By the way, I do think there are more "fun" types of mania. I experienced this for years when I was hypomanic and full of energy. A friend of mine used to consider me one of the few people he knew that really knew how to have fun. I'll take those high energy hypomanic days over the last 2 and a half years any day. It was a very controlled type of manic behavior where I slept great for 7 to 9 hours a night, had great workouts, and functioned at a fairly high level. I don't think I will ever be the same.
My first day trying piracetam and oxiracetam along with a choline source I immediately felt great but then I could not sleep that night. The days that followed were riddled with fluctuating moods and emotions. I realized piracetam and oxiracetam had destabilized me and stopped taking them. I think I tried just taking piracetam at a low dose but I don't think it was helping me much and may have been hurting some. I have thought about trying just 400 mg of piracetam in the morning just to see what happens. I have some laying around and may try this soon.
Animal, do you take piracetam? I should know this but my hurting brain can't remember reading whether you were taking it or not.
Nah I don't take piracetam, I have done in the past and it had a rather depressing effect on my mood
Was there a reason that your were hypomanic for such an extended period? I too have experienced an extended period of 'controlled' hypomania, where I had extremely high energy levels, was ridiculously social and could laugh at anything, while only sleeping 6 hours a night and feeling fully rested from this. After a couple of months it escalated to full mania, eventually incorporating psychotic behaviour, where I assaulted a number of hospital staff and destroyed a ward; a very unpleasant time for me.
Hypomania has a tendency to result in full mania if it is left untreated, or if a causative substance is not withdrawn. Now when I look back on my two months of hypomania, I realise just how false the elevated mood was, and the uncharacteristic behaviour it resulted in. Also although I was productive it was frantic, grandiose and tangential, meaning that nothing sustainable was really achieved. I'm actually much happier now then I was during that hypomanic phase, and it's a sustained happiness supported by appropriate medication and a tangible improvement in my general quality of living. I personally think 'happiness' is consistent and has to be supported by things of substance, whereas the elevated mood in hypomania is just just a false, transient and superficial state.
I was basically living in la la land and not dealing with reality, or at least not all of reality, for a pretty long time. I was taking Zoloft which worked great in many ways and I felt good without side effects(at least not any bad ones). I don't think I was in a constant classic hypomania where one doesn't require as much sleep, it's more like I was simply on the manic side of things half of the time. I think some of it had to do with me being young and very athletic and having tons of natural energy and stamina. I thrived off of feeling good and having energy. I hate to admit it but I also think I allowed my looks to get to my head, giving me superficial confidence(a psychiatrist I saw thought I might have some kind of personality disorder as a result of my looks). Though, I never acted like someone that they knew or thought they were good looking. I was just crazy and wild and didn't give a shit about what other people thought of me. I was very unconventional in may ways. Escape was my life. Whether it was through playing my bass guitar in a band and by myself, being able to play basketball for hours at a time, working at the gym, going out and getting wasted and having one night stands, or having sex on a regular basis with multiple different partners, I was pretty much living a life of escape. I don't contribute all of this to my being bipolar. I think escaping was a a result of a combination of my bipolar and my reaction to having to deal with so much bullshit growing up.
Zoloft combined with some fish oil definitely made me feel good. I think this combination in conjunction my psychological issues are what contributed to me being in this very long period of high energy, happy go lucky, free spirited and crazy state. I think it was a form of controlled hypomania or mania. The only reason why it came to an end was because I stopped taking Zoloft, got a little older, and the perfect storm of stressful events and circumstances(including not being on Zoloft anymore) sent me into a horrible 5 week long mixed mania where I was very agitated, had racing obsessive thoughts, pacing, and the ability to only sleep for about 3 hours a night. That's when I finally had someone drive me to the hospital and I found out I was bipolar and was given Depakote and Zyprexa to take me out of the mania. I haven't been the same ever since for several reasons. Now life is pure hell and I am physically, physiologically, and psychologically damaged.
I agree that hypomania for the most part is a superficial state of happiness. I do think it is possible to be in a sort of in between state where you are fairly in touch with reality and function pretty normally but still exhibit some kind of manic behavior. I do Much of those 8 years when I was on the manic side I had genuine feelings of happiness, fell in love, and had a the ability to fully experience and feel empathy, compassion, joy, and sadness. Damn I miss those years.
Edited by morganator, 27 July 2010 - 08:30 PM.
LoL actually I'll reinforce my previous statement by saying tjcbs is an ignorant, juveile, shit.
