sleeping while manic

People keep telling me I'm manic. I feel loads of agitation that I'm managing with extra doses (doctor prescribed) on clonazepam and zyprexa. My sensors are turned full on and my thoughts are racing.

There are fruit flies with miniature cameras on them surveilling me. The angels have been monitoring me too because of my special relationship with God. They are jealous.

Yet I'm sleeping around 6-7 hours a night at least. Could I still be hypo/manic?

You don’t need every symptom to be manic/hypomanic. For example, there were many days in my hypomania where I was sleeping excessively, but I was also physically unwell. The reduced sleep appeared later. I also lacked grandiose thoughts throughout the whole episode. If the you or the people around you believe you may be in an episode, I would take that seriously.

I agree with Merlin: you do not need to meet 100% of the criteria for mania (or even hypomania) in order to be considered (hypo)manic. I know I don't remember the criteria fully, but I think there are 7 or 8 "bullet points" and you only need to meet 3 of those to be considered (hypo)manic (or 4 bullet points if your mood is only irritable).

I know personally that I have slept normal amounts when hypomanic, especially while on Seroquel. But even 6-7 hours of sleep for me can be indicative of hypomania, since I normally get 10 hrs. So for me, decreased need for sleep is relative. Lots of people tend to get 4 ish hrs of sleep when hypomanic, but I only go that low when I am full blown manic. But in the past, I did go without sleep for 3 days while manic on adderall xr. However, I blame the medication for such drastic changes in sleep.

That is the first question I asked Dr. W. when she confirmed my dx of Bipolar 1 Disorder. "But how can I really have Bipolar Disorder when I'm sleepy a lot of the time?"

She told me that one can be in a manic state (even a manic psychosis) and still require sleep. That is especially true if you are taking meds. Were it not for the meds, you might not be sleepy, or as sleepy.

The sleep thing is but one symptom of Bipolar Disorder.

btw, the severe anxiety you're experiencing has been going on for a few days.

I agree with others that medications may be part of it. I assume you take the Klonopin and Zyprexa at night? I only assume that because of your ability to sleep.

bluebicycle makes a good point about the amount of sleep perhaps being relative. I think that if a person is a solid 9 hours per night, when stable, that a 6 or even 7 hour sleep when hypomanic seems reasonable, especially if taking sedating evening medications.

I take 600 mg Seroquel XR all at night, as well as a little dose of Klonopin. Even my Tegretol XR may be slightly sedating at night. I take half of my Tegretol XR in the evening. I frequently have what I call "blips" of mood elevation, where I'll be racy to an extreme during the day, but do finally calm after my evening meds. And get some sleep. Then as my evening sedation sort of heads down the other end of the bell curve of sedation, in the morning, my mood elevates again. Sometimes it will be like that for several days. In those cases, I am clearly in a hypomanic or even sometimes full manic, episode.

When my mood elevation becomes more severe, my husband usually clues me in. That's when I rely on my prn Seroquel. Sometimes a small dose of 50 mg in the morning will calm my beast. Sometimes I end up having to take up to 100 mg or 150 mg regular prn Seroquel. In this latter case, if the high prn usage continues for a few days or my mood is excessively high, I usually end up calling or visiting my psychiatrist. He will then increase my base Seroquel XR dose. This whole arrangement has been quite helpful for me over the last five years. Very often, only a small dosage adjustment is required, if I catch the mood elevation early enough.

When the time eventually comes that I start sleeping 10 hours or more per night, that's usually a clue that my base Seroquel XR dose needs to be decreased a little. That usually always helps, too.

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Originally Posted by BirdDancer .... bluebicycle makes a good point about the amount of sleep perhaps being relative. I think that if a person is a solid 9 hours per night, when stable, that a 6 or even 7 hour sleep when hypomanic seems reasonable, especially if taking sedating evening medications. ....

Being relative - that's an excellent observation, I agree. For example, my required amount of sleep when not on sedating meds is 9 to 10 hours. When manic, I'll sleep 4 to 5 hours. Dr. W. frequently points out that for me, 4 hours of sleep is part of mania. But the word "relative" - now, that makes good sense.

I hadn't thought about it that way, that the meds might be responsible for getting some sleep.

I take 2mg clonazepam in the morning, which makes me a bit woozy but I don't drive so no big deal. Then I take some zyprexa, either 2.5mg or 5mg depending on how ramped up I feel. Then I take 1mg clonazepam and another varying dose of zyprexa in the evening.

Despite all of that (not even including the clozapine), I'm still wide awake/agitated all day and have trouble falling asleep.

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Originally Posted by franz kafka I hadn't thought about it that way, that the meds might be responsible for getting some sleep. I take 2mg clonazepam in the morning, which makes me a bit woozy but I don't drive so no big deal. Then I take some zyprexa, either 2.5mg or 5mg depending on how ramped up I feel. Then I take 1mg clonazepam and another varying dose of zyprexa in the evening. Despite all of that (not even including the clozapine), I'm still wide awake/agitated all day and have trouble falling asleep.

In my experience, that's a "red flag" state of being.

I'm the same in that I normally need a lot of sleep, 9 to 10 hours. When I see my sleep going down to 6-7 hours that's often a pretty good indicator that hypomania is coming. I've had nights of no sleep a few times during hypomania, but usually it's around 6 hours.

For me, quality of sleep is also an important indicator of the type of mood I'm in, and it's something that I log in my mood charts as well for that reason. Sleeping 9-10 hours and feeling good is usually something I experience only during euthymia. 10+ hours and still feeling exhausted happens during depression; it can either be solid but unrestful sleep, insomnia (but being too tired to get out of bed), fitful sleep, etc. Sleeping around 6 hours usually happens during my (hypo)manias. If I'm sleeping less but I don't miss it and I'm just too excited and wound up to sleep, then it's probably euphoric mania. On the other hand, during dysphoric mania I'll often desperately want to sleep, but I can't because my mind is racing and I have too much anxiety. This is just me, other people may have a totally different experience.

Another thing I would add that took me a while to realize is that the criteria for bipolar as described in the DSM are stereotypes. The particulars of BD will be different for everyone. For one, your baseline personality will affect how the symptoms express themselves. Additionally, as others have mentioned, not everyone with BD experiences all the symptoms. I believe that's a large part of what distinguishes a good psychiatrist -- being able to accurately diagnose people beyond those stereotypes.

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Originally Posted by FluffyDinosaur ...I believe that's a large part of what distinguishes a good psychiatrist -- being able to accurately diagnose people beyond those stereotypes.

Excellent observation.

I've been hypomanic and was sleeping regularly. This was due to being on Seroquel, but I still had lots of other symptoms. I hope you find relief soon.