yet more mood swings and roundabouts

[baratron]

I'm trying to do some research online, but I can't seem to find what I want. It's most annoying.

I've been in a very strange mood for the past couple of days, and it's been going on for long enough that I'm worried. The only way I can really describe it is to say that I seem to have hypomania and depression at the same time. I'm ridiculously perky, and I keep alternating (every few minutes) between having loads of energy and exhaustion. I feel restless and agitated and completely hyperactive. I get hungry but hardly want to eat anything. My indecision's even worse than ever. On the one hand I'm extremely easily distracted and I have next to no concentration span, yet at the same time I'm getting obsessed by things, like playing the same CD or even the same song over and over again. I keep saying things that other people interpret as non-sequiturs because in between what they've said and my reply, my mind's leapt three stages ahead. And I keep getting terrible fits of random guilt about stupid things (for instance, feeling guilty because I haven't read any newsgroups for a few weeks, and then depressed because I don't actually miss reading news).

I feel as though my moods are cycling between depression and elation every couple of minutes. It's not the first time I've felt like this - a few years ago I remember describing my mood swings and asking the doctor about manic depression (which is what it was called then), and being told my mood swings were far far too frequent to be anything like that. I'm used to very rapid changes of mood, but they're usually only from normal to depressed. Now I'm going from elated to depressed without stopping inbetween, and cycling every few minutes. (Think perk perk perk CRASH.) This scares me, because it's all too similar to how I felt last year when I had some sort of nervous breakdown (then, my moods were cycling from suicidal to high about once a minute, and I really was completely off my head). I can't seem to find anything online about mood swings of this frequency, though. I'm vaguely wondering if it's hormonal, but I can't find anything about that either. Has anyone got any idea what it could be?

Comments

[inquis.livejournal.com]

There is something which might account for it - it's called a mixed episode. It occurs in both Bipolar I (Standard Manic depression) and Bipolar II (Manic Depression with Hypomania rather than full blown Mania). From the sounds of things, your talking about hypomania, but for both types, a mixed episode means that your experiencing both swings at once which *is* known as a problem with Bipolar - there are many people I've seen on the net who have this problem - they call it Rapid Cycling but it does appear to be a mixed episode.

You can find a list of links here on About.com and frankly, if you're worried, the whole of the bipolar section is worth looking at. It's a mix of a portal and original information so most of the links are well researched and they have been looked at by a human, so they are usually reviewed briefly before you look at them.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I agree that what I'm describing sounds absolutely like a mixed episode. What I'm unsure about is why I would suddenly have started having mixed episodes when so far I've only ever shown symptoms of unipolar depression. Having said that, by this description of a mixed episode (http://www.i5ive.com/article.cfm/1073/47790), I have had them before. This description: "I once went through a mixed episode where I was deeply depressed...unable to eat, unable to move. At the same time my mind was racing a hundred miles an hour. I was suicidal, and if my speeding thoughts could have made my body move I would have been in extreme trouble." does sound very much like things I've had before. Hmmm.

I found a web site last night which has helpful little mood charts (http://www.a-silver-lining.org/BPNDepth/dsmiv.html). But according to the DSM-IV (the American psychiatric bible), people with Bipolar II do not have mixed episodes. It's vaguely possible that I have Bipolar I, but in that case how come I've had depressive episodes lasting years, and the closest I've ever had to manic episodes were mild hypomania lasting a couple of hours? It just doesn't make sense.

I wonder if the description of Rapid Cycling that you've heard is a difference between American and UK psychiatric usage, because the description I've heard for it is more that 4 different episodes in a year! Here we go (http://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/direct/phys/mood.html#_Toc480270534): "A patient is considered to have "rapid-cycling" bipolar disorder if they have had at least four episodes of either mania or depression or both in a 12-month period. Some bipolar patients can have ultra- rapid cycling, and may cycle between depression and mania within a day. This condition is often misdiagnosed or even missed altogether. Fifteen to 20% of bipolar patients will experience a period of rapid cycling. In only a small proportion does the rapid cycling pattern continue life-long."

*sigh*