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ladyelaine
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17 Aug 2018, 6:26 pm

I think I might have cyclothymia. I had a hypomanic episode last week. I had a full blown manic episode last year that landed me in the hospital. I have depressive episodes too. I have had acne since I was 14 and my periods are irregular. My periods come every 29-42 days. Anybody else out there with cyclothymia? What is it like for you?



Sandpiper
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20 Aug 2018, 8:14 am

I thought it was the case that if you have ever had a manic episode the diagnosis is automatically Bipolar I regardless of whether or not you ever have another, though I may have misunderstood that.

I have a certain amount of mood cycling which sometimes looks a bit like cyclothymia but my diagnosis is just a somewhat vague "Mood disorder". I experience frequent spells of several weeks when I have a lot more energy than usual, need very little sleep and tend to get very excited about all the ideas whirling around in my head. I used to get myself into financial trouble during these spells, a common issue with hypomania. However my symptoms have never been severe enough to stop me functioning on a day to day basis or going to work. I have enough awareness of my symptoms now that I can take a step back and think things through properly before getting carried away with my ideas.

After a few weeks of this I tend to crash back into my default mild depression state, something which has happened just a few days ago. To be honest I don't really know whether my symptoms are actually Bipolar related or just part of my ASD and it is certainly difficult to disentangle the depression bit from my ASD symptoms.

I did a lot of research into the grey area between Bipolar and Unipolar Depression a few years ago and found the following website very helpful.

http://psycheducation.org/


_________________
Autism is not my superpower.


ladyelaine
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20 Aug 2018, 10:39 am

I think my symptoms point to a mood disorder like cyclothymia or even bipolar I. Autism is often co-morbid with other disorders like mood disorders, ADHD, depression, anxiety, etc. I think sex abuse most likely caused the onset of whatever mood disorder I have. I experienced that manic episode immediately after telling my mother about the sex abuse. My grandmother has cyclothymia, but she won't seek treatment. My mom said that my grandmother's mood swings were unpredictable and they made her a nightmare to live with. My brother has cyclothymia too, but he has not sought treatment for it. His mood swings aren't as severe as mine. He tries to manage his mood swings by staying on a regular schedule and visiting us only when he can handle visiting us. Mood disorders run in my family. I lost about four pounds during the hypomania episode( went from 117 to 113). I lost the same amount of weight during the manic episode from last year( went from 122 to 117). I have been walking to work nearly everyday for the past year and that kept my weight down. My weight stayed between 122 and 117 pounds inbetween the manic phase and the hypomanic phase. (18 months between them). I weigh 113 pounds now.