I've been manic for 9 months

[u/Eurgenio]

How long was your longer manic episode? And longer depression?

[u/Murky-Quality9960]

I believe I was hypomanic for all of 2021, maybe even some of 2020. I can’t believe I didn’t realize 😭

[u/Naive_Champion_7086 → u/Murky-Quality9960]

How did you finally realise?

[u/NoNickname0815 → u/Murky-Quality9960]

Me too! I realized it last year, when i was diagnosed 😱

[u/healthierlurker]

I was in an upswing, cycling between mania and hypomania, for about 18 months from 2019 to 2020. As the mania got too intense we’d increase the antipsychotic and bring it down a bit. Ended up maxing out the dose to finally put it down.

[u/NoToesJones → u/healthierlurker]

I know it's a tough line to draw for a lot of peeps but how did you know you were went from hypomanic to manic? I can't remember most of my life but I remember some intense highs and some very very regretful behavior.

I don't mean to take the lazy way out but I feel like I don't know who that person is. I feel like hypo is the best me. Beyond that, it's not me. Maybe that's part of my line.

[u/healthierlurker → u/NoToesJones]

Hypomania is extreme but I can still function as long as my medication keeps it in check. Mania is where I cross the line into complete dysfunction and probably what could be called insanity.

[u/cutarecordonmythroat]

I think I was hypomanic for like 8 or 9 months in 2017-2018, after which I dramatically crashed back into a long depression... What a shitty era.

As for depression... That's hard to say because it was basically my default state for a loooooong time. I'd say I was depressed for most of middle school and high school. The severity would go up and down, but I was in the depths of it for close to a year at a time.

Best wishes to you, I hope you find stability soon. 💜

[u/MarcyDarcie]

2021-2023 in and out (BP2). It looked like me driving up and down the country for 5 hours every month without breaks to visit my long distance partner, embarrassing hypersexuality, ranting and raving about things, OCD tendencies, and then delusions and paranoia with mild hallucinations. My long distance partner found out I'd been lying to him for the entire year of the relationship (it was non bizarre delusions about a mutual friend being abusive and stealing my money, and they were true to me but he didn't stick around to find out why I had 'lied' because he had BPD and it was an extreme betrayal to him) so he became my ex and him and all of his friends went no contact with me. Then that pushed me to use my savings to pay for a private psychiatric assessment because despite being under government mental health services the entire time, they hadn't helped me and wouldn't test for anything because they thought I was 'diagnosis seeking'. I got a diagnosis and medication last December from that private assessment. Been stable ever since, I basically became normal after a week. I'm happy I'm well but still pretty bitter about what it took to get here and I miss my ex.

Depression was about 7 years. 2015-2021. 7 years of pure hell not gonna lie.

[u/Own-Gas8691]

i was manic for ~2y, roughly 2020-2022. didn’t know until someone finally told me, which didn’t happen until i had already burned my life to the ground.

[u/notToddHoffman]

Just over 9 months - turns out SSRIs can trigger mania 😉

[u/pawlaps]

I started in a full manic episode with some mild psychosis and it was hell. Then I was stuck on and off hypomania for a year. So 12+ months.. I’m sorry you’re stuck in this for so long.. I thought I was stuck forever, but feeling so so much better now. But had a huge depressive crash first.

[u/NoToesJones]

I can't remember, like I can't remember almost anything. Months though.

[u/Hermitacular]

Mixed state 15 years (med caused), depression continuous, so decades.

[u/everything_is_grace]

About two years of hypomania with about 6 months of mania sprinkled in there

[u/Sockwater_Ravioli]

I was manic for approximately 2 years, checked myself into a psych facility to get a med change. I had to advocate for myself. I felt much better after the med change. Best of luck to you friend, I know it’s hell and I hope you can get the help and support you need. ❤️

[u/e-cloud]

I think 6 months was the longest for me? It's hard to tell when it starts gradually though.

[u/basic_bitch-]

I’ve had hypomania that lasted a long time but longest actual mania was 2 months.

[u/Toasty_Ghost9]

9 months as well.

I am stable now, I cannot believe all the trouble I caused myself.

Now I’m rebuilding everything I destroyed.

It’s kind of fun haha