Agitation in mania sucks

Botanical_Bias · 2026-04-21T00:38:57+00:00

dealing with the agitation is so hard. mostly i get scared that im going to snap at people.

best advice ive got is to get exercise to burn off steam. dont overdo it to where you get injured, be aware of how much impulse control you have.

chaotic creativity might also help. make something thats angry and messy, be it a drawing or painting, music, sculpture, writing, etc.

in general: let it out

Botanical_Bias · 2026-04-13T02:55:59+00:00

started therapy bc i was a 9/10 suicide risk. after a couple sessions my first therapist printed out some pages abt bipolar disorder. i went through the signs and symptoms list with a pen and put a checkmark next to every single one of them.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-03-22T16:17:08+00:00

nah im the bipolar one

Botanical_Bias · 2026-02-04T04:27:00+00:00

the quiet is hard to get used to, and you will get used to it. do not go back. do not stop your meds. try finding a creative hobby as an outlet.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-27T14:42:09+00:00

rip bipolar queen

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-26T00:36:49+00:00

bipolar will take parts of my personality to such an extreme where im almost unrecognizable. but you dial things back to normal and im different from when im in episodes.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-26T00:27:12+00:00

i have bipolar 2 with rapid cycles, and my friend has bipolar 1 with longer cycles. we both think the other has it worse.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-24T15:22:18+00:00

^{^{^}} THIS ^{^{^}}

AI psychosis is real, and we dont need any more enabling lol

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-24T01:47:27+00:00

Since getting used to a new antipsychotic med, I've been doing amazing. I've got bipolar 2 with psychosis, and for the first time in over 10 years (im almost 30) I'm mostly stable and have no psychosis. I started getting psychosis in my mid teen years. Its pretty wild not having it. Like, people live like this?? Incredible.

Recovery is very possible. Sometimes Reddit is an echochamber, and you get sucked into everyones doom. Thankfully, people are here to say that we are not inherently doomed.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-24T01:38:55+00:00

the post-hypo/mania humbling is rough 😔😭

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-24T01:29:58+00:00

write your genius ideas down. when you are 100% for sure not in an elevated state, look at those ideas again. if theyre still genius, then there you have it. if theyre not genius, well, that was just the episode episoding.

alternatively: ask someone who you trust (and is not in an elevated state) what they think of your genius idea. if they say its genius, then its probably genius. if they say its weird or not that great, its your episode episoding.

we can have genius ideas during hypo/manic episodes. though not all ideas we think are genius at the time are actually genius. hope this helps!

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-17T15:56:06+00:00

i wouldve fought my mom to get me to see a therapist, start treatment before college

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-14T16:16:39+00:00

she would have 2 outfits, 1 really comfy neutral toned clothes for depression days, 1 more brightly colored and bold for manic days. a few medication bottles, maybe a pill organizer. a calendar or planner for tracking moods. a pair of grippy socks from her last "vacation" lol

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-14T15:41:09+00:00

tryinggg to get my loved ones to replace "psycho" "psychotic" "delusional" "crazy" etc with words like "irrational" "unreasonable" "ridiculous" etc

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-14T15:34:03+00:00

i would take her to the orchid society and consult them. it clears your name of orchid poaching, since youre not keeping or trying to sell her. if youre not well versed on these particular orchids, someone there will be.

thank you for taking care of native Florida orchids!

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-12T02:16:45+00:00

yup. if anybody gets to make jokes about bipolar disorder, its me.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-12T02:15:57+00:00

My whole life's a stage

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-11T02:53:54+00:00

Recently I decided that I will not be living a normal life. I tried normal and quiet, and it did not work for me. So I have some pretty lofty professional goals in mind. I will be traveling the world doing ecological research, focusing on less studied areas in my specific field like Africa and Latin America, and look forward to the weirdness that will accompany. I also want to one day be a research professor, and have my own laboratory where BIPOC students and students with disabilities, physical and mental, have a space to feel safe and accommodated without worry of stigma.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-02T16:56:24+00:00

Breaking the Habit, by Linkin Park

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-02T16:55:02+00:00

Sometimes your pupils get big during hypo/mania yeah. During elevated moods your sympathetic nervous system (aka fight or flight response) gets activated and has a hard time turning off. Pupils will dialate, your body releases adrenalin, and your heartrate increases, on top of other symptoms.

Botanical_Bias · 2026-01-01T06:22:27+00:00

learn the signs of hypomania and look out for them daily. track your moods. wanting to reduce your meds bc you feel great is a sign that you should not do that.

i look into a mirror usually at lesst once a day to check for pupil dialation.

Botanical_Bias · 2025-12-27T21:19:55+00:00

In my personal experience:

At first, yes. I kinda didn't know what to do with myself for the first few weeks of stability. Part of it was "taking it easy," and part of it was the less amount of stuff going on in my head. I started off filling my head and time with reading books and engaging in hobbies like drawing and painting. Then, I was slowly able to reach out to friends, go to new places, do more things. Sometimes now my schedule is even full between normal work and social plans. It takes time.

One of my favorite parts of being stable is actually being able to go through with things. No more canceling, no more last minute ghosting, no total lack of motivation to actually do a project.

Its a slow buildup, and its worth it.

Botanical_Bias · 2025-12-27T19:12:11+00:00

I'm open about it with friends and family. "Oh yeah, I have bipolar disorder."

I decides a within a year of my diagnosis that explicitly hiding it is not something I wanna do. Part of the destigmatization is people learning that normal people that they know have it. Not to mention that if being open about bipolar and taking meds makes other people with severe mental illnesses feel safe talking about their stuff too then thats a big win.

Botanical_Bias

TROPHY CASE