It really isn't describable till after you come down. Think hallucinations and delusions of grandeur. You will know you have mania sometime after the meds in the psych ward start to bring you down. At least that was my experience.

Really talking fast can be another sign, and incoherence, when I think of it. Flighty flights of fantasy, I believe my pdoc wrote once about me. LOL

for me speedy.. I get hypo manic.. talking a mile a minute.. really wound up...you can feel very good.. think you can do anything and have a ton of energy.. for me angst... irritable
it may go beyond that though ... with psychosis.. some people become hyper sexual.. indescreet.. delusions of grandeur...sleeplessness..and then of course the crash

For me, it is like being on the speed dial. I talk fast, move fast, everyone and everything moves too slow. I get agitated with people as a result. I have halluciations and delusions of grandeur; I think I am an important person who is going to solve the world's problems. I can't sleep and I want to have sex non-stop.

The kind I had was happy mania!!! I felt on top of the world!!!! And so ambitious!!!! I could do anything and everything!!! All at once! And do it well, too!!!! Sleep and food were unnecessary. No problem seemed too much to tackle!! Everything was effortless!! It was like hitting on all cylinders at once!!! Wheeee!!!!! And it was like being on the verge of orgasm all the time!!! Sex was great and I couldn't get enough! I could describe it to death, but I guess the description pales compared to the actual experience.
You had to be there, LOL!!!!

Honestly, i don't think has ever happened to me. I always feel depressed and sad, and i never feel like i can ever accomplish anything. Do you have to have mania to be bipolar?

Yes, in order to be diagnosed with any type of bipolar, you need to have experienced at least one hypomanic or manic episode.

http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/psychology/781/dsm.htm

Christa1- thank you for posting that, the only episode that i have experienced is the major depressive episode...If i was to be manic would other people notice by the way?

The world is going turle speed around me when Im manic, I can see every detail, hear every thought, see every bug, or even the wind blowing infront of me. I have no thoughts of money, or restraint, or rules or bounderies. My paranioa goes away and Im careless compleatly. I LOVE being manic...though it affects my family very negitivily my son, and even myself, though at the time I don't care or dont understand. In Jan I had a sever manic epidosde and I spent over 1200 in 3 days, in food, junk from walmart, and booze, and hid it all in the trunk of my car so my family wouldn't see it. But it felt good, great even, until I came down and hit rock bottem.

To be bipolar u have to experence extream highs and lows I believe- I'm a rapid cycler, so I can change daily, hourly, weekly. Depends on whats going on around me I guess. My meds don't fix it, they just make it more ocntrolable.

Full of energy hyper sexual. i feel actually good some times for days then crash and sad.

LOL, copy crista1's post.

I'm starting to think I may be a rapid cycler as well. I started seeing my pdoc in August and he diagnosed me BP II a couple of months later. Although, I was diagnosed a few years back and told them to stick it.

Hey...you get older and wiser.

Feeling manic to me is being indestructible. It's like I'm untouchable. Nobody can mess with me. Furthermore, nobody can tell me anything either. That is probably the biggest thing I have had to learn about myself is that when I am on a high I need to learn how to listen. The problem I am finding out is that I need the other person, my wife, to come at me with a respect angle during this time. I'm not suggesting her to kiss my ass. Just respect me and listen to me as well. DO NOT tell me what to do. I am more likely to listen if you treat me right.

Anyway, I digress...

I could go through the DSM and give all the right answers, but feeling untouchable best describes it for me.

As a musician I can play and write songs for hours. I could have sex several times a day. I like to spend money.

BUT WHEN I COME DOWN?

I feel like crap. Because all the pain I caused to not only myself, but to my family. BP is frustrating! But you gotta deal with it!

When I'm manic or hypomanic, I go into hysteria. Cracking up laughing periodically all day long sometimes for days at a time. I don't see it as a problem until after I have come down from it. It's like your brain is a drug and the feeling of being manic is indescribeable. It's the talking a mile a minute. It's the pacing the floors. You feel like you are flying but with your feet on the ground.