Just a thought right now. An unpleasant thought...

Because my symptoms have been feeling so much like anxiety lately, could I be slipping into dysphoric hypomania?
Or do mixed episodes only occur during mania?

I wish waves were here to answer your question.....
bizi

My last hospitalization was for dysphoric mania. I'm familiar with the overlap of anxiety/inner tension with manic symptoms, but only at that level...

I've really only been noticing this for the last 2-3 days. Yesterday I only had to take 50mg of Seroquel (650mg/day) along with my regular doses of Xanax, but I had to take 150mg today. It helped, but that put me at my max of 750mg/day. Max for Seroquel is 800mg.

At least I'm not manic, and I'm medicating for all this, but I'm worried that I'm escalating again and I'm going to reach the point where I'm maxed out on Seroquel soon.

I see my pdoc on Wednesday. I'm sure I can hold on until then.

Tomorrow's another day. Hopefully it's more of a 650mg day than a 800mg day.

Kay

Hi Kay,

Dysphoric hypomania is written about and is a possibility at any time.
Please see the symptoms and definitions for various categories of experiences, as discussed in this pdf, if interested:

https://www.icgp.ie/assets/10/41D0B4...olar_37-38.pdf

I hope this information helps to answer your question.

I hope Tuesday is a calm day for you.


DejaVu

OH, dear god --
That is where I lived for many years:

http://www.mcmanweb.com/bipolarii.html

(The DSM does not appropriately enough address this as far as I am concerned.)

-------
Anyway, even if you do have it, it might be only be a transition stage for you on a way to a more friendly mood.
Keep your eye on what is happening.

M

Thank you for the articles.
I have no doubt now that this is what's happening. I remember the feeling of "inner-tension" and the psychomotor activity I was experiencing prior to being admitted for dysphoric/agitated mania. It's just happening to a lesser degree.
I'm only feeling these symptoms in the morning. I doubt I would be feeling them at this point at all if I was one of the patients who responded to only a nightly dose of Seroquel. But so far, the prns are doing the job.

I hope this is just a shift to a positive mood, but I escalated into a more pronounced euphoric hypomania during the middle of last week, requiring my meds to be readjusted. When I was in the hospital, they treated the dysphoric mania like mania. There is little room (50mg) to adjust the Seroquel again if I escalate.

I'm worried that I may max out on Seroquel and require an additional drug, posing more problems. The only drugs I found commonly used with Seroquel are Depakote and Lithiium. I cannot take Depakote, and would only even entertain the idea of taking Lithium at a very low dose.

Both my pdoc and the psychiatrist in the hospital told me I'm "running out of drugs." And that's not a comfortable thought to have right now.

Kay

Kay,

I take 200 mgs Gabapentin at night.
It is a low dose but seems to help with depression and anxiety.

My old pdoc's plan was to get me to 600 mgs but I was overwhelmed with the brain fog / sleep affect -- can't explain exactly but two to or three times tried to increase the dose.

M

Thank you for mentioning that Mari!!!

I was taking a very hefty dose (totalling 2400mg/day) of Gabapentin for years for neuro pain d/t MS. I stopped it a while ago because it wasn't working for me anymore. I forgot it was a mood stabilizer too...
Maybe that's another reason why I've been harder to control recently.

I'll have to mention this to pdoc tomorrow.

Man oh man, You are a wise one!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Kay

Good luck.

I hope that it helps.

M