your not alone...i am rapid cycling as we speak...but i am sorry...i have no answer as i am crawling out of my skin with ths! anxiety meds help

i've been up and down 40 times today, it seems...

and when those problems creep into your head, do you dwell and dwell and replay and dwell and rehash and dwell some more...and CAN'T get it THE FUCK OUT OF YOUR HEAD!

nope, never happened to me.

Yeah! I can't seem to get certain thoughts out of my head. Like that my job has put me into poverty and I can't get a GF... things always seem to be with me and the internal monologue WILL NOT STF UP!

i go thru the same thing sometimes...tonite i am just completely f'ed up, depressed but energetic, cannot sleep...UGH!

dito Ireland80. my eyes are burning because i want to sleep so much and i'm so tired, but can't...

and the internal monologue...i always have TWO going on...COMPETING. i call it the constant tennis match in my head.

my thoughts are racing so much i can't even settle on just one...i hate that!

I know exactly what you mean. I have been in this mixed up and down state for about a week or so. I call it the "chatter" in my head. It just wont stop...Sometimes I feel like I should just go jump off a cliff or something to make it stop. I have meds for anxiety and sleep, a temporary fix...Then you have to wake up and spend all day with it going on and on.. So no, its not just you, its part of our illness. I cant fix it, but I can relate. I dont know about you guys, but just knowing that I am not alone helps. Thanks!

Rapid cycling is 4 or more major episodes in a year. Up and down throughout the day is called a Mixed Bipolar state and is an episode all it's own. Just had one of those, lasted 2 damn months and really sucked. Had to have my meds adjusted to settle it back down.

I am one of those ultra-ultra rapid cyclers, so I can totally totally relate to everything I am reading. It is sheer hell, I agree, and sometimes the anxiety is so bad. I too fight off the urge to cut. I can so relate to having the tennis match in my head, or just the racing thoughts keeping me from being able to sleep. The only positive with rapid cycling for me is that I always tell myself that if I don't like my mood, just sit tight and it will change momentarily, hopefully into something better, LOL!

Yep. I'm like that, too. Sometimes, my moods can change from minute to minute, never mind 'just' hours. Doesn't matter if it IS a mixed state, rather than rapid cycling, Tamsb, cuz I also fit the criteria that you describe for true rapid cycing. And this is the 'down' time of year for me, so I'm not looking forward to the next couple of months!!! LOL!!!!

Yeah, I get mixed states sometimes, and that is sheer torture. I'd rather be in the blackest pit of depression than in a mixed state. That is when I really want to cut, and I just feel like I am coming out of my freakin skin.