Bi polar cycling

[Darkparadice]

How quickly can bi polar cycles happen?
Also does medication really help?

hi! I can only comment on my own bipolar, however I can have big mood shifts lasting months but then also really short ones lasting days . My moods more frequently low than it is high. I’ve been on so many different mood stabilisers, currently on lamotragine but considering lithium as my mood is quite erratic at the moment
hope you’re ok

When my mood was the most unstable I had 3 or 4 episodes in 6 months.
Now it's stable I have a period of low mood in the winter and high mood in the spring time. They don't result in a full episode but there is a clear seasonality in my mood.
I once had a mixed episode and whether that was more dominated by depressive symptoms or manic symptoms switched week by week