Difficulty Writing When Hypomanic? - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

dreams in neon · 05-13-2009, 11:03 AM

Hi everyone,

Today is a good day for me. I feel great, but at the same time, I feel irritable because I can't seem to express myself in writing the way I want to. Writing comes easy to me, but today it's a frustrating challenge.

I'm wondering if I may be hypomanic right now because this always happens to me during a hypomanic episode and I feel as if my moods are slightly elevated. My tdoc also told me yesterday that I seemed "hyper."

In addition, I took a Klonopin this morning, but it didn't calm me down.

On the flip side, when I'm level or full blown manic, I'm able to write without any difficulty.

Do any of you feel the same way when you are hypomanic or manic?

On a completely different note, I may give serious consideration to tweaking my meds or taking a different mood stabilizer. I can't continue to rapid cycle between manic, hypomanic and mixed episodes.

Depakote is supposed to be the best mood stabilizer for rapid cyclers, but since I've been taking it for 3 years, perhaps it is no longer working. I really don't know and need to discuss this further with my pdoc.

BipolarPrincess · 05-13-2009, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreams in neon

Hi everyone,

Today is a good day for me. I feel great, but at the same time, I feel irritable because I can't seem to express myself in writing the way I want to. Writing comes easy to me, but today it's a frustrating challenge.

I'm wondering if I may be hypomanic right now because this always happens to me during a hypomanic episode and I feel as if my moods are slightly elevated. My tdoc also told me yesterday that I seemed "hyper."

In addition, I took a Klonopin this morning, but it didn't calm me down.

On the flip side, when I'm level or full blown manic, I'm able to write without any difficulty.

Do any of you feel the same way when you are hypomanic or manic?

On a completely different note, I may give serious consideration to tweaking my meds or taking a different mood stabilizer. I can't continue to rapid cycle between manic, hypomanic and mixed episodes.

Depakote is supposed to be the best mood stabilizer for rapid cyclers, but since I've been taking it for 3 years, perhaps it is no longer working. I really don't know and need to discuss this further with my pdoc.

Hmm. Well I don't write, so I don't know. And I don't get hypomanic or manic so I can't relate. But I'm getting a bit worried now. It seems a lot of you always need a med change because it 'stops working'... that just doesn't seem right. How does it stop working? Maybe a different anti-psychotic would work.. I don't know.. Sorry you are having troubles. You are probably having a hard time writing because you are hypomanic and irritable and can't get the words out the way you want to..

dreams in neon · 05-13-2009, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BipolarPrincess

Hmm. Well I don't write, so I don't know. And I don't get hypomanic or manic so I can't relate. But I'm getting a bit worried now. It seems a lot of you always need a med change because it 'stops working'... that just doesn't seem right. How does it stop working? Maybe a different anti-psychotic would work.. I don't know.. Sorry you are having troubles. You are probably having a hard time writing because you are hypomanic and irritable and can't get the words out the way you want to..

It isn't uncommon for meds to stop working especially if you've been taking them for a long time like I have.

Rapid cycling is also very difficult to treat (although not impossible) and can result in people having refractive symptoms. (i.e. constant rapid cycling or episodes that do not respond to meds)

Keep in mind that I've been unstable for the past 1.5 years due to an inattentive pdoc who never treated my rapid cycling or mania. Thanks to the pdoc I have now, I'm just starting to enjoy some stability.

The reason I've been running into problems as of late is because of my health. If it were not for the issues I faced over the past 2 weeks, my moods would have remained level.

As for why I'm hypomanic right now, I have absolutely no idea except that it may be due to the weather. Yesterday was a beautiful day. Today it's overcast, but I still feel happier than usual.

I always become manic and hypomanic during the spring and summer, so my pdoc may need to raise my Depakote temporarily until October when my depression sets in.

dreams in neon · 05-13-2009, 12:31 PM

I also wanted to mention that taking a different antipsychotic won't have any impact on my rapid cycling.

However, it could reduce the number of manic episodes I have.

I've already been on Geodon which worked well the first time I took it when I was IP in 2006, but stopped working a few months ago after I was on it for several weeks.

If truth be told, I really don't want to change antipsychotics because Risperdal is doing a great job of controlling my voices, delusions and paranoia now that I'm taking it with Klonopin and Fluoxetine.

Llama · 05-13-2009, 08:15 PM

Dreams, what mood stabilizers would you be open to try? Have you ever been on lithium?