What are the early warning signs that you're going up?

swimmingly · Sep 03, 2020 at 06:25 AM

Internal Signs: Headache only localized in left side of skull, above ear. "Echo-y" hearing from left ear. Both of these occur almost always two days prior to my elevated mood, and last throughout my extended stay with mania, usually 2 - 3 weeks.

External Signs: Pressured speech, non-stop speech that drives my family nuts (they usually will comment, though not cruelly), dizziness (external because others can see me topple), need to know spouse's whereabouts at all times.

quietlylost · Sep 03, 2020 at 09:02 AM

I know this post is older, but I thought I'd reply.

I can totally relate to the second guessing about "is this just a good mood or is this hypomania/mania." With Bipolar Disorder I feel like I can never truly trust my moods or my perceptions of them.

For me, warning signs that things are changing and elevating include disrupted and decreased sleep, increased ideas or thoughts of taking on new projects, increased social activity, elevated mood, and impulsivity in areas like eating, spending, or decision making. They don't all happen at once. For me the sleep is the biggest early warning sign. I find that if I get off track with that it can disrupt things fairly quickly. So, I have to make a conscious effort to try to stabilize things when they start to wobble.

I think every person is probably a little different.

*Beth* · Sep 03, 2020 at 10:26 PM

Needing to DO everything so fast that I can't keep up with myself. I've been redecorating my apartment and I've assembled and decorated so much furniture in 2 days it's...well, crazy! Sweat was literally running down my face as I was working, but I couldn't get it done fast enough...listening to music and dancing, even though I was so exhausted I felt like crying.

At the same time I feel an edginess, an irritability - and also have creative thoughts/colors/ideas that pile one on top of another until I feel like screaming. Then along comes mild paranoia...etc., etc.

Sep 04, 2020 at 06:36 AM

my main one is a shivering sensation in my kneck

well: not really shivering. you know when you hear a good peace of music and you get that oooo, that's good peace sort of feeling (lol) well that.

sometimes I've described it as raw electricity going through my body

Sliders · Sep 05, 2020 at 03:43 PM

Talking way too much, feeling irritable, needing less sleep, and wanting to be promiscuous.

Revu2 · Sep 05, 2020 at 10:15 PM

I find this irritability feature (I F) irritating. What's up with that? I'm feeling great and would hope that I'm also feeling steady, calm, unflappable.
How you dial yourself back? The I F tips me off. I talk to myself. Suggest a break, a breather. Step away from people for 5 minutes and reset.
Remind myself to let it flow up while it does, and flow out of me when it's done. No need to add on.
I also go do a chore. Put away the laundry. Clean the sink. File that stack of papers. Proofread a bit of writing. Type out notes from a book.

Tucson · Sep 07, 2020 at 04:47 PM

Staying up very late, and then geting back up a few hours later, still with energy. Hypersexuality. Then beconing inpulsive, which may lead to wreckless behavior. Spending money much more freely, money that I do not have.

Moose72 · Sep 07, 2020 at 09:10 PM

Quote:

Ottessa Moshfegh commented in an interview that her writing process involved discovering the key sentence in the piece. When drafting she keeps returning to that sentence, feeling and listening to it, getting cozy with its DNA, and from there she writes likes she's composing music. She doesn't think over much about character or plot but keeping returning to the DNA of the story as revealed by that pivotal sentence.

Found this very interesting! I like!

Revu2 · Sep 14, 2020 at 08:10 PM

Yeah, Moose, I came across this idea from Ottessa in May and keep circling back. Here's my journal notes on it:

I'm a fan of the free libraries that pop up all over town. As I'm often busy with my own thinking and imagining to bring project in on time, a novel I can manage but it's more a chore than pleasure reading.

Therefore I delight when i find a story anthology. One such find was the Story Prize anthology of the winning authors for its first 15 years.

Larry Dark from the prize team introduced the collection and made a passing mention that for about the past dozen years the project has recorded the award event of readings and interviews with the 3 finalists. I was about to put the book back into a free library when I remember that comment and kept it. Happy I did. Dark asked Ottessa Moshfegh how she thought through her stories and her answer got me thinking in a new way myself. Found this at 35:30 on the video:

LD: So where does the story begin for you with that kind of idea?
OM: I'm not really an idea person. I'm more of a musical person. And I, when I start stories I have, I maybe know what the first sentence sounds like or the end of the first paragraph or, or the or the last sentence before the first break. Something like, okay, the cadence is like dah dah dah, dah, dah, or whatever. And it might be the sound of the sentence or the after effect of the sentence.

I'm not sure what it is but when I have that sound in my head, I can attempt to write it in sort of in the way you compose music trying to be detached from the meaning, because I don't know the meaning yet, I haven't discovered the story so I'm just listening.

Once I have that phrase or even just a couple of words that becomes the DNA for the story. The way that like I could take like, you know, a hair out of my head. Is this true? like, like DNA from anywhere it will tell you, like all the instructions for creating the organism is exactly the way that I feel when I'm writing. If I have a sentence all I have to do is go back to that sentence over and over again and it will tell me what to do for the rest of the story.
LD: So, does that sometimes not work out?
OM: It's a 100% success rate strategy.
LD: That sounds like you really have to really immerse yourself then to really hear.
OM: Oh yeah I mean it's it's nerve wracking but once you get it—it's ecstatic. You know, I mean it's like surfing, like when you catch the right wave. I mean anyone who's felt ecstasy. I mean that that's what it feels like. That's why I love writing so much, … I love writing because of that experience.
LD: So each story in the book to you as like a different music, a different feel.
OM: Yeah

It seems she gets that experience and just carries on with life. Do I feel jealousy? Envy? Perhaps not, but I'm getting there.
Revu2

HALLIEBETH87 · Sep 14, 2020 at 08:15 PM

Last time I was manic and psychotic in ip I told the nurses how I can fly and see music....

Revu2 · Nov 27, 2020 at 03:55 PM

I, apparently, have just one thing that really sends me towards m*nix. Now it's happening and I feel the up draft. Knowing my first signs are the paradox of feeling much better and being irritable, I'm ready to command Mr Irritated to take several chill pills and call it a day.

Revu2 · Dec 03, 2020 at 11:50 AM

My body carries Big Goals around my shoulders and chest. When they finish well, there's a release like that of birds taking flight. Up swoops my mood and it's time to put myself on ma*ix watch. Succeeding triggering ma*ix.
Leveling this requires WEIGHT. Doing common chores. Taking up Yuck List goals like backing up computer, preparing taxes, entering receipts. Cleaning.

Bipolarchic14 · Dec 04, 2020 at 12:47 AM

I’m looking at psychCentral around 1 am rather than sleeping. I start feeling euphoria start having bigger goals people around me are telling me to shut up OK not really they are nicer about it ...usually! It’s pure torture waiting for people to get to an end of a sentence and sometimes it just seems like they go on and on and my patience just isn’t there for them. Things seem louder and brighter and not necessarily in a good way. If I find that I’m wanting to sit in a dark quiet room it’s not usually a good sign for stability. I also go back-and-forth between extreme euphoria anxiety and anger. And if I am really lucky I will start bobbing back-and-forth between extreme euphoria and feeling suicidal that’s tons of fun trying to explain to a mental health professional so you’re like popping jokes and wanting to die at the same time. God I hate my f*cking life.

daladico · Dec 04, 2020 at 09:06 AM

Brain feels like it’s amping up... step before the racing thoughts get bad (which escalates to me not being able to control my mind).
Lack of sleep.
Hyperfocus and distractability at the same time.
Super excited about projects.
Irritability, agitation.
Increased energy.

Soupe du jour · Dec 04, 2020 at 09:30 AM

My absolute earliest symptoms are usually talking louder and even more than usual, saying/doing slightly disinhibited or impulsive things, and racing thoughts.

More symptoms and worsening ones go from there.

Revu2 · Dec 08, 2020 at 03:45 AM

Dancing with the only activity that used to fire off my *ania, my Icarus pattern. Have spent the past year loving it, listening to it, asking it how I can adjust. Being tested for the next 10 days.

So far mood is elevated yet manageable. Breathing. Not irritable, actually, the opposite, quite fluid with my interactions, even playful. I have a Manifesto I wrote which settles me right back to a bit more than level.

Balancers: attend to details
Write stuff down
Write out ideas
Research faultlines
Consider worst cases
Experiment with anything in order to learn

Revu2 · Dec 27, 2020 at 04:40 PM

I feel a strong urge to Leap when I should crawl—for safety.

Revu2 · Jan 06, 2021 at 02:15 PM

Found I thought, researched, considered, an action. Decision made to act a month ago. I feel the stalling was intuition that I had to step in carefully. Today, I stepped. And WARNING SIGN felt so great to be doing at last I wanted to do something like, again, right away! Ha!

Maxim: Take one step in, step back, and let the high wash out.
R

Fuzzybear · Jan 08, 2021 at 03:03 PM

more energy
more irritable
more GRRRR

MuddyBoots · Jan 08, 2021 at 04:37 PM

Waking up earlier, and earlier... start to think I don't need sleep at all
"Wow I feel fast... much faster than others.... AHHH EVERYONE'S TOO SLOW!"
Even shorter fuse than normal
Suddenly optimism about my future and self esteem go up, up, up.
Want to talk, talk, talk.

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What are the early warning signs that you're going up?

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Anonymous32451 Guest Posts: n/a	Sep 04, 2020 at 06:36 AM #24 my main one is a shivering sensation in my kneck well: not really shivering. you know when you hear a good peace of music and you get that oooo, that's good peace sort of feeling (lol) well that. sometimes I've described it as raw electricity going through my body
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Sliders Member Member Since Mar 2016 Location: USA Posts: 84 8 114 hugs given	Sep 05, 2020 at 03:43 PM #25 Talking way too much, feeling irritable, needing less sleep, and wanting to be promiscuous. __________________ Bipolar I Currently in recovery
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Tucson Grand Magnate Member Since Jul 2014 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 3,105 9 16 hugs given	Sep 07, 2020 at 04:47 PM #27 Staying up very late, and then geting back up a few hours later, still with energy. Hypersexuality. Then beconing inpulsive, which may lead to wreckless behavior. Spending money much more freely, money that I do not have. __________________ Dx: Bipolar I, ADD, GAD. Rx: Fluoxetine, Buproprion, Olanzapine, Lamictal, and Strattera.
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HALLIEBETH87 Legendary Member Since Oct 2004 Location: usa Posts: 11,196 19 2,740 hugs given	Sep 14, 2020 at 08:15 PM #30 Last time I was manic and psychotic in ip I told the nurses how I can fly and see music.... __________________ Bipolar 1 w/psychotic features or schizoaffective bipolar type PTSD generalized anxiety OCD celexa, prazosin, Lybalvi and prn zyprexa and klonopin
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Revu2 Grand Member Member Since Aug 2013 Posts: 813 10 4 hugs given	Nov 27, 2020 at 03:55 PM #31 I, apparently, have just one thing that really sends me towards m*nix. Now it's happening and I feel the up draft. Knowing my first signs are the paradox of feeling much better and being irritable, I'm ready to command Mr Irritated to take several chill pills and call it a day. __________________
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Soupe du jour Elder Member Since Jun 2015 Location: Czechia Posts: 5,153 8 13.4k hugs given	Dec 04, 2020 at 09:30 AM #35 My absolute earliest symptoms are usually talking louder and even more than usual, saying/doing slightly disinhibited or impulsive things, and racing thoughts. More symptoms and worsening ones go from there.
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Revu2 Grand Member Member Since Aug 2013 Posts: 813 10 4 hugs given	Dec 27, 2020 at 04:40 PM #37 I feel a strong urge to Leap when I should crawl—for safety. __________________
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Revu2 Grand Member Member Since Aug 2013 Posts: 813 10 4 hugs given	Jan 06, 2021 at 02:15 PM #38 Found I thought, researched, considered, an action. Decision made to act a month ago. I feel the stalling was intuition that I had to step in carefully. Today, I stepped. And WARNING SIGN felt so great to be doing at last I wanted to do something like, again, right away! Ha! Maxim: Take one step in, step back, and let the high wash out. R __________________
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Fuzzybear Wisest Elder Ever Member Since Nov 2002 Location: Cave. Posts: 96,325 (SuperPoster!) 21 81.2k hugs given	Jan 08, 2021 at 03:03 PM #39 more energy more irritable more GRRRR __________________
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