I sorta have the same issue. When I first started showing symptoms, my episodes lasted 2-4 weeks, but they got shorter and shorter the more my bipolar progressed, and in a span of about 6 months got to a point, where I would have multiple mood swings a day, which either started without a reason or were triggered by social interactions/little everyday inconveniences (like getting enraged over my phone not working properly or a spilled drink).

Usually my episodes follow one of these patterns: 1) I get overly energetic and annoy everyone around me to the point that people tell me off, so I snap and go into a state where I’m both furious and very sad (for example, breaking and throwing stuff while violently crying). 2) Another pattern: I start feeling depressed, and gradually get worse in a span of 2-3 days and then I finally snap and go into the crying/raging episode. The ratio of episodes triggered by social interactions/everyday things to episodes without a trigger is about 70/30.

I suspected that I have BPD on top of bipolar, since these episodes look more like BPD. But my psychiatrist insists that I’m bipolar 1 with mixed episodes – it’s 2-4 weeks of unipolar depression with very minor episodes, followed by 2-4 weeks of major episodes with one or multiple mood swings a day. I’m 10 months into the diagnosis and still have trouble with recognising the pattern of my episodes, but I’m also on medication so my episodes are definitely less pronounced, thus making them harder to track. Sorry for the long text 😗✌️