist or find them online). My medications have been adjusted frequently but the current regime has been working well for almost 1 1/2 years now. Because of the charts I am able to see when my mood starts to drop or elevate, especially when I have significantly less sleep. I've also learned to identify potential triggers (spikes in stress, certain people, travel, panic attacks - everyone's list would be different) and adjust my behaviour and boundaries to reduce the chances of actually being triggered into a sudden mood swing. And protect myself from those triggers. All that being said, there are still times when a swing happens out of the blue and can happen quickly. One of the things I've learned is 'how to seem' ... how to control my external behaviour and speech even tho' my thinking can be accelerated and I can be getting into lots of weird and wonderful stuff. This works as long as I can 'maintain insight' and has kept me out of hospital since 2009. I accept that hospital can keep us safe from harm or harm to others, but I've not experienced really becoming well whilst an inpatient. Mind you I've only ever been a public patient. Private hospitals may have better outcomes, I don't know.

I think it's really important to have a therapeutic team - GP, psychologist and psychiatrist - they help me enormously in understanding and managing whatever's going on.

Hope some of this is helpful.

There's also a thing called a WRAP - Wellness Recovery Action Plan - that you can google. I have one of these and my closest people know where it is and what's in it. One of the best tools I've found both for me managing and for my support people to use if I go into an episode and what to look for, what signs, to help me prevent an episode from becoming extreme.

Best wishes for you to find some of these tools helpful and learn to manage what's going on for you and find some peace.

@Eden1919 @Bunniekins

Thanks so much for that, @eth, good to know. How do you prevent an episode from becoming extreme?

Hi @Jenn4 if it seems I am going into an episode I see my psychiatrist as soon as possible and my meds usually get tweaked. On top of that I work harder to make sure I use 'sleep hygeine' guidelines (another thing you can google), keep life as peaceful as possible, avoid known triggers and reach out to my support people and let them know what's happening. (That includes trusted people in my family and my psychologist and GP). They can then help me avoid triggers and ensure I am taking meds as prescribed, attending to important tasks such as eating well, paying essential bills, getting to scheduled appointments and such. And I do my darndest to keep busy in quiet ways at home. Especially if I'm accelerated/elevated. If I'm down my close people will encourage me to activities and help me stay out of bed during the day. This doesn't guarantee the episode won't escalate, but it sure makes it less likely.

thanks @eth!

good afternoon @Jenn4 , @eth , @Eden1919 , @Bunniekins

how is everyone today xx