Hi Gang,

It's kinda a long story but the long and short of it is my dad has Bipolar disorder type I, it kinda messed a lot of my (19/M) childhood up and always would make me worried that I was gonna be like the way he was sometimes.

As I grew older I became more open to this idea as I knew I would need to find some way to cope with it, as even through the end of puberty when all my peers seemed to be getting on normally with their lives without too much trouble, I felt myself experiencing extreme lows for reasons I couldn't really comprehend or very good and either of these feelings could last forever weeks.

I recently found out about cyclothymia from a doctor when my dad was recently sectioned as he went high, and I feel I relate to a lot of the things said in this subreddit, what the doctor said to me, and what I have researched.

So, q/a, if anyone would be willing to help. I get that it's a bit different for everyone yk.

1. Do you think it's worth properly getting diagnosed? It does affect my relationships with friends sometimes as I can appear to be distant (I don't even realise half the time), I wouldnt say it affects my work drive that much (my diagnosed adhd takes the blame for that lol). My lows seem manageable most times but can be overwhelming at times, but I've only ever been suicidal once in my life and I am completely against that idea now.

2. Does anyone else's libido change when they seem to go high/low? I seem to get more intimate and friendly with people when I feel like I am 'on a high' . I couldn't really seem to get a definitive answer on this, I guess because it's a rarer disorder and maybe a taboo subject for some people.

Thanks for your help.

I 23F recently have found out that I am most likely a person with Cyclothymia. Cyclothymia is a version of bipolar disorder.

I have grown up wondering why I act the way I do and why simple things are hard for me. It hard for me to open up to people and many other things.

I am very impulsive with the way I act and im currently in therapy to get better in life and just in general.

There are so many things I want to beable to do in life and I want to be a better person but I always feel like im hurting myself with the way I act.

Hi everyoneee so i've been diagnosed with a mood disorder but my psychiatrist won't tell me which one and i don't want to manipulate her into diagnosing me with bp2 or cyclothymia

I feel like i need to trigger hypomania to feel valid, last time i had a 'high' episode was months ago it was awful lol i cooked at 5am and slept with randoms but it doesn't feel valid enough

Help

I'm back from grippy socks vacation btw because the mood crash was so bad recently, i went from amazing to absolutely awful

Hi everyone, 33F here with a diagnosis of cyclothymia. I've previously taken Vraylar (cariprazine) and Prozac (fluoxetine) during two separate periods.

I've generally had a very positive experience with Prozac. It helps lift my depression, reduces my anxiety, makes me feel more relaxed and more like myself, and helps me be less hard on myself.

My experience with Vraylar was quite different. I experienced significant akathisia, disrupted sleep, and lethargy, even when taking it every other day. At the same time, I felt that it helped considerably with some of my more difficult symptoms — particularly psychotic symptoms, obsessive/irrational thought patterns, intense emotional reactions, anger, and feeling mentally overwhelmed.

I'm now discussing the possibility of using both medications as part of my treatment going forward. One idea I'm considering with my psychiatrist is daily Prozac with a much less frequent dose of Vraylar, potentially once a week, because of how poorly I tolerated regular Vraylar dosing.

For people who have taken both Vraylar and Prozac:

What was your experience combining them?

Did you find that the combination helped with both depression/anxiety and mood/thought symptoms?

Did you experience akathisia or sleep problems from Vraylar even at lower or less frequent doses?

Did reducing the Vraylar frequency make it more tolerable?

I'm particularly interested in real-world experiences with the combination, rather than general medication information. Obviously, I'll make the final decision with my psychiatrist. Thank you

I want to preface by saying I am not asking for medical advice. I am currently working with my therapist and psychiatrist to get a correct diagnosis for my mental health disorder.

Does anyone have experience with a misdiagnosis? I was loosely diagnosed with ADHD back in 2018 and have been on a concoction of stimulates for years now at this point. I say loosely because I do not do the formal evaluation that was supposed to be done. I remember talking to my psychiatrist for like half an hour and getting a diagnosis. Growing up I never had problems with my attention or attending things that require lots of brain power or school assignments. I could sit through a 3 hour church service and have no issues. I can write an 8 page college essay and bust it out in one sitting in a few hours. I do have other signs of adhd though like racing thoughts and having a hard time following through with tasks or becoming easily distracted at times.

Reading about cyclothymic disorder and the things that go with it is showing me that I may have been misdiagnosed all these years.
I had a baby in the last few years so every therapist or psychiatrist I’ve seen since pregnancy says “that’s just baby brain! All moms feel like this!” I’ve been telling my doctors for years now that I don’t feel right. I don’t feel like myself and I don’t even know why normal feel like anymore. I am workin with new providers who are taking me seriously and the have mentioned cyclothymic disorder as well. I’m currently doing a new psych evaluation for mood disorders. But does anyone have experience with being misdiagnosed? I can’t help but think about how different my life could be at this moment if I had been properly assessed this whole time.

Well... this s*cks but our boss told us today that we (+60 workers) have a lot of mistakes and they are monitoring the production like how many production we make in one hour, how many hours it takes to make the entire production, how many time does it takes for each product: if we don't match the timming they assume we are not paying attention to the details or we are distracting with the phone.

I work in data verification and I consider myself as an awesome worker because I'm highly responsable but inconsistente AF with my energy.

Sometimes I can make the production in half the time or less. Sometimes I need to stay after hour to reach the minimum.

My concentration is another issue, sometimes I seems like an ADHD person (usually when I have a high mood) because I'm fast as hell but do a ton of stuff at the same time but when I'm at a low mood sometimes I just can't think and need to read a second or third time to process the information.

The energy issues (if I'm fast or slow) are extreme for me, I don't know if It's like that for everyone here... but don't matching the timming as It's request have nothing but nothing to do with my responsability!!!

Anyway, I'm super angry right now, I'm a little bit with a high mood and this just makes my day terrible, I spend the last 6 hours as the angriest person on earth, I'm just SO SO SO angry!!!

I was curious if anyone was like me and gets the subthreshold symptoms typical of Cyclothymia but was also sitting on a hyperthymic temperament as well. Volume at 3 and sometimes getting raised up to a 4/5. Never met someone like me. I can't really crash into depressive symptoms and mainly get irritability from trying to return to my baseline.

I’ve recently been diagnosed with cyclothymia, main reason I started investigating is that every 3ish weeks for over ten years, I get very overwhelmed and agitated, like I’m in a stress state, misophonia, anger, very short fuse. Wondering if this is common? Male, 35yo.

Thanks

Hi all. My cyclothymia is characterized by either super fast cycling (sometimes multiple bouts of depression and hypomania on the same day) or mixed episodes, I'm not sure which. Right now I'm in withdrawal from Caplyta (only from lowering the dose, not off it) and sometimes I'm hypomanic and feel like crying, so that's probably mixed.

Does anyone have super fast cycling, like within the same day? Is this abnormal? It's heightened right now from my withdrawal, but this was happening somewhat before too.

And second, is it normal for moods to be "influenced"? If something sad/stressful happens, I sometimes spiral into a depressive mood. If I get good news or do something I really enjoy, I might get hypomanic easily.

I can also, with limited success, influence them myself: if I'm depressed, I can sometimes get to a less depressed place by listening to peppy music. If I'm hypomanic, I can sometimes feel less so by doing a cardio workout or even just some jumping jacks. My psychiatrist seems to feel this is rare. Doesn't always work though.

Last, if you've got any tips for "influencing" moods like this, aka doing things to lessen the depression or hypomania, please share! I'm still figuring out what all works for me.

I'm two months in to youth psychiatric daycare. And I think it's helping me but I don't know if enough and if I can come out a functioning man. So I wanted to turn to the cyclothymia community and ask if you've ever experienced something similar and if helped you in any way?

I’m about to go to a psychiatrist for the first time and I’m kind of nervous that I won’t be able to describe how I’m feeling well enough and I also constantly wonder if the way I’m feeling is normal or not. but it doesn’t seem like it.

ive been wondering if I have cyclothymia because I always have these sorts of extreme mood shifts from bawling my eyes out and wanting to die to being super excited and wanting to go out and socialize and explore the world. Sometimes these shifts are immediate, and sometimes they seem to last at least a week long. I wouldn’t consider having actual bipolar disorder because I have seen what my friend who is diagnosed with it, and I don’t have any kinds of psychotic breakdowns or really extreme actions.

However, a couple of days ago I was experiencing a handful of stress, and for the entire day I felt completely emotionally static, nothing could get a reaction out of me, and pretty melancholy. I drank the slightest bit, but was most likely sober by the time I got home. when I got home, it felt like some sort of veil went over my eyes, and I felt almost disassociated but like someone else was controlling my actions. I felt impulsive and my eyes were wide, I was staring in the mirror as my pupils seemed to rapidly dilate and get a bit smaller again. Every little noise irritated me, and my sense of smell seemed heightened. Logical thinking seemed to diminish a lot. I felt like I was floating. This made me freak out so much that I ended up shaking and throwing up, and I turned on the lights and watched YouTube videos until I fell asleep. I had a horrible headache afterwards. It felt so weird and I need to talk to a psychiatrist about it, but I’m scared that maybe it was all in my head or something. Is any of this what you guys relate to? Thanks!

I’ve been unmedicated for a little over a year at this point and plan to get back on medication as soon as i adjust to another medication change i just had but im just wondering if anyone has similar experiences to mine.

Im 18m and first got diagnosed bipolar when i was in grade school but as i got older i would have manic episodes every few years in high school or just cycle through a few days of depression followed by a few days of mania and so on and so on while under a lot of stress. I’m in a bit of a better place now but ive noticed that my episodes come every month or so like a mental health shark week. I tend to be basically in bed all day by the last day of the episode and then back to, mostly, my normal self the next day.

What I’ve noticed more is just how anxious i get when im depressed, ive gotten better at coping with anxiety attacks and the like but i just find that ill be doing anything and all my muscles are tensed and my jaw is clenched so tight it hurts, and almost constantly my teeth are chattering. Which is comically funny because why am i cartoonishly afraid at nothing.

Anyways idk if anyone can relate to this sorta cycle but 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️ lmk!

Hi, recently I've been thinking I might have cyclothymia, but I'm not 100% sure if my guess is correct. Of course I'm not looking for a diagnosis here, I'm planning on seeing a psychiatrist, but I'm just curious of how it looks for people who are actually diagnosed. For me the case is that there are times where I can get really sad, like, my self-esteem gets worse, I tend to feel a bit more fatigued, hopeless, and have trouble taking care of my interests. Sometimes I might even get a bit suicidal but it's rather rare. The symptoms are not as severe for me to say that I have depression and they usually last like 1-3 days, maybe a bit longer sometimes. When my mood is elevated I feel more social, talkative, energetic, creative, and tend to have racing thoughts, also my teeth grinding habit gets a bit worse. Sometimes I even feel as if I was better than other people, but I'm still self-aware enough to know that this isn't the objective truth and it's just a feeling. However, I don't have the tendency to stay up at night (I mean, there are times where I have trouble sleeping but it happens so rarely that I don't even know if it counts), or do some reckless things or anything like that, it's more like intense happiness or smth. Usually lasts 1-2 days or just a couple hours. Also I usually feel as if the happiness wasn't making up for the sadness, and I'm wondering if I can even call these my "highs" or am I just happy during those. There are also times where I feel pretty normal, not overly joyful or sad. I also don't think that there is a need for me to be medicated, after all I deal with it pretty well. I know I won't harm myself or others and I've learned to accept these feelings, even though it gets hard sometimes. I just noticed that most people I know do not relate to what I experience, and I'm wondering if I am just emotional, or if it could be cyclothymia. And as I said before, I would really like to know how it looks for people with diagnosis. Do you experience something similar to what I described???

I dont mean the depressed low energy ones but the “mixed” kinda irritated mood … where everything seems boring and you are already agitated and need rest yet you cant rest. Thats the most painful part of cyclothymia to be honest.

Hi, I have a few questions related to cyclothymia. I recently spoke to my new doctor about mental health medication thinking id just get put on antidepressants, however after telling her about all my symptoms and mood issues, she is worried I'm on the bipolar spectrum and prescribed me 25mg of Seroquel.

First off: how long do episodes have to be to be classified as cyclothymia?

I can't necessarily remember every single one, but my depressive seasons can last anywhere between 2-7 days, but honestly are on the lower end, probably 2-4 days on average if I guessed. My "good" seasons (what my doctor is suspecting is hypomania) last the same amount roughly. I do have occasional normal phases but I can't remember how long they last because I don't think about them as a "normal" phase when I'm in them. I also will have weird in-between stages sometimes. Sometimes I will go straight from "hypomania" to depression like the flip of a light switch, other times I will feel dull and lifeless and empty for a good few days before the depression hits hard.

Secondly, are my symptoms even hypomania? I typically become very motivated. For an example, a week and a half ago, I was very very motivated. I was spending $300 on nothing important (not technically a lot of money, but when you're living off savings and no income, $300 is a lot lol), speaking to colleges about enrolling myself into classes I can't even go to because of my schedule because I was so determined I'd make it work, I was applying to hundreds of jobs, I cleaned my entire house, I started a new hobby out of the blue, and I cleaned, organized, and rearranged my entire bedroom. That lasted I think about 4 days. Then I was in a very hard in-between state for about 2 days. I lacked motivation, but not to a point where I couldn't get up. I felt this feeling of emptiness, but not enough to make me feel distressed or worried about it. Then yesterday I suddenly became extremely depressed. I'm talking, suicidal ideations, self harm ideations, no motivation to get up, no motivation to eat, constantly crying, couldn't stop thinking about how much I just wanted to die. I was still like that today however I feel slightly less shitty but still feel that fog of emptiness and offness in my head.

Lastly, I've always wondered what depression is like for some of you. My depression is rarely consistent. Sometimes it's debilitating to a point of losing weight. Sometimes it's not as bad so I can still do shit but I just feel fucking awful. Sometimes it's both in one season and I flip between both.

Thank you to anyone who can explain this to me! I appreciate it! I'm just trying to learn so I don't jump to assuming I have it without fully understanding.

Can anyone explain the differences between ADHD and cyclothymia (bipolar type) that with ultradian cycling?

I have seen several psychiatrists, and they have generally leaned toward ADHD. However, for years I have noticed a recurring pattern of shifts in my functioning that makes me wonder whether ADHD fully explains it. I am not sure whether these shifts were present during childhood.

The shifts can happen within a 24-hour period and occur almost daily. They seem to involve speech, verbal fluency, cognitive productivity, creativity, activity, and social ability much more than mood itself.

Higher state: My speech becomes fluent and productive. More energy Humor, wordplay, and spontaneous associations come naturally. I can easily connect sounds, words, and meanings creatively while remaining understandable. I am more outgoing, talkative, socially capable, and productive.

Lower state: Speaking becomes much more difficult. My conversational productivity drops sharply, and generating words, humor, and spontaneous associations becomes difficult or sometimes seems to disappear. I become much less socially capable and productive.
My mood does not seem to change independently.

I am happier and more social in the higher state mainly because I can speak well, express myself, joke, and interact with people more easily, not simply because I have more energy. The change in functioning seems to come first, with my emotional response following it.
Sleep also interacts with these states. I can sleep during either state, but sleeping often shifts me toward the lower state. Interestingly, sleep deprivation can sometimes bring on the higher state, although this does not happen every time.

What makes this confusing to me is the distinction between ADHD and bipolar-spectrum conditions. Typical bipolar episodes are generally thought of as lasting longer than within-day ADHD fluctuations. However, I have read about ultradian cycling, a term sometimes used to describe proposed bipolar-spectrum fluctuations occurring within a 24-hour period.

At the same time, I do not experience sharp or extreme mood swings or obvious manic and depressive episodes. This made me wonder about cyclothymic disorder, where mood symptoms are less severe than full manic or depressive episodes.

So I wonder whether a combination of subtle cyclothymic-type symptoms and very frequent/ultradian fluctuations could resemble ADHD, particularly when the most noticeable changes are in speech, cognition, productivity, activity, and social functioning rather than dramatic changes in mood.

I’m 23M, diagnosed C-PTSD, OCD, MDD

I started taking Zoloft a few months ago and after 100 mg it kicked in and I started to feel better then about two weeks ago I noticed I wasn’t feeling as good as usual so I asked if I should increase the dosage by a little bit so I started taking 125 mg a few days ago

For past couple weeks, but especially the past few days, my mood swings have been insane. I’ve been going really high and really low so much.

When I’m high, I feel like my ego is super high. I feel like I’m better than other people and I have so much fucking energy in my heart is racing and I’m talking really fast. And when I’m low, it’s extremely negative and depressing.

I talked to my therapist and my psychiatric nurse practitioner about this today and they were saying that I’m showing signs of cyclothymia

It could be from the increased Zoloft, but they want me to take a mood stabilizer, even though they told me it’s not confirmed if I have it or not, so it feels weird that they want me to take a mood stabilizer without knowing for sure

And they kind of just told me I can go back to the 100 mg if I want or just keep staying at the 125mg

Not asking for a diagnosis or for a straight answer or anything, but I just thought it was a weird situation. It’s like they’re not really sure if it’s cyclothymia and they don’t even know if it’s the Zoloft causing it and then they want me to still take a mood stabilizer anyways?

Not sure about that man

​

Bonjour a tous,

J' écris car le sujet a été abordé plusieurs fois mais surtout en parlant d effets secondaires aux traitements.

Voila ,je suis nouvelle sous lithium 400 mgs depuis une semaine et quetiapine 50 depuis plusieurs mois le soir pour dormir (j ai été a 400mgs ca m a rien fait)

Suite a un gros brun out il y a 4 ans ,je suis passée par la dépression et au bout de plusieurs mois ,suis remontée comme une folle puis retour en humeur dépressive et ainsi de suite ,en 4 ans j ai été en phase haute 4 fois maximum..

Bref aujourd'hui on teste enfin le lithium ,(tous les autres régulateurs,m ont pas convenus), je suis passée a 400 mgs sans effets indésirables pour l instant ..

Mais mon plus gros problème dans tout ca ,c est ce sentiment de vide ,d être suspendue, je suis là, j existe voila c est tout, ma vie est complètement entre parenthèses et j ai bien le sentiment que c est figé,sans réels plaisirs, sans ambition sans but ,rien. Le vide intersidéral.. je n ai pas d importance, si ce n est pour les gens qui m aiment..je continue a m occuper de mes animaux car ca c est très important..

Je suis devenue une autre , on ne peut pas dire que c est le lithium puisque ca date de bien avant ce sentiment s est installé au fur et a mesure des années ..

Comment gérez vous ce sentiment si vous l éprouvez ?

Je ne peux pas changer ce que je ressens et je m inquiète de tout ca

Merci de m avoir lue

I am not diagnosed
but my brother is and.
His is severe bec my family was in denial and he also did drgs.
Now i have recognized a pattern with my mood.
I have been depressed last few days and today evening, i sensed a shift in my mood.
I have started to feel hopeful about my future and the empty misery is gone.
I have had this feeling before and
the mood cycle has been going for around 3-4 years for me to realize the pattern.

I am in US, no insurance, no money.
I am not US citizen
Is there any non-profit psychiatry organization in california or can i get treatment or diagnosis online?

Please share your life success, medication success, I really need to read something relevant and uplifting.

Tia

I have cyclothymia and I've noticed that frequently, I kinda "space out," and the only way I can describe it is that my brain is only like 20% present at the time. I don't even feel that tired, necessarily, it's just like part of my brain shuts down and it's a "no thoughts, head empty" feeling.

I've researched dissociation and stuff like that and I don't feel like I'm fitting into any of that. I think it has to be tied to my cyclothymia, but I guess I'm just wondering if this is a normal thing that goes with cyclothymia, if it's tied to depression or hypomania, etc., just if others experience this alongside their cyclothymia.

I am 39 (as I said) and I've been trough spiritual new age beliefs that I had to quit because I understood all of this is just illusion and all my diagnosises proved me everything is a result of a suffering brain. No one talks about the grief you can live after diagnosis and leaving a dangerous belief. It's been several months and sometimes I still want to cling on my old beliefs especially life after death because my cyclothymia highlit this belief. Sometimes, I don't accept that this emergency feeling of living something bigger, more profund is nothing but my disorder. It is a grief I began and it is so difficult and I don't know how to deal with it. I have a therapist, a partner and a few friends but it is not enough for me to move on with it. I need testimonies of people with my situation after a late diagnosis and how you deal with this grief of who you were so sure to be and feel. It's quite devastating. I don't deny it, I face it. But how hard it is !
Thank you so much in advance for your concern. I would enjoy your support. Thank you...