Does this sound like Mania?

[Dani124]

Don’t know if this is in the right thread-
This day last week I woke up and felt ‘wired’
i also have a cold/flu so was putting it down to that. I felt like I took drugs almost as if I was on top of the world. Iv been googling and mania is coming up on my searches, I feel scared and afraid as I don’t want to have this, I haven’t done anything bad or irrational. I’m almost scared to feel happy in case I loose it or go mad? Can anyone help please?

I have also been on antidepressants before and they haven’t triggered an episode- I haven’t been diagnosed with bipolar either so unsure why I’m worried?

Have you been taking any medicines for your cold and flu?
Some over the counter cold and flu remedies contain caffeine and or pseudoephedrine which could be having a stimulant type effect (feeling wired) on you.

You could contact NHS Direct option 2 and speak to the mental health team about your concerns. They will advise on what to do.

As a person with bipolar disorder, what you are feeling doesn't sound like mania.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about mania, with lots of people believing it is just feeling really happy and on top of the world. It is so much more than that

I was going to suggest this, too. Those cold medicines can make me feel totally wired, especially as I don’t normally take caffeine at all so not used to it. Pseudoephedrine makes me feel just as the OP describes.

Can I ask if you know when you are manic? My partner has bipolar and I believe he is manic atm but he disagrees. I have a thread about it currently. Not sure @Dani124 but anxiety can make you quite wired as well.

I hate sounds like answers but this is a doesn't sound like answer....
Doesn't sounds like mania...
As others have said, likely to be your anti flu/cold medicine.
As others have also said, mania has nothing to do with feeling wired. Complex and distressing condition and thankfully rare. You be happy when ever you like and release yourself from having to live life burdened by the expectations of others. Have a fine week.

Bipolar mania is more than feeling very happy. It lasts at least a couple of weeks too and can escalate. Then the deep depression happens.

It's often difficult to see it for yourself

It varies a lot between different people. Can I ask what symptoms he is experiencing?

With true mania, I would expect you to lose insight. Hypomania is more difficult to quantify but it’s definitely more than feeling elated.

Manic individuals often experience grandiose delusions, run up extreme debts, behave in out of character and disinhibited ways.

I just had a look at the thread you started. It does sound like your partner is experiencing a manic episode.

I know from my husband how hard it is to deal with when you are the partner of a person with bipolar disorder. I really hope you manged to get some help for yourself as well as him. Be kind to yourself. x

@Nerdles complete personality change from normally getting on with his work to now being unable to seem to get on with tasks e.g. he's been saying he is going to water blast our backyard and chop wood for two months now and just can't quite get too it. Despite having plenty of opportunity he is quite random and muddled with what he is doing. Extremely nasty all of a sudden, not normally nasty at all. Disturbed sleep definitely. Rants about things. Took 1/4 of our monthly income for his own spending (he's never done this before) and doesn't seem to realise we can't afford this. Wrote a latter to his daughter abroad saying he has money aside for her uni (he doesn't) and ask him for money whenever (we can't afford to give her money whenever). Honestly the list is endless. This morning he intentionally tried to obstruct access to our bathroom so I could t get in (moved treadmill and big cupboard door in front). There are a million other things as this has been going on since mid September

That definitely sounds like mania.

I Feel for you so much and I am so sorry this is happening.

It is very difficult to get help at the moment because mental health services are so stretched. In the past my husband phone the GP and CMHT several times a day. He made himself a real nuisance until they listened.

I'd be very worried he might tip over into a bipolar rage. If he does there will be no reasoning and you'll just have to get to a safe place.

Have you contacted his mental health team?

@CroysantNotKwason @Nerdles we are in Northern Ireland so thankfully it's not as stretched as England and I can get on too people quite easily. Have spoken with his GP twice as well as a mental health worker at a service he managed to get himself discharged from earlier in the year (my calling them triggered a social services referral). They both see no evidence of mania. They don't live with him. There is no way I'd be "pulling the mental health card" as he puts it, for no reason. Tbh I want him to go into a rage so that something can finally be done and he can get the help he needs. I think the social worker who came on Friday could probably see something wasn't right but he was here about our children not his mental health IYKWIM. Sorry for hijacking your thread @Dani124 🙈

I haven’t been taking anything for the flu, just I usually suffer with depression and it’s like all my worries have lifted, I’m quite afraid that it is mania. I also suffer with ADHD and maybe ocd.

As someone who is currently living with someone I believe is manic there is a real lack of insight with mania (but of course everyone is different). Are you erratic, random and muddled? Needing less sleep? Talking 90 to the dozen and the person you're talking too (at) can't get a word in edgeways? Extremely irritable or more irritable than normal? These are symptoms of mania. And of course reckless behaviour, grandiosity, promiscuity.

Have a chat with your GP to reassure? Mania is absolutely obvious when you see it and is quite serious. The patients don't always appear wired but just can't stop anything, are unstopabley busy and eventually collapse and can have serious dehydration and cardiac consequences its not a good mood or anything even near. Take care.

No not really, it’s sort of more like intrusive thoughts what if I was going to do these things if that makes sense, I’m scared to spend money in case it means I’m manic, scared to be happy incase it turns in to a manic episode ect, I think I’m scared because I’m not used to being happy?

Yeah this sounds like an OCD pure obsession, rather than a manic episode which is totally different. Keep track of any other symptoms, maybe look up manic episodes or bipolar disorder in ICD-11, just to be on the safe side, but to me it doesn't sound like hypo/mania.

I will say also though that lack of insight isn't universal, I keep insight at the very onset of episodes (and throughout mixed episodes), but there are more and different symptoms than what you've described.

Thank you so much for explaining, I really don’t think it’s bipolar but I’m scared to talk to the GP about it, scared that he’ll think I’m crazy.

@Dani124 although not mania it is clear you are having difficulties with your mental health and so you should definitely seek support. Nobody is going to think you are crazy. Mental health issues are common and many people have experienced them. Your GP will be able to help you.

I have a form of bipolar, it’s sort of on the line between very agitated depression and what used to be called dysphoria (so a mixture of depression and hypomanic symptoms). Sometimes especially when my meds aren’t right, I feel quite good for a change, hopeful (I’m normally very pessimistic), like all of my problems have snapped into perspective, energetic (usually very lethargic), a little bit euphoric. But there’s an edge to it and it never lasts very long, then I feel more depressed than normal. What you are describing sounds a bit like how I feel when I’m having one of these episodes (except there are other things for me that you haven’t mentioned). However, I have been like this since I was a kid. Diagnosed at sixteen. I can’t imagine it’s the type of thing that could just start up suddenly. I’d say you are anxious and it sounds like you should probably stop looking at stuff on line trying to diagnose the problem. I agree with pp, you should reach out to your gp. Good luck with it, I really hope it gets better soon.

It sounds like it may be an anxiety attack.

How does your heart rate feel? Do you feel fearful and panicky?

If it is anxiety then slow breathing can really help in the short term, but also talk to your GP.

My mother is also diagnosed as bipolar and she’s not like this when she’s manic. She is just more energetic than normal and impulsive, spends a lot of money especially on clothes, books holidays, talks more than normal but someone who didn’t already know her very well probably wouldn’t notice. It’s only when she comes down and goes into a depression that things get bad, that’s when she usually goes into hospital.
It can present differently in different people.