Posted by Dinah on July 17, 2004, at 18:42:32
In reply to Re: Not finished yet... » Dinah, posted by SLS on July 17, 2004, at 13:18:11
I did a lot of mood charting about a year ago, but have gotten sloppy. It was really like clockwork. The meltdowns were every ten weeks or so, give or take two weeks either way. The meltdowns were followed by a stuporous period. Which was followed by a period where I was either reasonably normal or a bit thick and sleepy and apathetic, but not horribly so. The good sort of hypomanias probably don't come more than twice or *maybe* three times a year. I also charted my migraines, which had their own cycle that I can't quite correlate with my mood cycle. I can't find any correlation at all with my hormonal cycle, unless it's possibly ovulation. But that's really really iffy.
It's chicken and egg, perhaps, with the sleep deprivation. I usually see it as sleep deprivation coming first, then the hypomania. My job has a lot of deadlines, and I not infrequently have to pull an all nighter, or close to an all nighter. Which almost always perks up my mood and sometimes catapults me towards too good (or too agitated) a mood. Not good for me, I know, but I'm lousy at change. I can't see myself changing jobs.
I think the meltdowns have been spacing themselves out further lately - maybe twelve to sixteen weeks rather than eight to twelve, which I credit entirely to the twice a week therapy. That lends credence to the escalating stressors followed by meltdown theory. I think I'm nothing but a grownup with a two year old's nervous system. Try fitting *that* into the DSM! :)
poster:Dinah
thread:366935
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040714/msgs/367222.html