Anyone with bipolar disorder do these things seem familiar to you?

[Bipolarity]

I've name changed for this. I've had bipolar episodes in the past - I was diagnosed about 6 years ago. I've managed it with a combination of medication and psychotherapy but have been very well for some time. Unfortunately things seem to have fallen apart a little as a delayed reaction to a very stressful situation that arose about 3 months ago.

I've noticed some hypomanic behaviour returning. I went straight to my doctor and they've put me back on quetiapine. Obviously the thing I was to avoid most is hospital. I seem to be having one bad day and then one good day. Today is a good day.

What I wanted to ask those of you who also have this is do you find that certain things kind of feed into the hypomania and make it worse? In my case it seems like certain types of music and shopping can make me more hyper and the big one for me in sex. This is complicated, I think I might actually be a sex addict generally. But if I give in and engage in lots of sex when I'm at all hypomanic, it makes me a lot worse I feel.

Does this happen to others? I feel I must avoid this stuff but it's also tempting to do it.

Bump

Anyone

Hi just wanted to reply although I do not suffer with bipolar my mum does. The main triggers for her are are ballet and religion. I could always tell when she was getting poorly when Tchaikovsky was blaring. She would also rack up debt on credit cards and was very promiscuous when in her manic phase. Hope you are having a good day today?

Bumping too, hope you're ok op, sorry it's been quiet on here

Apparently my DP starts to worry if I start playing some of the weirder end of electronic music like Autechre.

Ah, ballet was a trigger for me as well! How strange. I used to play Tchaikovsky over and over again too.

Thanks for replies btw

I am not sure about triggers other than not sleeping for 2-3 days in the row but the signs that it's coming on:

• playing a particular song on repeat
• wearing a particular colour shoes obsessively
• talking too much
• picking up lots and lots of useless flyers/bags/free stuff

To name a few

Yes, I find that anything stimulating makes things worse. Listening to fast music and being around people pushes my mood up. I have to be really strict and force myself to do calm, quiet things, but that's not easy

I have bipolar 2 (mostly well-managed now). Yy to a lot of this.
OP, I also recognise the sex thing. Been there.
dontrunwithscissors (great book btw ) yes, it's hard isn't it, I should be asleep hours ago!
Had to return/ sell on EBay a load of crap I bought when I got paid (head/ wall).
Neither of these are great signs, but I'm not fully hypomanic, managing it. walking (to tire myself out), puzzles (as in crosswords etc), learning Greek... and now I really do need to turn off the Internet and go to sleep!

Not so much sex, but certain stimuli can exacerbate it - especially music and social occasions when I get v loud and chatty.