Actually, for stable sleep you need to take something to control the mania, typically an anti-psychotic. Once you get the mania under control you can start a stabilizer that takes away the mania, like lithium or depakote. Lithium has saved my life!

Not sleeping sux.. Most of us do take meds to help with sleep..
I would try take some measures to help you with it as well.. No caffeine later in the day.. Maybe a nice warm bath to help you relax.. No sugar late into the evening etc..
You're aware of risky behaviour so even if you have some intrusive thoughts of acting on it come on here or call a distress centre to talk it out..
Are you seeing your psych on a regular basis now??...If you find yourself starting to get high I'd call your doc or therapist and see if you can get in to see them sooner
Some of what you're talking about sounds like you're stressing out about it maybe??..
Things will come together for you sweetie
Several people here get a lot out of journaling and mood charts as well

Thx all. This is all new to me, so maybe i am stressing, but w/ good reason. I dont even recognize myself lately. I take trazodone for sleep & doc just started me on mood stabilizer, he didnt think an antipsychotic was necessary yet. I just got a mood tracker app for my phone that has a place where u can make notes/journal, and i jink this will be very helpful

Can I just give you a bit of unsolicited advice. I've noticed your posting alot and that's good, talking about BP and learning about it is great. But you have to be careful that you don't automatically think that everything your told will happen to you just because you have BP. BP'ers rarely are able to regulate their sleep or get the same amount/time each night, *smile* it's king of a pipe dream for us all, we either get too much or not enough and it varies with moods and med changes and all the things that make it possible to manage the disease.

Don't think that just because you don't get great sleep one night that you'll automatically start risky behavior. You've got the best piece of information, your aware of your behaviors, so you can notice things if they start to happen. With being new to your DX you need to give the meds and therapy a chance to line up and see how you can adjust your lifestyle to work with them, once you see how stable you can get and what things are triggering other things good or bad then you know what to adjust. Keeping a diary or journal is a great tool and will help with letting your Pdoc (psychiatrist) know how your meds are working.

Take care,

Kat

I get the idea you've only not slept one night? just wondering usually its after 2 to 3 that docs get a bit cautious. I was off my sleep med 3 years now my insurance
is being a turd in authorizing it so its been 3 weeks of up and down sleep......grrrrr

every one is so different. Once your meds kick in you will be able to really learn how to help them control your symptoms by adding diet and exercise food , med compliance ......no naps so you sleep at night. what have I missed?

well welcome to the site.

Yah, its only one night. But i know it can spiral out of control quickly from past experience. And i really dont think im overworrying. Ive noticed some risky behaviors lately in myself. I dont hardly recognize myself. I am losing some of my support group right now because of changes ive made in my life. And yah, this is all new to me & i dont really have any tools to deal w/ it yet, so thats why im turning to u guys. Im trying to be proactive and prevent further risky behavior, but dont really know how yet

Hi there. Thx for posting. What Kat said about sleep and BP certainly applies to my experience. Man, I've struggled with sleep hygiene, some seroquel prn magic, rigid bed and wake times, etc etc, and my sleep is still the most bedeviling thing.

I've gotten more pragmatic about it over time. As long as I'm getting a fair number of hours every day, I try not to stress about it, even if it sucks to have an unconventional schedule.

Also, I think it's great that you are practicing vigilance about it. It's a necessary skill -- self-monitoring -- for stability. And, I can also say that right after diagnosis and treatment initiation, I was hyper-hyper vigilant, interpreting everything as a sign of building mania. I laughed too long, uh-oh; I wanted to have sex three times today rather than two or one, uh-oh; etc etc. And why not? It's a scary disorder and so new and weird it is natural to be hyper aware.

Trust your instincts. They get sharper around this stuff too :)

From my experience with lack of sleep and mania episodes. I would try a over the counter sleep aid with what your taking. By no means you dont wanna do over kill if your meds kick in and you sleep ok stop with the over the counter sleep aids trust me you dont wanna wake up from a 15 hrs sleep session but you dont wanna sleep 3 hrs and either feel like your alright or feel like your body is gonna break down. I used to get geodon it was a very good drug it made me sleep evened my mood out and stopped the mania as long as I slept right.