The only difference between Bipolar I and Bipolar II is the type of mania. Bipolar I has full blown mania- Bipolar II has hypomania. Bipolar II never has full blown mania- if it happens, the diagnosis is changed to Bipolar I. People with Bipolar I can definitely get hypomanic as well as fully manic!
Euphoric and dysphoric mania…..
There are two types of mania seen in both Bipolar I and Bipolar II : euphoric mania and dysphoric mania . Euphoric is just like it sounds. Dysphoric is harder to understand as we are not used to the word! Dysphoric mania means agitated mania. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling!
Naturally, there is a lot of mental and physical agitation with dysphoric mania , but a person in this mood swing can be very aggressive and even violent. There are always sleep problems – the person looks haggard and worn out. They may sweat a lot and usually look pretty wild in the face. I went through this with my former partner Ivan. He was in a dysphoric mania/psychotic episode for three months. He doesn’t get euphoric mania.
Whew. This illness is very complicated. If you have bipolar disorder, what kind of mania do you experience the most? If you care about someone with the illness, how would you describe their mania?
I have bipolar II hypomania. I am rarely manic, but when I am it’s euphoric. It’s hard to admit I have it as I just want it to last forever. It’s a lot easier to get help for dysphoric mania- as you feel so rotten. But it takes a lot of practice and self awareness to acknowledge and get help for euphoric mania!
Julie
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I usually have dysphoric mania. I get very irritable and grouchy and am just a difficult person to be around, especially for my family.
I have had euphoric mania occasionally. When it happens I just have a lot of energy and I just want to clean the house from top to bottom, make lots of lists of things to do…and then burn out in a few days or a week!
I’m pretty much mixed state. I cycle back and forth between depression and mania.
Sleep and weight management are challenges. I looked like the walking dead.
Agitation, irritability, anxiety and paranoia were present. The right medication and meeting with an experienced psychologist that understood BP were mind saving essentials.
I only had euphoric mania once. I felt like i could conquer the world. i felt like a super hero. that if i wanted to sly i could, it was a wild ride. that was 6 years ago. ever since then i have been in a slight depressed state, even taking cymbalta, lithium, abilify and lamictal. you would think i would be happy as a pig in shit, right? NOPE.
I agree with you, julie. Hypomania is the best…until it ends. I even miss it as I was awake for 19 hours and got so much done. The toll it took on my family and my career was devastating. I would rather stay in balance, on meds, then do that to the people I love,
PS thanks for the great website!!
When I was diagnosed with BP II a few years ago, I was quite shocked. 1. I never had any manic episodes, and 2. having worked as a clinician in the mental health field, I had never heard of this diagnosis. It wasn’t until a new doc increased my lexapro up to 10 mg. (which I had only been on for a couple months) that I thought I was losing my mind and was scared enough to call someone. This was what led him to the BP II dx and not just depression (which I believe I successfully masked to the outside world for a very long time.) It took me a while to look at those behaviors that tend to be more hypomanic – getting real good ideas – like starting my PhD, having energy, being more social, and feeling positive.
I began taking Lamictal and felt better immediately – even while detoxing from the lexapro. It’s been a few years now and I am at 200mg. When I see my doc, he tells me that an increase will not be effective, but that isn’t what I find on sites such as this one. I began searching again today because I don’t want to resign myself to the belief that I will always feel this way, which makes me feel more depressed. When I read about the generic vs lamictal, something clicked in – for the last 2 months I have noticed a steady decline in my mental state – which made me look at my med bottle. Interestingly, I have been on the generic lamotrigine for about 1 1/2 months. I plan on rectifying this asap.
I don’t want to augment the lamictal with another med., and I want to ask you Julie about your experience in increasing your dose to 500mg.
Thank you, I know this comment has a few different topics