Is Irritability a Sign of Bipolar Hypomania?

Hi, I just received this question from Sandra:

Q. Julie, is irritability a sign of hypo-mania? I’m also going from calm and patient to incredibly angry in minutes (seconds?). Any ideas? I do have an appointment to see my therapist today.

Sandra

A: Oh yes, mania can cause irritation and anger. It’s called dysphoric mania. You can also be scattered, unable to do tasks calmly and act snappy and cry in frustration. The main problem is that it affects your sleep. If you have dysphoric mania is also called mixed mania or agitated mania.

If you go from mania to depression and back, it’s called rapid cycling. I’ve lived with constant rapid cycling for years. It can be managed with a good treatment plan.

If you’re on new meds or have had a change in meds, this can cause the dysphoric mania. If you’ve recently had a stressful event in life, that can be the problem as well. Or it can just be the darn illness. Bipolar disorder mood swings don’t always have a reason – they just show up like an unwelcome guest.

So many people think that mania is always the upbeat awesome, euphoric kind. It’s not- it’s very often this upsetting, uncomfortable and very confusing dysphoric mania.

If you go to the menu on  your right, you can click on the mania tab and read more about the different kinds of mania.

Julie

 

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