Wednesday 22 June 2016

What Hypomania can look like?

I haven't blogged recently, this is because my energies have been directed at keeping me on course at work and it's been busy and challenging for me with a bit of a blip a few weeks back where I had more anxiety than I had  had for a long time.  I think I've managed to course correct and I feel better than I did a few weeks back.
I saw someone else blog regards what their BiPolar meant to them and as BiPolar and Hypomania is oft misunderstood I thought it might be worth explaining the Hypomanic state and what it can feel/look like,  I don't find myself with Hypomania very often as I'm more in the depths of anxiety and depression but when it does kick in it can feel very strange, partly because whilst it's happening I'm not very aware of it and it's only in looking back that I can reflect on it.
So looking back at my episodes of Hypomania what can I reflect on?
  • It's racing thoughts and ideas, a feeling that you are a Superman
  • It's obsessing over very small things such as skin tags and moles
  • It's being hyper positive, saying 'yes' to multiple things at once and feeling that you are limitless and things need to happen now, right now
  • It can be like your mind has a 100 search engines open at once
  • It's a feeling that you are late when there is no deadline but things need to happen fast
  • It's a feeling that you have all the answers and speaking at 100mph
It's all the above and none of them and it's only after an episode that I reflect on them, a very normal Hypomanic episode for me is me going from an empty social diary to booking in something almost every day for a month, it's like the opposite of catastrophe thinking when you have anxiety where you think you can make things happen/succeed at will.
I'm learning that this is all a part of my BiPolar and with medication and therapy I'm learning to navigate this better and trying hard to see if I can identify warning signs as normally i rely on other people noticing that I'm manic.

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