Anger and irritation are frequently symptoms of a mixed episode. I am not sure how prevalent the irritated mania thing is with bipolar people in general, but I am very prone to anger/irritation and it has driven me to the hospital before, so please be careful!

A lot going on right now and it's understandable you're under strain. Nothing is impossible so if you feel that finding "me" time is going to be beneficial to your health then "take" it. Don't ask, don't demand, just disappear for a half hour...an hour...half a day.

You're not doing yourself any favours by being the hero if you end up sick and broken. Bipolar doesn't have a claim on anger so I can't really answer that part but I'm guessing anger is not good for stability. Meds or no meds...speaking of which you could research whether or not your current cocktail could have a contributing factor in all of this.

How is your anger when things are less hectic in your life?

Breathe...in through your nose...out through your mouth...all the way out...for two minutes. Then smile...even if there's nothing to smile about. Just the act of smiling when you don't feel like smiling might make you smile more.

Be good to you, charm.

I'm trying to keep it somewhat together. It's like my irritation level is high which is in turn making my anger level high. I'm normally not this bad when things are not this hectic. I don't know long I can hold on.

I know when I feel like this, especially at work, I have to stop and just inhale.......exhale......reminding myself that whatever it is that's stressing/irritating me will pass. Then I usually write things down in my journal to get my feelings out.

Anger and irritability are also well documented side effects of market variety stress. Work, family and marital stresses make a triple whammy. Congratulations on having achieved normalcy!

Making time for personal maintenance is my own medication for it.

Hope you work something out. Stress is literally a killer.

I used to have a very short fuse leading to explosions. Once I started taking Seroquel...besides finally sleeping...the big change I've noticed is I don't feel that rage any longer. I might get pissed off but it's controlled...often I can keep my mouth shut...and not even feel stressed. Just let it go now. So, what I'm saying is that you too can find relief with the right medication. HUGS

For me, I got a little carried away trying to figure out what is bipolar, mood swings, out of my control, even what meds would fix....

After anaylizing most my feelings - I learned, being burnt out, frustrated, tired, overwhelmed, broke, lonely - well, meds are going to fix that! LOL

Sometimes life is hard, exhausting and frustrating - add that to bipolar , maybe it can be worse - but life can suck, on the best meds with the good coping skills!

Make sure to take care of yourself during these times - good rule of thumb is HALT - Don't GET TOO

Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired

Makes us more fragile if we don't take care of ourselves, and these things - no one can do for us, or to us (((BIG HUG)))

Now, without stress - irritable to me, is horrible - I actually feel like I hate my skin - wishing you peace and comfort ASAP!

At least ur able to recognize ur anger and rage, so u can take a break before it gets out of hand. I had a real bad episode of anger and rage, mixed with depression, I guess a mixed episode in April and ended up in the hospital. Sometimes a clonopin helps me head off getting into an uncontrollable rage. Please take some time for u. If u need to call ur doc and get a med adjustment please do. Irritation, anger and rage all balled into one, made me into a uncontrollable monster. Please get help. hugs, tedi

Oy, I meant to say - when life was Hard - Meds would NOT fix real problems and stress.....

one word can screw a sentence or point, or a lack of a word : )

I get really agitated and have a short fuse sometimes. Someone said in an article that bipolar people tend to be more empathetic and compassionate. I'm not. I wish i was, because then maybe I would be a better person.

My Step mother had mental issues and had finally landed a job at the Dollar General store. She snapped one day at coworkers and went out, got into her car and started ramming their cars with hers!

I was pretty shocked but my Dad said it wasn't the first time she had done that.

Just - um, don't get to that point where you do crazy psychotic stuff when you're angry. Oh' and like my neighbor who attacked the cops when they came to rescue her from a suicide attempt. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, "I'm having an asthma attack" and lol, okay that was kinda funny ironically. So, um' don't do that, "it belongs in the dojo" :-P

I have the same. I have been known every so often to just quite quickly freak out and go mad at my partner for the tiniest thing - he doesn't know what's happened. He is aware of my condition but I am pretty unpredictable in this respect so it's hard for him to know. Even if I don't express my anger or irritability outright, I am feeling it a lot. I get very "twitchy" and stuff if that makes sense.

I empathise. Take care of yourself

tons of anger and irritability. even zyrexa is not enough to calm me