Mania can at first be fun because you have extreme sociability. You are like an overclocked computer. Everything is funny and you have a crazy sense of humour. You don’t care about anything at all and you can do a lot of risk taking. You think you’re brilliant and the best, most interesting person in the world. Sometimes you are argumentative. You always phone your friends up at 2am in the morning. You may drink more than usual. Alcohol and mania do not mix.
It all inevitably comes crashing down though as depression takes its place. Maybe you have done something silly or you regret something that you have done whilst on a manic high. Now I am feeling desperate. I have the same obsessive thought every 10 seconds and I’m feeling sick because of the terrible anxiety. I am taken over with guilt. I have chronic insomnia. I feel tearful frequently. I cannot see a future at all. I don't want to see my friends who might not understand what has happened to me.
This article is just an example of bipolar and depression, based on my own experiences. Both depression and mania are worse when you encounter them for the first time. I would say depression made me feel desperately ill and I knew there was something seriously wrong with me. I was not aware there was anything wrong with me when manic, I just felt incredible.
Luckily I am very well at the moment.
Visit: www.bipolaruk.org for other insights into bipolar.
So pleased that you are very well at the moment.
Always helpful to share the highs and the lows, L