Hey buddies, I'm experiencing hypomania. They've increased my medication as needed, and I'm functioning okay, though obviously not at 100%. I'd like to know what you guys are doing right now. Nothing guarantees I won't have a manic episode, but I'm trying to sleep as much as possible.

The first symptom I noticed was my hormones going crazy over a guy. Out of excitement, I started sleeping later, until one day I slept for six hours and woke up feeling like nothing had happened. That's when I knew I had to do something. I'm afraid that suddenly, for no reason, I'll go crazy.

I work at a family business, and they help me with things. But I don't know if I should take a few days off, at least until the mood subsides. I've started smoking again and listening to loud music, which is what overstimulates my brain. (I stopped going to the gym for a few days, where, by the way, that guy I like was.) I feel like I'm doing what I can, except for the smoking and the overstimulation with the music.

What would you recommend? My psychiatrist already prescribed medication, but I don't want to list it here. Thank you for reading. Oh, one last thing: I was in a calorie deficit, and now I'm having trouble eating without worrying about gaining weight. I don't know what I should eat, whether to forget about it for a while, or what. Thank you in advance.

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2017 after an attempt. A psychiatrist said I had a “manic” episode. This diagnosis followed me up until last week. I have always questioned the diagnosis. So I went to a mood disorders clinic to have it looked into further. After a 2-3 hour full interview and review, they felt I had anxiety and “sensitivity to the iatrogenic effects of medication.” They feel that going on and off different medications as well as poly pharmacy over the years has caused the symptoms I experience.

Where I am, you see the psychiatrist once and then they send your file back to your family doctor to follow you. There is no way to see a psychiatrist on an ongoing basis. Sucks for continuity of care, but it is what it is. They have ruled OUT bipolar disorder.

I am on a small dose of an antipsychotic and an antidepressant. I feel kind of lost. I’ll check in with my GP, but now I’m wondering if I should even stay on medication. Has anyone heard of a sensitivity to the iatrogenic effects of medication? I’m a bit shaken that I have carried this diagnosis in my file for so long and it has been incorrect. Feeling so lost. This will likely be my last post on this sub. I have appreciated being here and all the support over the years.

Thank you!

24M. Diagnosed with MDD/GAD after a suicide attempt in 2022. I’ve been in therapy since 2020 and already have seen a psychiatrist, so I’m not asking for a diagnosis. I’m mostly wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.

My timeline:

Smoked weed daily for years during college.
Stopped my antidepressant (non-SSRI) and started smoking daily again in October 2024.

**Feb 2025:** Quit weed abruptly. About a week later I tried mad honey for the first time. I then had a month-long manic episode that progressed to psychosis, requiring an anti-psychotic, IOP, and a medical leave from work.
Afterward I fell into a depression. Low-dose atypical anti-psychotic seemed to help more than my antidepressant.

**Oct 2025:** Stopped meds and started smoking weed daily again.

**Feb 2026:** Quit weed again.
Within weeks I had another elevated period that lasted about 3 months. I got into two relationships and ended both quickly, started a serving job an hour away then quit after one shift, became quite confident and social, thought my mental health was finally “fixed,” and constantly made plans to fix my finances, get back in the gym, go back to college, etc. This time I never became psychotic.

That was followed by the depressive period where it’s like my mood recently can either be okay and kinda happy or I can spiral and get quite depressive after relatively small triggers.

Saw a psychiatrist and she called it “bipolar unspecified” due to how muddy things were with the weed and drug use I guess.

Outside of these two periods, I don’t think I’ve had clear manic episodes.

I’m a bit apprehensive in thinking I am bipolar or need to get on meds for it but idk.

Thoughts?

Anyone had or know about a similar experience?

Lately I’ve been feeling kinda detached from reality, but I started to get worried about this when I started hearing things. I woke up in the middle of the night and I thought I was listening to music, I could hear it, I checked my phone and there was nothing. Today I was listening to a car alarm, but I don’t know if it’s real, I don’t think it is cause I was in a class full of people and no one seemed to notice. I don’t know if I’m getting psychotic or even if you can be aware you’re getting psychotic. Anyone can help me?

Anybody else also struggle with enjoying TV series while on an antipsychotic? I'm on Olanzapine & i just can't seem to enjoy or watch movies & series anymore.

Do you guys still enjoy, watch movies & series & what medication helped you with that?

hi! i’ve been talking psych medication for the past year & it has vastly impacted me- the main way being extreme weight gain. for reference, i started at a size small & am now an xl. i recently met with my provider and requested to change medications and am in the process of that now.

i was wondering if anyone else has experienced this and how they managed to lose the weight they gained. i’m planning to try dieting and exercise, but i was wondering if there was anything else i could do to help my body.

i’ve considered trying the cutting mix they sell on tiktok shop, but i don’t know if those things actually work or if it’s just a money grab.

any advice or support would be greatly appreciated!

Lately I've been getting some really bad restlessness/akathisia right before bed. I take Latuda, Lithium, Lamictal, and Lunesta at night and Wellbutrin in the morning.

lately right as im going to bed I feel incredibly restless/antsy. often times now im having to take 2 of my lunesta to overcome it to knock me out. last night was really bad and I had to take the 2 lunesta, smoke some weed, take 2 benadryl and sit in the shower to calm down enough to lay still

has anyone else dealt with this? my psych wants me to experiment with timing and amount of food I take with my latuda to see if that helps. any tips?

Has anyone else noticed that as they've gotten older, you suffer more from dysphoric mania than "Normal" ( euphoric, hypersexual ect..) Mania? When it started as a teen, I would experience the typical mania symptoms: awake for 36- 72 hours, deep cleaning my house, being out with friends all night, grandiose self-image, impulsive thoughts about spending, substances, etc. Now if im not depressed, it just feels like I'm going to fucking explode.

Very rarely anymore do I experience anything that feels euphoric. Even worse, I do miss that feeling of mania. I felt energetic in a good way, now I just feel on the edge and keyed up with no REAL release. It didn't feel like my mind was being pulled in a million directions at once, all while spinning just as fast. It didn't feel like the anger in my chest was suffocating me to the point of physically feeling my body want to run to get away from that feeling. It didn't feel dangerous or like my mind was out of control and shattering. I still do suffer from the physical symptoms, but the actual feelings of the emotions themselves has changed into the exact opposite of how they used to manifest. Which makes it substantially harder to catch an episode coming on and mitigate shit, or warn the people around me before it gets to a point that im unable to control it.

Every time I see a doc a get a new diagnosis. I had this real bad case of depression that lasted like 20 years, but I gave it one last go and felt like I may have snapped out of it. I thought I'd try an anti-depressant so that I didn't go back to my depressed state... and things got weird. I feel like I did a speedrun of therapy in my head.

One doc said I had ADHD, and the latest says bipolar - other. This would be the second time, triggered by zoloft I guess.

I guess I had a mild manic episode or two, so here I am. I don't remember being this way when I was younger. It's weird diagnosis to get at 50.

I started a mood stabilizer yesterday and feel better already. I have a follow up appt with my primary doc today.

I'm thinking about suggesting my psychiatrist to start me on Latuda, but last time I tried Latuda it made me very angry and I eventually dropped it. Nonetheless I think I'm willing to try it again but I'd like to know if anyone has had increased irritability with this medication and what meds have you taken that help with that (e.g. propranolol)?

This will be a bit of a lengthy post - I am ultimately seeking opportunities to respectfully exchange with others about navigating bipolar

I learned that I am bipolar 3 months ago. It was the shock of my life, to say the least. But I am embracing it....

I want to start out by saying that I am extremely grateful to have found this (and similar) online spaces. I joined this subreddit within a handful of weeks of learning about my bipolar. I came here to not only process my own condition, but to also learn from others lived experiences with bipolar. I have learned so much from everybody!

I am starting to struggle with my own personal experiences with bipolar - as my experiences don't always "match up" with the things that I am reading about and taking in on this and other subreddits. I am seeking an honest conversation where I would like to be open about how I have experienced bipolar as I am currently trying to chart out my path toward treatment.

First and foremost, I want to name the fact that I am of color - I know well that I live in a system that can sometimes neglect certain populations and that conditions like bipolar can get missed. When I learned that I am bipolar, I immediately realized that I have been this way since I was a child. It's not entirely a story of neglect though - because when I was in 2nd grade, my school teacher at the time referred me to the school social worker - whom I stayed with until I graduated in 8th grade. This was actually a really positive thing for me, as I have been in therapy my whole life - and yet, somehow, my bipolar was always missed. Nevertheless, I have always been in therapy because my mental health has always been pretty off.

My teens, 20s and 30s actually follow a pretty "common" theme: I had an active SUD that put me into a mixed way for a good solid 4-5 years where I behaved terribly, hurt other people, and did a whole bunch of things that I deeply regret and feel forever ashamed about. I am only now piecing these parts of my life together. They never made sense before - it all makes sense now.

I think that the place where I am starting to get stuck is that I have lived my whole life not knowing I have bipolar disorder. And while there are clear signs and signals of my condition all throughout my life, I have also lived a relatively stable life.

A bunch of people in my family are bipolar - I know it sounds crazy, but we literally had no idea. Schizophrenia exists within our family. We do know this. There is a lot of openness about schizophrenia and those with schizophrenia in my family are diagnosed and they are all in treatment.... this has always been an open conversation in my family. There is no shame and we love our family members with schizophrenia deeply.

Some of us just learned within the last 3-5 years that bipolar can split from schizophrenia. We literally had no idea. We suspect my mother - who is approaching 80 - is also likely bipolar.

A bunch of us have literally lived our lives "raw dogging" bipolar disorder (pardon the awful anaology here but i have no idea how else to describe it) .... and guess what? We've all lived relatively stable lives. And when I say stable, I mean stable with an asterisk* ..... A bunch of us are college graduates, have successful careers, marriages, families, etc ... granted, some of us (like myself) are known to be a little on the spicy side - but ultimately, i think what i am trying to say is that our lives, and our families didn't implode .... We're all actually doing okay - well, in fact. Undiagnosed. Untreated.

Speaking for myself personally, in spite of being on the "spicy" side, I generally live a happy life. I am stably married and have a career.

I want to be clear about the fact that I am not advocating that people with bipolar live their lives like undiagnosed and untreated.... I guess I am just trying to say that I need a little bit of a different conversation about my experiences with bipolar ..... I do have a differential diagnosis of BP II with psychotic features that will become "official" this month (september) and I will begin treatment with a Psych NP that I hand selected and feel I am a great match with.

This post is already super long - but i also want to put it out there that i have been planning on medicating with Lamictal .... but as I approach my appointment later this month, i am having second thoughts about it. Not because I doubt by diagnosis - but because I have spent my whole life trying to manage my mental health (because i am definitely squirrel-y) and have managed to put together a successful toolbox for myself with my therapy team that really helps me with my symptoms.

This is a genuine question that I feel like I need to have: If I have managed to arrive at a stable euthymic mood using whats in my personal toolbox, then is medication necessary for right now? It doesn't mean that I would not consider medicating in the future when the need arises... I am very clear about my depression and the fact that i will absolutely medicate with the appropriate antidepressants the next time i fall into depression.

I just need to have a different conversation - one that is both scientifically grounded, but that also does not default to the medical model of understanding bipolar - especially when the medical industry does neglect certain populations - we've been forced to creatively come up with our own ways of understanding, coping, and ultimately managing.

I would love to hear from others - especially folks with bipolar who may also have other marginalized identities and who also experience that neglect within the healthcare systems and have been forced to learn how to navigate conditions like bipolar in different ways.

Thanks!! 🙏🙏🙏

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TLDR: just learned I am bipolar at the age of 50 and my experiences living my life with bipolar disorder without knowing it don't always match up with the things i am reading about on this subreddit and i am seeking conversations / perspectives about different ways of understanding my bipolar and my journey with it. Please do feel free to respond - but please keep the discussion respectful... Thanks! <3

Anybody have experience with these - been on Lamictal for years the fanapt and Effexor are new. I’ve tried vrlar, caplyta, busbar, lithium, respiral to name a few.
I am hopeful with this new combo - Any feedback is appreciated

I feel depressed for over three years and no meds worked for me. I tried everything in my country ssri s seroquel abilify vraylar lamotrigine (had rash). So whatever is found in my country. I cannot shake the depression. Idk what to take anymore. One med I did not try enough was mirtazapine but I am not very sure its ok for me because I have prediabetes and it can cause weight gain. I am doing therapy for past trauma but things move very slow. I am out of ideas. Of what could help. Needed to vent thanks for Reading.

I just came out of a mixed episode and I want to try as much as possible before i start lithium in two weeks (as well as the impending doom of autumn and winter coming)

My niche thing at the moment is figure skating which gets me out of the house + active. my not so niche thing is trying to build up a morning and evening routine so i can fix my circadian rhythm.

I'd love to try more things like diet or mindfulness or literally any activity that can help me be stable. I'm also restarting uni in 28 days so i genuinely feel like i'm running out of time to get as stable as possible

I don’t know if I want to just plug my substack. But I know I do want to share that reading what people have on there is helpful. I haven’t looked at bipolar specific posts, but I have been writing about my struggle with the disorder and other mental conditions. How psychedelics affected me, from making things worse or better. However, at the same time, I worry if people will try to copy my experiences in real time to replicate whatever recovery I went through. Am I overthinking, stuck in my ego, or am I being empathetic towards possible readers? Either way, I just want to encourage others with mental health conditions to journal privately.

My brain feels like the bouncy ball on the lyrics of a singalong video. My plan through Thursday:
1. Heads up to therapist
2. Lean on rescue meds - seroquel
3. Stop using AI and find a way out of it at work
4. Stack real things and experiences - silly tv and movies, walks in the park, having time with pets
5. See friends
6. Brick my phone

Any adds. I’ve been 5 years mostly stable. AI can’t have my sanity

Im starting to get depressed again. I started a part time job a few months ago after not working for over a year due to my mental health. A few weeks ago they said they wanted to up my hours which was fine at the time. But now Im struggling to go in. Its not even that hard of a job. Although my coworker stresses me out but thats another story. I just dont want to struggle to work again... I eventually want to get back into a full time job and be independent again. But idk it just keeps coming back and breaking down everything I build.

I plan on talking to my psych nurse soon to see if a med change will help. I really dont want to go on disability... but everytime I have an episode I feel like I might have to.

Just posting to say after a few weeks of tapering off olanzapine and starting abilify, I finally slept until my alarm went off this morning. Its been a rocky sleep adjustment but my brain seems to slowly be adjusting. Last night was the first night without any olanzapine.

Small victories.

Last night I had a dream that I could only communicate by singing Queen of the Stone Age's song Feel Good Hit of the Summer, but with these lyrics made up of a few of the medications I've been on.

What would your lyrics be to this song?

i’ve been manic for a while now, it won’t go away!! someone help me please, i need it away quickly, it’s not funny! :(

It's so hard to accept a silver lining like this when it's caused by a creepy guy taking advantage of me when I was manic by me not realizing how odd he was or his ulterior motives to having me move in, but it is a silver lining

I will seek legal counsel to try to get the rent he is withholding back, at least he refunded me the $500 security deposit today

Has anyone else moved into a really bad person's house and then had to move out as soon as your judgment improved?

Is this an experience for you guys too?? I don't know if this is just because I have BPD (therefore feelings of emptiness and low tolerance for boredom), but I just can't bring myself to be satisfied and content when I'm remitted (without any episodes). I always feel like, whenever I'm stable and ok, I just feel such a rooted emptiness inside me, like there's something fundamentally missing; like something inside me that used to move just got static. My baseline mood is stable but it is dissatisfied and bored and I can't take it. It makes me want to purposefully do stuff to get bad again so that I have "something happening" in my life. I truly hate it so much and I just wish I could learn how to be at peace with peace.

I’m gonna try not to turn this into the world’s longest and most unorganized rant but I have hit a brick wall and need to know I’m not alone or finally going completely insane

Few background things to know about me: 29F, diagnosed bipolar since 2017 (21y/o), I have a background in scientific research, pharmacy, and psychology including one bachelors degree, part of a masters degree, and about 1 million hours of experience “doing my own research”. I’m now a postpartum health professional and work mainly overnight (10p-6a) with babies. I also am on a slew of mental health medications and am preparing for a pregnancy the end of October. I was a heavy 🍃 user (sometimes a couple times a day) up until a little over 2 weeks ago. It was medicinal only for sleep, anxiety, and occasional appetite assistance

I have always been an enormous advocate for my own mental health (and others but besides the point) and have literally never given up on myself. This is no different but I’m getting real tired of one thing seemingly resolving and another popping up, whatever

I have a great psychiatrist right now, he’s a psych NP. Basically saved my life more times than I can count. He’s very receptive to my suggestions and ideas. He also knows my education history and we have great discourse, send each other studies, etc. I have no problem going to him with things. This will be no different but I’m at my wits end and have been on pubmed/google trying not to spiral for the last several hours (I have emailed him for an appointment too)

Basically, this has been an issue for as long as I’ve been diagnosed, and I really can’t remember life pre-diagnosis (yay trauma) BUT I hate dreaming. I have always been a really heavy sleeper. Antipsychotics and the like have not helped this. I will be really deep in sleep and once REM hits, I’m sucked into a dream and can’t get out. Doesn’t matter what the dream is about. I do have nightmares occasionally or at least intense emotional dreams where I’ve even woken myself up crying or in a panic. I usually forget whatever contents are in the dreams as well once I’ve been awake. Sometimes a general theme sticks, but usually it’s gone

Just a few years ago, I was sleeping in excess of over 12 hours a day because I would be dreaming and feel compelled almost to “finish the dream”. I’d even get up half asleep to use the bathroom and immediately go back to bed. Now, I know this is too much sleep. I’ve been wearing an oura ring for almost a year and it has me clocked. I am on the lower end of sleep needs - about 7.5-8 hours is my sweet spot. Any more and I notice I get pretty groggy

Around 2022/2023, I became a heavy 🍃 user for mainly insomnia. It was also a social thing but it had other perks like anxiety relief, etc. It was essentially curative for my “sleep problem”. THC cuts your REM sleep. No REM means no dreams means no issues. That is until you stop using and all the sudden the dreams come back. I know about REM rebound, which makes a lot of sense. REM makes up about 20-25% of your overall sleep and I’ve been pushing 30% the last two weeks, which again, tracks

I had to stop THC as I’m actively trying to conceive soon and it has thrown me for a loop. I am incredibly more stable than I was even a few years ago. My med regimen seems to be working and I’m religious at taking them. I recently started seroquel to bridge the gap of some of the supplements I’m on for anxiety that can’t be used during pregnancy. I was pretty anxious to start it as I know it can be heavily seating, and it was. I’ve done two dose changes and have done weirdly well? The first day or two on 50mg, I was a zombie but okay. A week later we upped it to 100mg. Same thing, zombie, but now we’re casually at 100mg daily and I haven’t been having much daytime sleepiness minus my regular ADHD no stimulant level of tired

Flash forward to today. I slept kinda shitty last night so it wasn’t a surprise when I woke up super tired and immediately crashed back out. My partner woke me up around the 8-9h mark and I basically begged to be out a little longer. Ended up clocking over 10 hours, felt awful, but managed to stay awake awhile to eat and such, napped for 2 hours in the afternoon, and now I’m at my night shift

I am allowed to sleep at work. Usually I get 1-2 hours, a cat nap, while the baby sleeps between my tasks. That’s usually decently energizing. I’m kind of a power nap professional and do weirdly well on spurts of broken sleep. Uninterrupted 7+ hours seems to be my achilles heel and for what fucking reason, I’ll never understand

Is anyone else experiencing this? I don’t know why dreaming has such a chokehold on me. Other than the weird REM shit, I sleep perfectly normal MOST nights/days (if I’m working) and this has not changed with going from working days to nights. If anything, I’ve slept better during the day. I have very regular sleep patterns that are essentially textbook. I get all the cycles and the usual appropriate amounts, whatever. What I can’t seem to figure out is why the dreaming is so consuming. They’re really starting to affect my perception of reality and I have a really hard time going from sleeping to fully awake. Again, cannot stress this enough, that this was happening BEFORE seroquel but I would say AFTER regular antipsychotic use

I’m kinda losing it but as someone who is PAINFULLY self-aware, I know myself well and to reach out when shit is starting rather than when it’s already overwhelming. I’m curious if anyone else has experience with something similar and if a professional has either put a label on it or an explanation to it. Sleep disorder? Just a fun bipolar side effect? Should I go down the PTSD/nightmare medication (prazosin) route? I have no idea, but I do know that I have lots of experience disassociating over the years (hasn’t happened in a while with medication maintenance) but it’s starting to feel like a break in reality and I’m not a fan

TLDR - REM sleep has me in a chokehold where dreams are too consuming/real and I can’t seem to shake them so I oversleep til the point I’m even more tired and on a depression slope/break from reality spiral

As hard as I try I can’t get a grip on my Bipolar. I can’t seem to keep a job due to anxiety and paranoia.

I can manage a household, pets, personal health and fitness and relationships but I can never no matter how hard I try I can’t keep myself stable for a long time.

I have gone through an incredible amount of trauma and I’m wondering if it’s ruined me.

I am medication and medical care compliant and see a therapist.

I’m starting to feel hopeless in my illness and that there is no point in going on.

Is anyone else taking Ritalin for adhd while also being possibly bipolar? Is this a bad idea? I pick up the med tomorrow.