Self-Care for Hypomanic Episodes

For years I have been honing this list of strategies that work for me when I have episodes. Is it perfect? No. Does it help? Absolutely. Will your mileage vary? Heck yeah. Will the suggestions only work if you actually implement them? Um, yes.

Also, none of these are easy.

Self-Care Strategies for Hypomania

Tell somebody what’s going on. Verbalizing it makes it real.

Stick to the routine. The routine will keep you in touch with your baseline, even if you’re flailing far above it. It can also keep you from doing spontaneous nonsense that leads to bad decisions.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Easier said than done, but so important if you don’t want to exacerbate an already explosive situation.

Avoid stressors. Put shit off. Don’t answer the aggravating calls. Let it go, for now.

Stay offline. See #4.

Don’t make any big decisions. Hypomania is all about making BIG TERRIBLE decisions. Sleep on it, write it down, ask someone you trust about it and believe them, change direction/distract yourself. Come back to it when you’re more grounded.

Be aware of unrealistic thinking. This is CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Watch for all or nothing thinking, perfectionism, jumping to conclusions, false time pressure, grandiosity. Mindfulness training on baseline days will help here.

Take a benzo. If it gets unmanageable, we have to do whatever needs to be done to restrain ourselves. If you have a prescription for this purpose, take it. If you have someone you can call to be with you, call. Don’t wait until the damage is done. Better a few days in a fog than creating permanently scarred relationships, employment histories, bank accounts, etc.

Have an emergency plan. If you start to lose your grip on reality, experience paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, or have suicidal ideation, have a plan. Do not blow it off even for a little bit. This is an emergency no matter how often it happens.

Have a list of contacts and use it. Include someone who can come sit with you or who will stay in a chat with you; your psychiatrist’s number and answering service number; your therapist; and crisis hotline numbers (more than one in case you encounter busy signals or long holds). Use your support system. They want to help you.

Nearly every entry here could be its own post and probably will be one day (like this one about alcohol), but for now we move on to Self-Care for Bipolar Depression.

Comments

Embrace the Cheese

Why is it so hard to be kind to ourselves—gentle, caring, compassionate—when inside and recovering from an episode? Because we are not who we grew up wanting to be, thinking we’d become. In that sense, we are failures. Because we are reminded every morning with that first pill that something is wrong with us, will always be wrong with us. Because we were taught to be strong women and men. We were taught that if we worked hard enough, were smart enough, we could do anything . Solve the problem! Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! “Pure Horatio Alger,” says Hunter Thompson, which should be our first clue if not our forty-seventh. It’s hard to be kind, gentle, compassionate, when our brains are incessantly tearing us down, trying to get us to give up, give all the way up. It’s hard not to believe your own brain. But we have to believe we deserve kindness and compassion from ourselves. It takes work. I’m certainly still working on it. It takes mindfulness and self-remembering...

Self-Care for Bipolar Depression

Similar to the list for Self-Carefor Hypomanic Episodes , this is the one I use for depression. Some entries are exactly the same, but they work differently here. Self-Care Strategies for Bipolar Depression Tell someone what’s going on. Verbalizing it makes it real and lets you know you’re not alone. Stick to the routine . The routine will get you out of bed. The routine will get you fed and showered. Let the routine take care of you. Try caffeine. If you aren’t addicted to caffeine and it still has the effect of giving you a little jolt, sometimes it can help. Be sure you aren’t in a mixed episode first though. Avoid stressors. Fuck em. Distract, distract, distract. My go-to is streaming. I save a few favorite shows for the shittiest of times. Some people find more comfort in rewatching. Maybe your go-to is music, drawing, reading, video games. Whatever you can hand your brain over to for safe keeping, do that. Limit social media. Funny memes? Sure. Doom scrolli...

Sleep

All of my life, nighttime has been my favorite time. I’m most at peace, most relaxed and myself at night, when the world has gone to bed. When there is no more work, no chores or errands, and the phone can safely be ignored. Loved ones sleep soundly, needing nothing from me, and I am free to write, to read, to watch old movies, to unwind completely, stay up late in the quiet dark, and simply be. But the number one signal/trigger of a bipolar episode is disturbed sleep. My respite has consequences. So now my sleep hygiene (such a Dr. Kellogg kind of term) is perfect. A good eight hours every night (drug induced if need be). No caffeine after three, if at all. No alcohol. No wild nights out. The choice is follow the routine or lose even more days to the disorder. Be good or else.

blobfish-a-go-go

Search This Blog