{"id":774,"date":"2013-01-14T16:21:22","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T00:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/rapid-cycling-bipolar-disorder-reader-question\/"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:58:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:58:17","slug":"rapid-cycling-bipolar-disorder-reader-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/rapid-cycling-bipolar-disorder-reader-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder: Reader Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hi Julie,<\/p>\n

I have a question.\u00a0 Looking back at about eight months of journaling, I noticed that every two months or so, my entries suggest that I was depressed.\u00a0 It would appear that this is cycling every two months.\u00a0 Could this be accurate?\u00a0 Anything I can do to correct it?\u00a0 Yes, I will bring it up with my psychiatrist at the next appointment.<\/p>\n

Thanks!<\/p>\n

Hi Sandra,<\/p>\n

Bipolar disorder is an episode illness- as compared to psychotic or personality disorders which\u00a0can be \u00a0more stable over time. This means a person can have a few severe episodes and then none for a few years- or someone, like myself can have mood swings every day for years and years. I had 23 mood swings from the last part of April and all of May. It was not pleasant. I have rapid cycling bipolar disorder II with psychosis. It sounds like your rapid cycling follows a very strict pattern.<\/p>\n

If you’re cycling every two months- that’s pretty regular- so you should be able to pinpoint what is going on. There are a few things- hormones, the weather, triggers, medications or just the illness itself. This\u00a0is probably just your brain pattern. \u00a0I did a podcast with my friend Alice-\u00a0 she talks about how she gets manic ever spring and depressed in the winter- like clockwork. I am definitely happier in the summer.<\/p>\n

What matters is that you chart it. If you see a definite pattern of depression interlaced with mania- talk with your doctor about rapid cycling and make sure your meds are correct. Anti depressants can cause this rapid cycling.\u00a0 Also, mania can look like stress when it’s actually agitated mania.\u00a0 Lamictal can help a lot with rapid cycling.<\/p>\n

It’s great that you’re seeing the patterns- it’s the best way to manage the illness. I have my Health Cards Treatment Plan- I know you have them as well- I would get out your depression card and write the times you see the change into depression and what you think, say and do right before it starts. That is how to prevent yourself from going down too far.<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hi Julie,<\/p>\n

I have a question. Looking back at about eight months of journaling, I noticed that every two months or so, my entries suggest that I was depressed. It would appear that this is cycling every two months. Could this be accurate? Anything I can do to correct it? Yes, I will bring it up with my psychiatrist at the next appointment.<\/p>\n

Thanks!<\/p>\n

Hi Sandra,<\/p>\n

Bipolar disorder is an episode illness- as compared to psychotic or personality disorders which can be more stable over time. This means a person can have a few severe episodes and then none for a few years- or someone, like myself can have mood swings every day for years and years. I had 23 mood swings from the last part of April and all of May. It was not pleasant. I have rapid cycling bipolar disorder II [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11416,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions\/11416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}