Lived Experience Forum

[Nikkir]

How do i participate ?

[Nikkir]

Hi,

Is this just chat and not a webinar talk?

Thanks 

Nikki

[Charli]

Since being diagnosed in 2006, I've had to learn about myself - what my moods are, what triggers each sort of mood, what happens and what the consequences are.
I've also identified a mood that started to emerge later - the furies. Mania when you feel energised and invincible is one thing - it's exhilarating and addictive. But mania with the furies is horrendous - destructive, terrifying for everyone, like being on the verge of a nuclear explosion. And I can't choose which mania I get.
Now I accept that I'll be on medication for life. But I choose life - the alternative is too awful to contemplate.

[CherryBomb]

@Nikkir just type in questions and comments as you have just done to participate. 

@mrkotter @Charli @SusanaBA, I'm curious to know of times when your friends and family may have needed to point out that you were experiencing mania - how did you respond to their concerns?

[mrkotter]

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@CherryBomb wrote:

@Nikkir just type in questions and comments as you have just done to participate. 

@mrkotter @Charli @SusanaBA, I'm curious to know of times when your friends and family may have needed to point out that you were experiencing mania - how did you respond to their concerns?

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"No, I'm fine! Why would anything be wrong?"

Generally, if in time, it took my psychologist to point things out to me. Still argued though.

EDIT: I find mania very seductive so it's nearly impossible for someone to point out to me that something is wrong.

[CherryBomb]

Thanks for your insights @Charli. Can you and anyone else tell me about hypomania?

Where does this fit into bipolar @davidharper_bal?

[Jess2]

I never enjoy my mania. I'm super stressed to the point of paranoia and my delusions turn to thoughts of self harm and suicide.

[davidharper_bal]

@Charli very happy you chose life and the medication. Medication is critical for recovery in Bipolar.

[SusanaBA]

I was not very receptive, but also I only experience the mania at the hospital. When in USA and became psychotic I cooperated with the emergency people picking me up.

[davidharper_bal]

Bipolar is a spectrum disorder, where the degree of the ‘highs’ varies (the depression is usually severe throughout). Hypomania is what differentiates Bipolar II from Bipolar I. You don’t become as clearly unwell as full mania, but the core symptoms are the same. The key difference is that in full mania people tend to totally lose the ability to think clearly and therefore start behaving in really obviously strange ways, whereas in hypomania they are able to keep things together a little bit better even though they aren’t well. To give you a pretty extreme example, there was a fellow about ten years ago who was arrested after taking his employer’s yacht and sailing it to Tasmania. When the police investigated, they found that during previous episodes he had made off with a bunch of other stuff and was storing it all in a warehouse he had rented. If I had to guess, I’d say that he had had hypomanic episodes in the beginning, and then when he finally had a manic episode he put caution to the wind and made off with the yacht.