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Originally Posted by Elf_Ears  Ok, I think I'm the last, the ultradian. I've changed mood every other hour. But I'm not quite sure. It seems that my mood swings are aggravated by stress, as I'll be fine (on meds) and then I'll go from euphoric for 10-15 mins to neutral/blah, but not really depressed, for 30 mins, then totally fine mood, then it repeats. Other days, I go from depressed to neutral to depressed again.
Is this true rapid cycling? My pdoc has told me that it's hard to tell the difference between mixed episodes and rapid cycling. I have had both depression and mania symptoms at the same time, or perhaps every other minute. But I've also been just one at a time, every other day. It's really hard to tell.
Here's an example of a manic day -   neutral neutral
Or depressed:   neutral neutral |
What you've described sounds like ultradian rapid cycling.
Stress can cause one to rapid cycle even though it is biological in nature.
In my case, if I get into an argument with a friend, I will obviously feel irritable or depressed, but the difference is that minutes later I can feel manic and then cycle back into severe depression or extreme irritability for no reason.
When a person has a mixed episode, they feel manic, depressed and tired at the same time whereas when a person rapid cycles, they don't. When a person rapid cycles, they feel one emotion at a time even if it is minute by minute.
Even if a person no longer rapid cycles when on meds, they are still considered a rapid cycler because of the fact that meds are needed to control their rapid cycling.
How does rapid cycling work 
Linear Mode
