Mania & Hypomania

Since I was feeling mildly manic about a week ago, I thought now would be a good time to write about mania. Exercising is a huge help in coping with and preventing mania, and if you want to skip reading about my history of mania, go to the end to see tips on using exercise as a coping skill. Whether you have a mental illness or not, exercise is a great way to improve and maintain your mental health.

Although anxiety and depression are difficult, mania and hypomania come with the most challenges. I experience a lot of restless, racing thoughts, and anxiety when I'm manic along with an increased desire to communicate, pressured speech, and oversharing about my personal life.

For a more detailed look at bipolar, you can read: "Types of Bipolar Disorder from WebMd," and click through the various descriptions of the different forms of mania.

I’ve had two full-blown severe episodes of mania that required hospitalization since I was 19, and a couple other episodes that didn’t require hospitalization. Hypomania is a milder form of mania, and I usually have around three episodes of hypomania per year.

The first time I had full blown mania was when I was a sophomore in college, though I’d had something similar to a manic episode when I was 15. I remember vividly the start of the mania. I was at my parents’ house on a trip home, and the first evening I was there I went out with a friend. That night I stayed up the entire night, drawing pictures. The next day a friend drove me home from my parents’ house back to college. I remember being irritable, and later she told me I was arguing with just about everything she was saying.

Things spiraled from there. That night I lay in my dorm room top bunk, unable to sleep. A drawing I’d worked on the night before became covered in more drawings with a blue ballpoint pen. The next day, I began compulsively writing in notebooks and creating "art" with the supplies from my Art 101 class. Later, when I came down from manic episode, I read what I wrote and looked at my “art,” and it was clear that they weren’t the work of a sane person.

On the second or third night I couldn’t sleep, I put on my running clothes and went for a run around the cross country course at two in the morning, hoping it would make me tired. It did not, and I did not sleep again for the third or fourth night in-a-row.

After that, things get fuzzy, though I remember quite a bit—just not in chronological order. I borrowed a friend’s truck and drove thirty minutes from Seward, Nebraska to my godparents’ house in Lincoln and spent the night there. They knew something was wrong and called my parents.

My parents came from Norfolk, Nebraska and  got me admitted to an acute psychiatric ward  at a hospital in Lincoln. A friend visited me there, but after she left, I had a meeting with a psychiatrist where I believe I called him a pill-pusher. After the meeting, I checked myself out and called my godparents to come pick me up.

The next day, the chaplain from the college came and brought me to the hospital again. At they ER they injected me with a tranquilizer because I was so manic. Later, my parents arrived with the pastor from our church. I had a good relationship with the pastor, and he had offered to help talk me into going with them. They didn't think I'd stay in the hospital of my own volition, so they brought me back home and took me to the family doctor. He prescribed a cocktail of psychotropic medications to bring me down from the manic high.

This is where things get really hazy. I know I spent more time making "art" and not sleeping much, but I don't remember a ton besides that.

I eventually came down from the manic high and ended up back at college. I saw a psychiatrist in Lincoln within a couple days and was put on a medication that worked pretty well for a number of years.

My first manic episode was by far the worst. I've had one other full-blown manic episode that required hospitalization since then, but nothing like that one.

Medication has been and most likely will be necessary to keep me reasonably sane. However, other life skills are also vital to manage and prevent manic episodes. Skills I’ve learned in DBT group therapy, staying spiritually healthy, and taking care of my physical body by eating (reasonably) healthy and exercising all help prevent and manage manic and hypomanic episodes.

Here's some quick tips for adding exercise to your repertoire of coping skills:

• Learn about the exercise(s) you're going to do or might want to do.
• Try a few types of exercise and find one you could see yourself enjoying.
• You don't have to enjoy them right away—exercise is an acquired taste.
• Ask someone at the gym to show you some machines or make a one-time appointment with a trainer (you can always do more than one if it's in your budget).
• Start a routine—exercise at the same time every day and/or the same days of the week.
• Fitness classes can be a good way to do this.
• Try to exercise at least twice a week to start and work your way up to three or more.
• I'm all for doing something to occupy your mind while you walk/pedal/etc., but I try to have over half my runs be time when I can ponder. 
• I do listen to podcasts and recorded books and music—especially if I’m working out on indoor aerobic component. 
• Watching some Netflix, TV, or whatever can help the time go by on a piece of indoor aerobic equipment.
• Listening to music/etc. outside is OK too, but I recommend having one earbud out or the volume low enough that you are aware of your surroundings. “Be careful or be roadkill” (credit: Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbs).
• Meet a friend.
• Regularly or occasionally.
• You don't have to be the same fitness level or even doing the same activity. Chatting before and after may help you be motivated.

Thanks for reading.