I have been experiencing a type of behavior for years now that I can remember having since an adolescent. It’s an overwhelming rush of energy that I can’t control or repress at all. It usually only lasts for twenty to forty-five minutes. I feel that nothing triggers these feelings, I could be reading a book and quite suddenly, get this urge to run around the neighborhood until the feeling passes. I could jump around the house, punch and kick objects, laugh uncontrollably at nothing, and talk non-stop to people who aren’t there. When driving and this feeling overcomes me, I end up driving extremely fast and reckless. One time when sitting as a passenger in a car, I stabbed myself with a pen to try to make this feeling go away. This rush of energy happens on some days very frequently, at times occurring every hour. Sometimes it only happens a few times a day. When feeling depressed, it usually doesn’t occur at all.
Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing before? Is it a “normal” behavior for this to happen? If this has happened to anyone before, what are your diagnoses (if you feel comfortable sharing)? I understand this might be comparable to the mania in a bipolar person, but I was told that bipolar mania lasts at least two or three days. Could this be attributed to an axis II personality disorder? I am diagnosed as schizoaffective with borderline personality disorder. I know most people here aren’t psychiatrists, but does anyone have any insight into this behavior?
Thank you for reading, take care, and I hope you all have a great new years!
Hi @YakDip - I have officially been diagnosed with Bipolar type 1 and lately I have been getting short duration bursts of hypomania - today it lasted about for 2 hours roughly - yesterday lasted for a good part of the morning hours.
Today I was animated - a bit irritable and charged up - I kind of talked and talked - then argued.
Yesterday I was a bit euphoric but had a productive day - charged up and feeling ‘high’.
Short bursts of hypomania or mania can exist and it is quite common for me to get them this way.
I am an ultradian cycler - this means that my mood cycles very quickly, it is a type of bipolar - I am sure that it can happen with SZA as well.
Best of luck to you - my psychiatrist tells me to brace myself and try to ride the ‘wave’
Thank you for your comment! Glad to know someone out there experiences something similar. Never heard of ultradian cycles before, will have to look into that, thanks. Do you also experience longer durations of mania as well, say episodes lasting a week or longer? I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar type I as well, along with SZA, which I think is odd because doesn’t having SZA imply that you have bipolar already imbedded into your illness? Anyways, good luck with riding that wave, and hope that irritability doesn’t start up again!
Thanks YakDip - I was placed on a potent tricyclic antidepressant years ago and I was hypomanic/ Manic for decades - but usually my highs and lows come and go quickly - since I cycle so rapidly - this can be a good thing.
I dont know why you would be diagnosed with Bipolar and SZA, this doesnt makes sense - you are right.
I was diagnosed with SZA and bipolar but separately - at different times
Holy smokes! Manic for decades?! Wow, forget about riding the wave, that’s more like water skiing the tsunami!
Yes, I agree that cycling rapidly is a better thing as well, by the time I have planned out to run along the highway wearing my cape, the mania is fading, and can realize it’s probably better to drink some root beer and pick out the sock fuzz between my toes instead.
My son sometimes go through similar. He has what I call excess energy. Out of the blue he will be air punching… I have always attributed it to his ADHD but I don’t know. After his last break he was kept on Lithium as there is concerns of a mood component so schizoaffective?
I have always wondered how to tell the difference between ADHD hyperness, BP mania or psychosis.
I had the exact same thing happening to me today. I just posted a topic about my aggression I had today, I wanted to cut myself, but ended up running into walls and dancing wildly instead. I wanted to scream and shout. It lasted an hour or so but I still feel a little hyper. It happens occasionally to me, but mostly I feel dead and blank.
Some pdocs diagnosed me with Bipolar, but my psychiatric history (11 years and longer) shows sz is my diagnosis. When I went to hospital last year a pdoc (whom I still see in outpatients), who is an expert on Bipolar, said I had sz, not Bipolar. My mood swings are too quick and erratic, and as I said, most of the time I suffer negative symptoms of sz.
