
- It is more than just being happy
- Mania makes me feel euphoric
- Mania makes me feel constantly ‘on’ and ready
- Mania makes me feel a constant sense of anticipation
- Sufferers all have slightly different periods of hypomania and mania.
- An episode could last days
- An episode could last weeks
- A hypomanic or manic episode could last months
- Mania is not always fun
- Mania can be frightening and make me feel completely out of control
- Mania can make me delusional
- Mania can make me feel furious at everyone and everything
- Mania makes me feel irritable and restless to a point where I can no longer sleep
- Mania will make me pace incessantly
- I will feel that I constantly need to be doing something
- Sometimes mania makes me scratch and pick at my skin
- Sleep deprivation is agony
- Mania has put me in danger
- I will have no fear
- Fights will start with random people because I have no filter to what I say
- I will get run over because I believe cars should stop for me
- My driving will be reckless
- I will crash my car and laugh hysterically whilst it’s happening
- I will believe I can drive like a racing driver
- When manic, I’ll drink and take other drugs excessively
- I will drink a bottle of whisky in my flat alone just because I want to
- When I’m manic I’ll want sex all the time.
- I will wake my partner up at four in the morning because I want sex
- I will begin wild and whimsical projects that will take over my life
- These projects will be left unfinished when mania turns to depression
- I will be able to concentrate on projects for days on end
- Projects will be so important I’ll stay up all night – and then the next night
- I will forget to eat for days at a time
- I will not eat because I have more important things to do
- I will go to the gym obsessively
- I will not eat and exercise excessively
- I will faint in the shower because I haven’t eaten and have over exercised
- I will lose the ability to understand the concept of money when I’m manic
- I will constantly be in debt
- I will spend hundreds of pounds on a pair of shoes anyway because I’m manic
- I will stop paying bills because my memory is impaired
- I will stop paying bills because I believe I don’t need to
- I will believe everything will sort itself out because I’m too important for anything bad to happen to me
- Mania comes with it’s own special variety of intense anger that can’t be satiated
- I will punch holes in the wall so I don’t punch someone I love
- I will trash my possessions because the anger is too much
- Relationships will end because of mania
- The anger will cause me to lash out verbally and hurt the people closest to me
- Anger will cost me many opportunities; in education and my career
- I will neglect my job
- I will regularly avoid attending appointments because I’d rather be doing what I want to do
- I will walk out of a college course because I clash with a lecturer
- I will believe I’m better than everyone else.
- I will believe I’m the smartest person in the room, all the time.
- My speech will be pressured
- I will get annoyed when I speak too fast for people to understand
- I won’t realise I’m doing this and believe I’m acting perfectly normal
- My thoughts will race constantly
- I will get frustrated when people can’t keep up with my train of thought
- I will belittle people and call them stupid for not keeping up
- I won’t listen to anyone when I’m manic
- I will believe my opinions are more important than anyone else’s
- No one can reason with me during mania
- People will tell me I’ve upset them and I’ll laugh in their face
- I will make people cry
- Psychosis when I’m manic can spur me on to do even more dangerous things
- Sometimes I will secretly wish to be manic again
- The come down from mania to depression will make me suicidal
- After a manic episode ends, I will be completely and utterly exhausted
- This exhaustion will lead to physical illnesses
- You will take more time off school/work than any of your classmates/colleagues
- My memory and concentration will be impaired
- Medication is not a magic wand
- Therapy is not a magic wand
- There will be times when I will stop taking medication because I want to be manic again.
- Withdrawal symptoms are worse than the flu
- It will make me feel isolated and alone
- Hearing people say ‘I’m so Bipolar!’ will set my teeth on edge
- People will compare me to characters from tv and film depicted with bipolar
- People will tell me their jealous of the mania I experience
- People will think I’m a creative genius
- People won’t believe I have bipolar because they haven’t seen me in full blown mania
- I will worry about people finding out and thinking I’m mad
- I will worry about telling friends and family for fear they won’t understand
- Some people, who might be family or friends, will never understand
- The acknowledgement I will never be able to change their opinions of the disorder is heartbreaking
- I will worry about disclosing at interview or when I start a job, because they may find an excuse not to employ me
- It will take years for me to be diagnosed
- I will be tested for every physical ailment linked to depression and tiredness, because I won’t see a doctor when I’m manic.
- Mental health professionals will have differing opinions about my care
- I will have to adjust to the idea of living with the disorder for the rest of my life
- After diagnosis, I will start identifying what triggers a manic episode
- I will start to identify the warning signs of a manic episode
- I will have to rely on friends and family to identify these warning signs
- I will have to tell family and friends to tell me when I’ve upset them when I’ve been manic
- I will spend time when I’m stable again apologising for my behaviour
- I will learn that mania isn’t an excuse for my behaviour, but an explanation for it
- I will learn I have to make lifestyle changes to be stable
- I will learn that mania is self destructive
- I will learn not to miss mania when I’m stable
- I will learn to enjoy stability
Tedz Jones
Awesome list I can relate to most of them when in a manic phase. Thanks for sharing
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TammyB
Love that meds are not a magic wand!!! So true
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