Coping with hypomania

@lio Hey lio and welcome to the forum. I use exercise, exercise and exercise. Walking is one that I use most days for an hour each day. Nothing to hype me up but gentle walk along the road with a friend or without is fine. Early mornings is good before everyone comes out with kids and strollers and noise. Another thing I use is music. I listen to music everyday for hours at a time. I find it super relaxing. Sometimes heavy rock to softer music ..... a whole variety. Gardening/housework with a friend is also good because you have something constructive done. I hope this helps. If I think of anything else I will let you know 🙂

Oh and if you want to talk with anyone specificaly ut a @infront of their name like I did for you and they will get a notification of your post. Cheers greenpeax

thank you @Bunniekins

Hey @lio just wondering how you've been travelling lately? Let us know how you're going when you're free 🙂

Hey there @lio our community is here to listen If you want to get some support.

Hi @lio I have bipolar 1 and have had many hypomania episodes (also full mania and psychosis at times). For me the secret to getting through them is finding quiet activities to do at night so as not to disturb others, and cranking up any hobbies and creative activities during the day. For me these are mostly cooking and writing, but some crafts too. And gardening and cleaning. As @Bunniekins says, exercise is really good too.

Some threads that might give you ideas are Coping Box and toolbox , Re: what’s in your tool box ? might be worth a look.

Sleep management is really important for me at such times. Even if I can't sleep, I try to avoid blue screen activities (stimulating) and sometimes lie in the dark with my eyes shut doing mantras or counting my breathing. If I stop trying to sleep or stay quiet I can easily escalate further, which is something I try to avoid these days.

The other side of it, for me, is staying aware enough (they call it having 'insight') to avoid risky behaviours such as taking off on wild adventures, over spending, and getting into out-there spiritual stuff, fixated on rituals, and screwing up important relationships. And the elephant in the room rarely discussed is hypersexuality. Been there too.

There's a lot of info on-line too. Research has helped me learn to cope better. I keep daily charts of mood, medications taken, and sleep so I can see early on if things are changing in either up or down direction.
It's also really important to tell your doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist what's going on so they can best help you. Possibly what's helping most keep me stable (2 years now without an episode and 10 years no hospital) is being totally compliant with meds prescribed. Not everyone wants to do that, some people love the highs, but for me it's crucial that I make efforts to stay stable - too much damage has been done in the past during episodes.

Happy to chat more if you want to.