I realize it might be a strange question, but do your mania and depression ever run together; in other words, have you ever experienced them at the same time. Over the past few weeks, I have been really down, but I talk and go almost nonstop. Is it just me, or does this happen to anyone else? (FYI - I am a extremely rapid cycler (Ultradian Bipolar) and I think my worlds have collided.)
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Q: Have you ever had your mania and depression occur at the same time?
Answers (35)
10/15/08 12:06am
Yup, sure have. I didn't even really realise it until recently when I changed Psychiatrists. It's called a "mixed state" apparently - and he, after speaking to me for 2 hours solid, could see it happening in that short space of time. I was dropping down into depression about 8 weeks ago, could feel it coming, but was also very very prone to agitation and elevated mood (but not a good mood, just a fast bad mood!). I was doing the housework like a maniac but then gettting very frustrated etc, then the low mood would hit and tears and no energy at all.
Weird feeling, but the lithium seems to be doing the trick (really good so far - 4 weeks coming up) and I feel sort of "up but relaxed". Last week even baked a cake (usually the kind of thing to throw me into a spin - don't like baking cakes and don't like eating cakes - but did it with my daughter and, well, blow me down it was fun, actual fun!).
So yeah, anyway, it's a "mixed state" in the language of my P-doc.
Cheers
N
10/14/08 8:35pm
yes i have experienced this ( i think), and i become extremely irritated, and aggravated, i keep very busy but people anger me, and my nerves are raw. i was wondering too if this is possblie, it must be. do you find your self exhausted, i experience this when i let my routine get to chaotic, i get back to the basics, and slow down..i have mania and depression periods, but experiecing them at the same time has been hell. do you feel like your about to explode..i am glad i am not alone, i thought that couldnt be, but i am glad that someone else wonders this too.
10/15/08 1:57am
As someone else already posted, this is called a "mixed-mood state," though sometimes it's hard to distinguish from ultra-rapid cycling. The distinction--for me, at least--is that with mixed mood I feel acutely uncomfortable. I am also more at risk for a suicide attempt during a mixed-mood state. The low of the depression can bring on suicidal ideation and the energy and impulsivity of the mania make follow-through on the ideation more likely than it would be during a "pure" depression, when I don't have the energy to get out of bed, much less make and execute a plan. Knowing the dangers of mixed mood (my last hospitalization was the result of a mixed mood) has helped me a lot. Now when my negative thoughts begin to race, I force myself out of bed and put that manic energy to some other use. It may not necessarily be anything productive, but it will usually stop the racing thoughts from continuing to spiral downward.
10/15/08 4:20pm
Hi Winston
It is not a strange question, because it does happen. You will have to disscus it with your doctor as you need to be on a moodstabalizer and an anti-depressant otherwise you will experience mix episodes. If not your dosage need to be increased, but please the best advise I can give you is to see your doctor as soon as possible.
10/16/08 6:59am
Yes I have
10/16/08 7:09am
I have felt that way before. It is actually somewhat frustrating because I know when I am manic and it is almost like I can't stop it. I take some medicine when I get like that and it usually helps me calm down a bit.
10/16/08 7:27am
Yes, I too have been going through this beeing so down, and at the same time, unable to sleep, sit, or rest. I am going full steam, and seeing only the negatives of what I am doing.
10/16/08 7:39am
I have been like that for the past month. I am on some new meds that are not working so well, and have been hyper and totally depressed at the same time. I am swinging more than a monkey from a tree. I start out in the morning seemingly ok, or slightly agitated, then get totally depressed than later in the afternoon, feel semi-normal, while still being manic-like, and then agitated and on and on. It, in itself, is driving me crazy.
10/16/08 9:18am
absolutely, about a 2 weeks ago it all came down on me. I end up in such a rage it scared me. I felt soooo stupid after everything but I have to admit while having the "episode" I felt so horrible. I felt the world was ending and I just wanted to curl up and hide
10/16/08 9:42am
yes, i have felt that, i use to tell my kids i talk so much i get on my own nerves!but i am not sure, if i have ever experience mania and depression, together!i use to think i had "sad"winter time blues, untill 3 years ago, the doctor found out it was bio/polar!thank god!
10/16/08 11:38am
Until I got on the right combo of medications, I've spent most of my life in a mixed state. Plenty of energy, but very pissed off and irritated at the whole world, including wanting to control things, and thinking constantly that nobody could do anything as good as I could. It was a real good space to get out of.
10/16/08 12:48pm
oh, yeah, and talk about brain damage! one or the other is bad enough, but i really feel out of control then! fortunately, i feel very good on my meds so it is easy for me to see/feel the wave coming, and after i recognize it i can prepare for it and watch it, as oppoesd to just being at it's mercy. even on meds i still get a taste of bp now and then, but i am 90% better. my bp progressed and got worse and more frequent as time went along. by the time i was finally diagnosed i was cycling several times a day and a lot of the time i was both manic and depressed. i really did feel crazy and totally out of my mind. boo!
be safe and take your meds!
10/16/08 12:51pm
oh, yeah, and talk about brain damage! one or the other is bad enough, but i really feel out of control then! fortunately, i feel very good on my meds so it is easy for me to see/feel the wave coming, and after i recognize it i can prepare for it and watch it, as oppoesd to just being at it's mercy. even on meds i still get a taste of bp now and then, but i am 90% better. my bp progressed and got worse and more frequent as time went along. by the time i was finally diagnosed i was cycling several times a day and a lot of the time i was both manic and depressed. angry, irritable, fast, sad, emotional, and totally scary for my family. i really did feel crazy and totally out of my mind. boo!
be safe and take your meds!
10/16/08 12:52pm
oh, yeah, and talk about brain damage! one or the other is bad enough, but i really feel out of control then! fortunately, i feel very good on my meds so it is easy for me to see/feel the wave coming, and after i recognize it i can prepare for it and watch it, as oppoesd to just being at it's mercy. even on meds i still get a taste of bp now and then, but i am 90% better. my bp progressed and got worse and more frequent as time went along. by the time i was finally diagnosed i was cycling several times a day and a lot of the time i was both manic and depressed. angry, irritable, fast, sad, emotional, and totally scary for my family. i really did feel crazy and totally out of my mind. boo!
be safe and take your meds!
10/16/08 2:01pm
Yes, I've had an aggitated depression many times. I can't sit still, nothing is right and nothing works. It usually turns into a manic anger and sometimes out of control. I can't shake it without medication. But sometimes changing my environment helps.
10/16/08 2:03pm
Yes, I am going through that right now. I'd say it's about 70% manic behavior and 30% depression. My diagnosis is moderate-"mixed" Bipolar I. The word "mixed" is the key word.
I remember my most harsh mixed reaction. I was cleaning like a mad woman and crying my eyes out at the same time. You want to talk about feeling manic and depressed at the same time...WOW!
10/16/08 4:22pm
Yes I have. I remember the sensations when in "crisis," since it is at those times at which the moods are distinct and most exaggerated. This is not evaluated at those moments. With that in mind ,though, the subtler day to day manifestations become obvious. Your question is somthing I ,too, have wondered about for some time. Published reports that I have read deal with definitve "episodes" within an arch determining factors. While this is true, some of us are in a more "constant" state with elevations and declinations from that point. That said, Identify Your Triggers!
10/16/08 4:55pm
NO, not really, altho some of my episodes have mixed symptomology...usually I plumment from the highs of mania to the depths of depression in fairly rapid fashion. Perhaps since you are a rapid cycler you simply don't recognize the switch from one to the other, until after the fact?
10/16/08 7:05pm
I talk non-stop, even when I am depressed. It's like I have to get those feelings out.
10/16/08 7:17pm
Wow, after reading the answers, I think maybe I have been kidding myself. I never have gotten a grip on the diagnoses. I thought it was just the way I was raised - WAY too much abuse, and kicked out at 15. But I can't get any energy. If I get up and do the dishes one day, I sleep all the next, or sit and watch the tube. My husband kicks me out of the room, because I just talk non-stop, and the only way I can talk to anyone else is on the phone - we just moved out of state, and I've no friends, or job. I've lost my last 4 jobs, and that's never happened to me before - I was a teacher for 18 years. I've been afraid to try again, but now I have to because we can't eat on my husband's salary. The anger issue isn't as bad as it was when I was a kid - I'd kick your butt for looking at me wrong, but the depression is. & twice in the last week I've had a GP and a lawyer tell me I wasn't in control and needed a therapist or psychiatrist, and I just couldn't understand. I'm glad I'm not alone.
10/16/08 7:25pm
Yes. Do you notice any indication that when this happens at the same time, it might be something that is so upsetting that you are obsessing about it? That's what happened to me some in the past, and sometimes now. I was so upset, and so hurt and so down, that I couldn't get out of the cycle where I did not know what else to do, but just keep going over and over it in my head, and finally I started talking, and couldn't stop, because it seemed to help to talk it out, but my partner was getting tired of me going round and round again. So it was a vicious cycle. Also, after my doctor changed my meds, it helped. I had racing thoughts too, at night, that were so bad, I could not shut my brain "off" to go to sleep. When I told my doctor that, they found something that helps that most all the time. Hopefully you can find a good doctor to help you too.
beegee
10/17/08 2:34am
I have. It seems that I am permanatly depressed but at times I get to the point when I can't stop talking or sleep. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I will clean the house. Then during the day I won't answer the phone and refuse to go outside. I believe this is called "Hypomania". I'm not positive so check with your doctor.
Good luck.
10/17/08 5:23am
Yes, this is called a Mixed episode. and I think it's the hardest of all.
10/17/08 2:56pm
I HAVE THIS ALOT I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM IT MANLY HAPPENS WHEN I STOP MY MEDS AND GO A COUPLE OF WEEKS W/O IT AND IT IS INSANE FEELING AND SOMETIMES MY MOM WILL POINT IT OUT TO ME BEFORE I CAN NOTICE IT I USUALLY TRY TO STOP AND BREATH AND THEN I START BACK ON MY MEDS AGIN YES IT IS NORMAL
10/17/08 5:15pm
ALL the time...I don't think mine reacts any other way even in my darkest realms of hell!!!
10/18/08 3:27pm
that has happened a lot to me. I feel downa dn depressed but can't seem to stop talking, babbling, and having to be active. I have been told it was my bodies way of trying to counteract my depression. that my body was afraid of slowing down in fear of going into a depressive order
10/18/08 6:23pm
It does happen and it has happened to me frequently. I have rapid cycling BiPolar so they run over each other all the time. I don't have too much "classic" mania any more because of the meds (darnit), but I get the other symptoms like you describe.
10/19/08 11:20am
OH yes!!! that is when you need to get with your doctor and change or add more medications. Been there done that for many years. My pdoc just had to increase my lamictal because of the stress at work.
Take care!!!
keep us posted
10/19/08 9:38pm
Yes!!! I have been through this myself. Theres been many of times I find myself hideing out and/or talking peoples ears off. I do this at least 2 or 3 times a week. So hang in there! Mine has been going on for a good while now.
10/20/08 12:17am
Winston Smith,
NO...you are not by yourself...but mine come more regularly, plus I have six females (ages 7 to 16) whenever my boyfriend refuses to understand my difficulties (which is 90% of the time), also makes fun of my MDD(says I'm making it up)But my Pscyh/M.D. knows me as I am... My Girls come out when he screams/hollers...they just write down my pain & anger on paper...as a 2,3,or 4 party person. I have no knowledge until I come across it in passing.
You and I would both win a marathon in talking...people I talk to (inc. the Doc) are always asking me to slow down but most times it's impossible.
10/21/08 6:57am
Yes, it is called a mixed state or mixed mood. It is very weird. Talk to your doc, mine usually tweeks my dosage on my anti-depression meds because those meds can cause mania. Good luck and remember you are not alone!
10/21/08 9:04am
i don;t speak good inglesh bot i don;t haven to you only i happen to my to im from puerto rico
3/29/09 11:34pm
you mean happy as hell or feeling comical at one minute then laughing yourself into
tears? Several times in my life It always astounds my husband
9/25/09 1:52am
I am experiencing this in my life now. It's scary at times because I am up when I'm around certain people and when I leave their presence I start to cry,I feel no one understands meI get very aggatated with my mom,daughter, boyfriend and my grandchildren.I didn't know what it was. Thank you for this question.
5/27/12 4:52pm
I have just come to think that I may be having the same thing happen to me. I was upset about everything all the time. I couldn't rest yet, I didn't have the energy to do anything but sit. If I wanted to lie down, I had to get up because I feel like my nerves were trying to get from the inside to the outside of my body. The the depression hit with all the crying and feeling so hurt inside. One day I realized that both things were happening at the same time.
What meds are any of y'all on? I was on Cymbalta 60 mg with 2 mg Kolopine. After a while it didn't work. Now, I am on Effexor 150 mg and 2 mg Kolopine. The doctor just added Abilify 5 mg. Is this what anyone else is taking?
Thank you so much in advance. I am just about at my wits end. What does y'all do when they are so stressed, depressed with no energy but want to do things but can't?
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By BiPoPastor— Last Modified: 05/27/12, First Published: 10/14/08
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