Sorry if I seem like I ask too many questions...but it's how I offer advice. Do you go out or have any activities that you like to do out of the house. Often when your battling trying to get on a proper schedule where you don't sleep too much or too little, just sitting around the house all day makes it hard. Sitting in front of a TV or Computer can cause lethargy and we can battle that with meds as well. Not necessarily a "sleepiness' just a general "I don't care" kind of lethargy.

If you get out, even just to walk in the sunshine and soak up some Vitamin D, it can help quite a bit. Exercise helps, and walking counts. Change of scenery to break up the day. Going to the library for a change of pace, museums if your town has them...things that aren't generally expensive, but get you out of the house and let your brain focus on different things and your body moving. These things also help when dealing with stress/depression/irritability. When your depressed, just sitting at home and holing in can make things worse pretty quick.

My Depression tends to come on fast and out of the blue, I'll be fine one day and I'll wake up the next morning and feel like there's a thick black blanket covering me and I don't want to move or breathe....but I've been doing this for a very long 29 years and I know that I Have to get up, I Have to get dressed and I Have to get to my office, or out of the house. Because if I don't, odds are I'll spend 2 or 3 days in bed just being a slug with my brain on "hamster wheel" mode going over every awful thing that's ever happened in my life. And that is not a place I particularly like to be. So I use the Coping Skills I've learned, I stay out of bed and busy, even though it takes a ton of energy and I work through the depression and do my best to not let it take over.

Sleep Hygiene is an actual thing and it's important to have a regular schedule, creating a routine of sorts so that your brain/body know what its to do each night at bedtime and the atmosphere its in to sleep. I can message you a Sleep Hygiene list if you'd like of things to do that help you train your brain to sleep more regularly.

Managing BiPolar is a balancing act of sorts, medication, therapy, proper diet, exercise, sleep and coping skills. All of these things are important, but it can take some trial and error to find the right mix that makes your brain happy and your body willing to do what you want/need it to.

Take care,
Kat

thanks i have been fighting this all of my 65 yrs of life and it is not getting easier i just go with the flow it hits me out of the blue too and find myself sleeping later and later in the morning going to bed earlier and earlier just to do something i do not have a schedule sleep when i want eat when i want go for a walk to the store spur of the minute do not even stop to lock the door just grab a cigarette and money and book i am trying to get out but i do not have a car and the bus is always late never know when it will show i go to the craft store just to look and when i do buy something i carry my coupons to save save a lot too but i want to go early bus 9am and it is not easy to get up this way i only have to wait and hour to come back otherwise it is 3 hrs hanging around at the plaza way the bus runs so i stay awake all night to get 9 am bus then i trigger the hypomania and the crash again for a few days it has been this way for a while 36hrs awake crash then sleep for 12 hrs but it is getting out of hand now and i just want to stay in bed i get dressed barely and mope around all day which is a plus i guess at least i am out of bed but spend the day smoking outside in and out sleep hygiene list would help if i can do it thanks for listening it helped me still not sleepy so probably an all nighter

You do realize you have 2 posts in the same day, one about hypomania. Which is increasing, and this one about depression.

I wonder if this depression, which you say was triggered, is more about remorse and guilt than actual depression?

I am just confused. And if an incident worsened your depression, perhaps it is something else. There are more states than just depression, normal and hypomanic. Usually, depression lasts for months or longer. Although I guess some would disagree with me.

I hope you figure this out and get it under control.

Not all Depression last for months or longer, some episodes only last for days or weeks.

yes mine last days i am a rapid cycler another reason for meds i think and funny seroquel makes me manic took it for a while blew thousands and thousands of dollars in 3 months worse experience in my life up then down homeless

you are right about it being something else i have issues with sickness and death this is a senior complex everybody is sick and they just die on you the property manager told me not to get close to anyone because they are older and die on you but to stay active in clubs and stuff i go to craft club on tues depression usually lifts on sun over weekend thurs on depressed then up for a few days there is a woman who bothers me and she has been hanging around she complains all of the time makes me angry has been hanging out at my smoking spot so i do not smoke so i get irritated and move to the parking lot which is annoying i think this all started with her being around there are a couple of them who have been around me that i do not like and who annoy me i think that may be the cause of this it did not seem like a normal depression i am depressed but the anger and not being able to do crafts started out of the blue today it is a people issue i attract people but i do not like them and prefer being by myself that may be the problem i do not want to get out of bed because i smoke outside and people are outside hah i am fighting my own demons will check about meds but i think that is the problem right now my symptoms are classic bipolar but treatment has always been a problem