Are you the creative or genius type?

Clicked on a bipolar treatment link, and got the DaVinci method. Using your BP to get ahead in the world. Very interesting. about creative geniuses, entrepeneurs, famous persons who were high achievers and were BP.
I've noticed some people here are really on top of their disease and very intellectual. I'd like to know if they have creative outlets, etc. There is even a book "DaVinci for Dummies" !
I would encourage all intellectuals to check this out and think it over. Might be a lot better than drugging yourself into that very frustrating place of doing verry little Also see this interesting article from the PsychCentral newsletter, along the same lines:
Here it is:
There was an article about me in the New York Times yesterday. It’s on the front page of the Business section: Just Manic Enough: Seeking the Perfect Entrepreneur.

I am not actually mentioned in the article. It’s about a brilliant young entrepreneur named Seth Priesbatsch. But it might as well be about me and my hypomania.

” “Elevated” hardly describes this guy. To keep the pace of his thoughts and conversations at manageable levels, he runs on a track every morning until he literally collapses. He can work 96 hours in a row. He plans to live in his office…He does not socialize. He no longer reads books, nor does he watch TV or movies. He works from 8 am until 10 pm, seven days a week.”

Seth, I love you, man!

I am not quite as bad as Seth, today. He is 21-years-old and I am 51 (which is the new 31.) But I am not far behind. Yes, I exercise just about everyday until I foam at the mouth. I am at my computer, writing, by 6:30 am every morning – sometimes much earlier. One of the best things about my daughter going away to college is that I can stay at the office as late as I want – especially on Friday nights. Most of my socializing is done at 12-Step meetings. I belong to a book club but don’t read books – just shorter newspaper and magazine articles.

I try to watch television, I really do. I have had Netflix for months and have watched three movies – one about newsman Edward R. Murrow, another about author Truman Capote and finally, a flick about covert U.S. funding of the mujahidin in the late 1970′s. Sometime in the next few weeks I will make time to watch a documentary about Al Jazeera! Not exactly the Lifetime channel.

Like Seth, I am all work – mine is journalism – all the time. My mind races. Sometimes I have really good ideas and I cannot stop thinking or talking about them. I go to extremes to make sure I learn and investigate as much as I can. When I am on a story, I mean really “on” a story, I am on it like a bad rash.

Last week during confrontational interview with a high ranking official at a public agency I turned to look at others in the room – one woman had pushed herself deep into her chair and was looking at me with raised eyebrows. Another guy looked at me as though studying the proposed trajectories of a hurricane on The Weather Channel.

That’s hypomania. It’s frog’s hair from flat out bipolar disorder I. Here is the difference from an expert quoted in the article:

“It’s about degrees,” says John D. Gartner, a psychologist and author of “The Hypomanic Edge.” “If you’re manic you think you are Jesus. If you’re hypomanic, you think you are God’s gift to technology investing (Seth’s obsession.)”

I am in good company. Teddy Roosevelt, George Patton, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs. For me, I did not know I had hypomania. Most folks with bipolar disorder, either I or II, don’t recognize it in themselves because that is our normal. Thankfully, I had a therapist and nurse-practitioner who recognized it. I now take a mood stabilizer, which was really weird at first because I felt level – that’s the only way I can describe it.

I worried when I began the medication that I would not be as creative or productive. That has not been my experience. Actually, I can do more. It is easier for me to focus and organize my thoughts. I recognize my hypomania now. I still love being manic but I know it is not healthy or safe. Life is good.

My brain now obeys the laws of gravity.

PS- Check out Tom Wootton's new book!

Bipolar In Order:
Looking At Depression, Mania, Hallucination, and
Delusion From The Other Side

Really intelligent guy, advocate of getting yourself in together. He's very successful, has a Bipolar Blog on Psych Central, and is BP himself.

Nice to meet you Bill. Thanks for replying. I'm Sandy
Are you BPII ? What are your meds? - if you don't mind that is.
Sorry about the divorce, I recently made a similar slip on the internet, cyber sex. First time, then phone sex twice and I got dropped, ha ha. Nobody else knows.
Wish I was hypomanic like you. Mostly depressed, not in a sad way, in a I don't want to do anything way. Weaning myself off my only 2 meds at the moment, Cymbalta and Wellbutrin. That's going well, no side effects or withdrawal. Want to get on something different when I have some definable symptoms. Mood stabilizers have been dc'd by my doc. I'm waiting to turn into a pumpkin. Wish I did have the hypomania sx like you and the others that I mentioned in my previous emails. Don't have the energy to pursue anything.
Thanks again for responding.

I have a book called "The Bipolar Advantage" and another titled "Bipolar II."

Both talk about using bipolar to your advantage.

One interesting suggestion is that the US has more bipolars than other countries because it took hypomania / mania to drive people to emmigrate and explore the frontiers.

I've definitely rocked hypomania. But when I crashed into depression, I lost everything (except the boyfriend - now fiance). I had so much fun, but was it worth it? I guess without the hypomania, I would have never met my boyfriend, and would never gotten in a position where my bipolar was noticed, I could afford treatment and finally get treatment after 19 years of dealing with this.

I decided to date 50 guys, as fast as possible. lol. After a few bad dates, I signed up for a dating website to sort through and look for better ones. I found my guy there. He was date #26. :D

In hypomanias, I started 10 small business that I can remember - in 6 years. All were successful until the next mood swing when they ended abruptly. BUT, I did learn a lot of marketable skills.

I started college 3 times - in 6 years - only to drop out when the episode ended. BUT, my last attempt at college got me free access to a psychologist who figured out my bipolar pattern and referred me to free access to a psychiatrist.

In one hypomania, I was so obsessive about my musical studies that I gave myself tendonitis in both wrists, carpal tunnel in one, and seriously messed up my jaw.

"I was on it like a bad rash." LOVE IT. That makes my day and I won't forget it!

The longer the hypomania, the harder the crash. Is it really worth it?

Tortoise This is so interesting -
"One interesting suggestion is that the US has more bipolars than other countries because it took hypomania / mania to drive people to emmigrate and explore the frontiers."
My grandparents were immigrants from Poland. I've always wondered if I had inherited anything in the gene pool from them. Their children were pretty screwed up, and theirs too. I now know it is mental disorder.
You are such an interesting woman. I was captured by your tales of hypomania. Carpal tunnel ? that could almost be funny. And your businesses ! I've thought of all that stuff but don't have stamina or persistence, very short=lived. Thanks again for the quote & post

 

  Pretty much hypo all the time.  Get depressions in jan-feb time frame. Mostly im hypo and hyper everything during most of the time.

   Its not all bad, you learn to live with the constant energy, and the demands it places on your body (and it does, hard to believe) I have thrown myself into work, ( work two 40 hour a week jobs that i love) I work with my hands, i excersise more and more each and every week. ALl in all i will take it over depression.

   No im not on any mood stabilizers. Honeslty i dont get angry, or sad, mostly i am just happy, hence the nick name i have picked up over time Happy Bill.  Really i notice my problems get worse when i have lots of stress, lots of free time, and when i have lots of stress and free time.       

   Stress is such a huge player in our illness. Case in point, with my wife i was allways having financial stress, and stress about to much work, and no sex stress. Now that we are seperated, the no sex thing has gone away, work is the same as before, but i come home to my own appartment that doesnt have a ton of stuff waiting for me.  Financially i am in better shape and getting better and better each and every week.

  Bill

I miss my Manic episodes....I became a manager at two jobs, was employee of the month quit a few times, worked over 50 hrs a week, raised a child on my own, was involved in photography, writing, home decorating, and drawing (specifically portraits and making layouts for homes) all while in my manic episodes. I miss those days...as hectic as they were, it kept my energy focused. Although, it always ended in disaster, the times that I did excel helped me tremendously.