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hypomania

For more information about: hypomania visit the Depression, Bipolar & anti psychotic site AntiPsychoticHelp.com today.

Q: Hypomania: How can you tell if its just regular confidence vs a hypomanic state?
The dr says I could be bipolar2. When I feel confident I have great self esteem, positive perspective and ability to impress people on interviews, dates, etc. Is that just hypomania or is that just me being confident? Is it normal to fluctuate in feelings? I usually end up losing this feeling and than feel incapable and unconfident to do the job i was hired to do bc i lost the feeling.

A: It doesn’t matter because there’s nothing actually wrong with being hypomanic. It’s not destructive and usually doesn’t interupt a person’s daily life. In many ways it’s a good thing.

The problem isn’t the hypomania when your doctor says that you could be bipolar type 2. The problem is the fluctuation between moods. If you are cycling between states of confidence, depression and comparably flat line stability and this cycle is somehow taking a toll on your relationships, job or schooling, then you may want to consider your doctors opinion. You can always get a second opinion or choose to refuse treatment. Being told this by one doctor is not a life sentencing.

Q: How can one differentiate normal happiness from hypomania?
I have had depression for over two years now. All of a sudden I am getting these intense moments of happiness and I feel that I cannot control my actions and I find myself saying silly and embarrassing things and crying in joy. Is this normal? Or am i heading towards hypomania?

A: When you’re happy you’re aware of what you’re doing. In hypomania you have no control.

Q: How can you get increase hypomania to full blown mania?
I occasionally get hypomanic and do not want full mania, I want to know what can take hypomania and increase it to full mania. So I can avoid it. And don’t give the usual take your meds its not fun, I take then but sometimes hypomania comes through and depression comes through anyway.

A: I’m sorry to hear of your situation.

From looking at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mania

It suggests that “Mild forms of mania, known as hypomania, cause little or no impairment, but some people who suffer from prolonged hypomania may develop full mania.”

So I guess it’s saying that if you suffer large amounts of hypomania, rather than the ‘one-off’ moments, then you may develop full mania.

The medication may be or is a way to handle this

Read about it on the link that I suggested, it may help you in learning your answer.

Q: what is a good substitute for Paxil for hypomania?
I live in Thailand where I can fulfill my own prescription. I take Paxil (paroxetine) for hypomania but do not like the sexual side effects. (difficult ejaculation) What is a good substitute? I do not have depression or outlandish episodes of mania. I do dink alcohol. I Don’t use other drugs. My decision making speeds up and I make poor judgements when hypomanic,but nothing illegal.

A: Paxil can make hypomania worse, as it’s an antidepressant.
A mood stabilizer like Depakote (valproic acid), Lamictal (lamotrigine), Toprol, Neurontin, or lithium helps with hypomania. The same is true for anti-psychotics, like Seroquel, Geodon, or Risperdal.
Depakote and lithium require occasional blood tests to monitor blood concentrations of the drug, as one can take too much and it ends up being toxic.

Q: Can you have hypomania and hallucinations at the same time?
I read online you can’t, but the psychiatrist thinks it’s hypomania. Although the person in questions is delusional, and hallucinating. Is the psychiatrist wrong in this case?

A: Yes you can, the psychiatrist is correct.
EG. You can have hypomania, delusional and hallucinating with schizoaffective disorder (a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar symptoms). Hallucinations in Bipolar disorder can be present in severe mania. Delusions and hallucinations without hypomania or psychotic depression would most likely be schizophrenia.
There can be several reasons for delusions and hallucinations, best to discuss the diagnosis with the psychiatrist and get them to explain the symptoms and the condition so you are comfortable with their decision.

Q: Can I have some examples of mania or hypomania?
If you have strange thoughts, like wanting to buy grapefruit juice and pour it all over your head or drink gasoline, does that go under the mania/hypomania description even though you managed to talk yourself out of doing it? Was just wondering.

A: no it does not come under that. an example would be buying it and then buying more and more and more. buying the same thing like a jumper in the same colour or another colour even when you don’t need it. hyper-mania is more like overly happy upbeat cleaning to much chatting a lot, full blown mania is thoughts jumping around so fast it drives you totally insane. like when you have this best idea ever but then you have another one and another and another to a point that the wonderful ideas start mixing and your jumping uncontrollable from one thing to another. Even if the ideas are totally nonsense to the person having there its all clear and perfect its other people that are wrong and that person is right. does this make it more clearer to you? if you would like me to go on please feel free to contact me. take care good luck

Q: Can people with Bipolar have episodes of hypomania before depression as well as depression before hypomania?
Can people with Bipolar Disorder have episodes of *hypomania before depression* as well as episodes of *depression before hypomania*. I’m talking about one person; can they have both of these cycles in their life?

A: I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking. Do you mean, can a person have an episode of hypomania that directly precedes a depressive episode, and vice versa? The answer is yes. The moods a person with bipolar disorder experiences can be very unpredictable, and while they often have periods of normal mood between them, sometimes people go directly from one to the other with no normal period in between. I have mostly experienced this in going from mild mania directly into depression, with no period of normal in between. Usually when I come out of a depressive episode (this was before I found the right medication), I have a period of normalcy for a little while, a few weeks or even a few months. But another depressive episode or a hypomanic episode always follows at some point, whether it’s weeks or months later.

Hope that helps!

Q: BIPOLAR QUESTION! Is it possible to cycle from hypomania to depression and then back to hypomania?
Is it possible to cycle like this:
normal –> hypomania –> depression –> hypomania –> normal.
Not as in every single time you have a bipolar cycle; just once.

Normally, your cycle goes as follows:
normal –> hypomania –> depression –> normal.

So, would this be possible? This hasn’t happened to me; a friend was talking about this happening to her a while back and now I’m just really curious.
Thanks

A: It is absolutely possible. I have cycled from mania to depression and back to mania in one day.

Q: Difference between Bipolar I with most current being hypomania and a person with mania as most current?
I am conduting a case study, but I am stumped on differenciating between hypomania and mania episodes… is it determined by duration?

A: It’s a matter of degree of severity, rather than duration. It often boils down to a clinical judgment call. Essentially, if the episode is SEVERE, we call it “mania” (e.g., delusions of grandeur, hasn’t slept for 3 days, having indiscriminate sex with random strangers), if it is less severe, it’s “hypomania” (e.g., experiencing some insomnia, hyperverbal, taking on many new projects simultaneously, still very much in contact with reality).

~Dr. B.~

Q: Can people with Bipolar II have episodes of hypomania before depression as well as the opposite?
Can people with Bipolar II have episodes of *hypomania before depression* as well as episodes of *depression before hypomania*. I’m talking about one person; can they have both of these cycles?
……anyone?

A: It really doesn’t matter which comes first and they can occur in any pattern…. you can have hypomania then depression then a normal period then deperssion then a normal period then depression then hypomania…… You can have a year of depression then 6 days of hypomania or 2 weeks of depression then 2 months of hypomania….. Typically someone with Bipolar 2 has very long depressions (6 months to a year) with spurts of hypomania (2 weeks) but some people rapid cycle. I have been Bipolar all my life…. In my early years I was mostly depressed but would have episodes of hypomania that could last 6 months, in my 30’s I started to cycle very regularly and much faster.. switching over about every month….. Then when I was 39 I have a full blown mania that lasted 4 months… since then I my cycle has no rhyme or reason….. 2 months here, two days there….. I never know what I will be when I wake. I also have mixed episodes and dysphoric mania’s which I never had before….. Some people have very regular patterns to their episodes but most do not. Part of the frustration with Bipolar is not knowing what lies ahead.

Q: what is a good way to decribe an episode of hypomania to a friend?
I went through a hypo-manic phase for a few weeks and seriously damaged (maybe destroyed) a valuable friendship.

Given that many people are very wary and nervous of terms like ‘mental health’ or ‘mania’ can anyone in this forum suggest an everyday term orexpression that I can offer my friend by way of an explanation, without freaking him out with medical terms?

I am not habitually hypo-manic it’s just that I have been traveling and I moved 8 times in the past twelve months. This triggered the mania which occurred when I finally made it home several weeks ago. So my Doc reckons and today he medicated me (short term) with tranquillizers.

So: any ideas how to explain away this few weeks of erratic behavior to a valued friend? As it stands friendship is kaput but in a month I’d like to send a gift and a card and a note of explanation as an attempt to reconcile.

A: I see two options:
1. If this person is truly a valued friend, then there should be no reason not to just give the straight up answer. Explain it to your friend just in the way you’ve explained it in your question. A true friend is not going to get freaked out by the term “hypomania.” You don’t have to say “mental health.” And the big advantage to this option is you are being honest and you never have to remember how you fudged it. You’re friend knows exactly what was going on with you and then can make his/her own decision about whether the friendship is worth it.
2. You can dress up your explanation to your friend as a “chemical imbalance” or an episode of “hyperactivity” or a strange form of “exhaustion” or a case of going into “overdrive” because of your travelling. However, I think that any attempt to sugarcoat your experience is ultimately dishonest at some level. And a truly valued friendship is not one you want to rekindle with dishonesty.

Obviously, I think you should go with option 1. There’s no reason you can’t give your friend the straight facts and then do a little explaining using some of the terms in option 2, just so your friend gets the idea. So good luck with this. I hope it works out for you.

Q: If your bipolor can you take medication to keep you in a state of Hypomania?
I was told in my teens I was bipolor but the depression side of it was very light and rare I used to almost always be full of energy and lifeI I found out that I was in a state of Hypomania and I should take medication for it.But as a young teenager I liked having the energy and flying thoughts I was having and refused to take the meds.
however now Im in my 20’s and I am almost always in some form of depression. No energy slow thought and no real friends or other relationships.
Can I just take an antidepressant and force my bipolor back on to Hypomania? Also is there anything really bad about Hypomania that one would not want to have it?
please help if you know anything about these subjects. thanks

A: Hypomania is fun and I’d love to live there, but it’s not safe. Bipolar almost always requires meds for stablization and without the appropriate med combo to level you out your moods could go in any direction at any time. Not all states of hypomania are a positive mood. I’m there right now, but that just means I’m not sleeping well, I’m spending more than I should, I’m agitated and very irritable and using my anti-anxiety meds more than usual. There’s no way to guarantee a happy hypomanic state medication or no. You could also go into full-blown mania, which can be very damaging even when it’s euphoric.

Q: How would someone typically behave in a period of mania or hypomania?
what would they do and what would they say?

A: This is mania for me….. for hypomania, turn it down a notch or 10.. during hypomania I talk too fast, an very energetic, feel like I can accomplish anything, an highly creative and productive…. the difference between the two is that when it escalates to mania you are no longer in any sort of control….

Mania – Way too happy! PARTY GIRL! love drink and drugs. Talk really fast and pressured because my thoughts are going faster than my mouth can keep up with. Hypersexual – like I sleep with strangers and guys I just met on the internet or I masturbate 10 times a day. I once became bisexual because there were twice as many people to sleep with. down load porn and spend tons of money on sex toys. Spending sprees….. I once spent my mortgage money on african violets, yep, $1500 on African violets (then I got depressed and let them all die). Quit my job because I wanted my vacation pay for lottery tickets and I was so convinced I would win that I started shopping and writing bad checks because I’d be rich as soon as the numbers were drawn. Decided that I could replace the furnace in my home by myself… I mean how hard can it be….. Only sleep 2 or maybe 3 hours a night for months on end and never feel tired. In the end I was unemployed, $30,000 in debt, and had almost lost my home, which needed a new furnace because I had removed the old one.. or parts of it anyway. This can last for months.

Q: What is the difference between anxiety and hypomania?
If you tend to get v depressed for a while (suicidal) and then you feel v anxious, but at the same time excited. you can’t get any sleep, but you get a lot done…which makes up for doing bugger all when you are miserable.
and you have other issues like bulimia, alcohol abuse, self-harm… which dependent on your mood you can control to vastly varying degree’s.
I am not looking for a diagnosis, just wondering.

A: Anxiety is the psychological response due to being in an unfavorable position, or fear of future lack of resources. I’ve never heard of hypomania, but I’ve heard of mania. People who are in the state of mania tend to be the opposite of depressed, very excited and impulsive. They often go on shopping sprees and tell everyone how good they feel. People who cycle from between being manic and being depressed are considered bipolar.

I didn’t fully understand your question, but I hope those definitions help a bit.

Q: Has anyone experience the spiritual high of mania or hypomania?
I’m diagnosed Bipolar I with psychotic features and one thing people don’t know is that during hypo-mania and mania, manic-depressives often become extremely religious or spiritual. I will feel like I am one with everything or figuring out all the philosophical answers to the universe. Anyone else diagnosed with this and know what I mean? Or maybe you know someone who is? This is why I know that some very, very religious people have issues with mental illness. Not all but people who tend to take things to extremes.

A: I have a twitching eye and I’m well aware of your sickness because I have it too. The twitching eye is astigmatism. In my case though, I believe I’m the Anti – Christ because I know so much about the Devil.

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