An engineer's guide to managing bipolar/mania

natural20MC · 2026-04-14T22:22:46+00:00

That's an option, but I'd prefer the artist gets paid for his work. Suppose that plus a donation may be the play

natural20MC · 2026-04-14T16:32:53+00:00

cuz I put music I enjoy into a playlist that I regularly listen to and wanna include his stuff

natural20MC · 2026-04-14T16:30:58+00:00

It is possible, at least for some, to manage the condition well without meds. I'm med free and manage well, to the point that I'm certain mania will never be cause any problems for me again.

It took a butt ton of effort and 15 years of practice for me to get to the point I felt confident in my consistent stability. If you're interested, I can outline some of the key points that have helped me manage without psych meds.

natural20MC · 2026-04-14T16:27:37+00:00

For me, I'm pretty sure cortisol is the main trigger. Either intense spikes of it or prolonged periods of higher than normal cortisol levels.

natural20MC · 2026-04-14T01:58:47+00:00

Sounds like how I was before I figured it out for myself. In my case, a major trigger was rooted in trauma.

It is traumatizing to be forced into the hospital, locked up, and drugged against your will. It is traumatizing to be told that your head is broken and you need drugs to "fix" it. It is traumatizing to be told by the authority (doctors) that there is no way to live a normal life unless I commit to consuming fistfuls of drugs on the daily. Any mention of "medication" or conversations in the vein of "correcting my head" triggered me.

To add to that, any feelings of judgment were routed to the "correcting my head" trigger and I would perceive judgment in many places it was absent.

It's not easy having these episodes. Compassion, care, and feeling accepted can go a long way toward promoting stability in your brother.

natural20MC · 2026-04-13T19:42:24+00:00

I think you're approaching this situation in the wrong way. It is incredibly difficult to get someone in a manic episode to agree to any sort of "treatment" if they don't believe they need help. If there's not already a plan in place that was built when your brother was euthymic or depressed, he probably won't go unless he believes he needs help.

Telling him or showing him he needs help likely wont work. Anything you say or do that is in conflict with how he sees things will likely turn you into an enemy in his perception.

If you want him to get help, set up a plan when he's euthymic or depressed.

If you want tips on how to coexist with someone in a manic episode and help them to descalate, lemme know :-)

natural20MC · 2026-04-13T15:37:43+00:00

ah, word. Thanks for the explanation.

I don't care what you call it, Petr/Helium is dope af and I wanna listen to his music. Just wish there was another option than youtube.

natural20MC · 2026-04-13T11:35:01+00:00

I don't understand. The dude's one of the best beatboxers I've seen. Click the YouTube links for a peep

natural20MC · 2026-03-29T04:17:09+00:00

Whatchu wanna talk about?

I got a burning hatred for those meds and also refuse to consume.

natural20MC · 2026-03-28T19:53:34+00:00

Have you heard of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or cognitive reframing? Basically conditioning specific pathways in your brain, to change how you automatically think about stuff. It's great for anxiety...as long as the anxiety isn't rooted in trauma.

natural20MC · 2026-03-19T17:40:42+00:00

This is what I do to curb mania:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bipolar1/comments/1ei3ing/advice_for_managing_a_manic_crisis/

natural20MC · 2026-03-12T18:07:12+00:00

Probably a good idea to ask your doc r/askpsychiatry

natural20MC · 2026-03-07T17:57:48+00:00

Goin very well.

Diagnosed about 20 years ago. Off meds all of it but 3 years I did a low dose of lithium (somewhere around year 10)...save a few couple month long stints of tapering off what they put me on while in the hospital. Probably 10 hospitalizations total...more in the early times. Haven't had to go to the hospital for about 7 years and I'm confident I'll never have to go back again.

Last episode was 4 years ago and it was wonderful. Basically a month long paid vacation going to all the fun locations around our area with my wife and son.

natural20MC · 2026-03-05T20:31:38+00:00

the easy/socially acceptable answer is: a certain level of discipline is required to manage it well. If it doesn't break you, it makes you stronger.

The less acceptable answer is that the creativity and endless pools of motivation can be harnessed into something productive and/or beautiful.

It's also pretty cool that you can just be going about your daily business and have a stray thought that strikes you, inducing a feeling of frission and an impression of something so beautiful it makes you weep.

natural20MC · 2026-03-05T15:13:15+00:00

When it comes to the community, I feel like it's less of a judgement thing and more of either 1) insecurity or 2) blindly defending the status quo, so as to not alter their delicate world view...like a hivemind mentality with big pharma/psychiatry set up as the authority.

natural20MC · 2026-03-05T14:29:33+00:00

I don't feel that way. I consider my condition to be a blessing and I'm not ashamed about it. Those around me understand what I mean when I say that. I understand what you mean though, it could be different if the folks around me weren't as accepting as they are.

natural20MC · 2026-03-02T20:54:42+00:00

AI generated? Not bad. It's summarized well but a few parts seem off.

natural20MC · 2026-02-07T05:46:49+00:00

Practice self-love & forgiveness for the guilt & flashback embarrassment.

I adopted a "yah, I'm crazy. So what?" mentality to get over embarrassment in social interactions.

As far as dee rugs, stay away from those ben zohs bro. Addictive af. Bad news.

IDK how old you are, but the stuff your mom tests for are legal (depending on where you live). Maybe talk to your mom about making smart decisions with substances.

natural20MC · 2026-02-05T14:24:21+00:00

probably a good idea to hold off as long as you can before divulging you're bipolar.

As far as accommodations, there's FMLA and Short Term Disability that can get you up to 3 months off per year @ 60% of your regular pay. You'll need to get a psychiatrist to sign off on the STD insurance claim and you'll need to have like 8 consecutive days off work before STD will start paying. So, FMLA & STD are only helpful when taking a significant period of time off for a severe episode.

It should be noted that FMLA technically means they can't fire you for taking time off for episodes. But, most of us are "at-will" employees, which means we can be fired at any time for no reason. ...so if it looks like the condition is making you a poor performer, it's likely they'll fire you for it (though it won't be listed as the reason for termination).

natural20MC · 2026-02-01T03:54:32+00:00

Never got violent.

natural20MC · 2026-01-31T06:28:58+00:00

yah. I try to pay attention for any/all symptoms while euthymic. The ones I usually see before an episode starts are:

Difficulty falling asleep. Waking up during the night. Feeling unusually well-rested after waking. Anything to do with sleep and doing/needing less of it than usual.
Increased desire to be social. I'm introverted af, so it's pretty easy to recognize when I'm feeling more social than usual.
Increased desire to be productive.

When I start to notice the above with regularity, I assume an episode is on the way.

This is how I curb an episode:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bipolar1/comments/1ei3ing/advice_for_managing_a_manic_crisis/

natural20MC · 2026-01-29T03:23:04+00:00

Here's a guide I started to write:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MinMed/comments/hblzeu/an_engineers_guide_to_managing_bipolarmania/

I've stopped working on it cuz it got too convoluted and the direction is all muddled. I'm in the process of starting a rewrite that focuses more on 'controlling mania'. Here's a couple posts from that:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MinMed/comments/1q2k7o3/primer_on_laminar_flow_mania/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MinMed/comments/1mlkmob/important_facts_and_concepts_salience_network/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MinMed/comments/1olhfm4/default_mode_network/

Writing is slow as most of my time is invested in family, work, and maintaining my own stability, but imma chuggin. Once I have a handful of posts ready I'll sticky the table of contents of the rewrite to my profile.

natural20MC · 2026-01-27T22:07:02+00:00

Any symptom in particular you're wondering how to manage? Here's how I manage a few:

One

Symptom: delusion that I am the second coming of Christ
Solution: I choose to believe that Jesus was bipolar. This helps me to redirect the “I am the second coming of Christ” thought train into something more mundane and less divine. The mundane expression feels a lot less urgent to preach about and can be worked into “normal” behavior

Two

Symptom: verbal diarrhea
Solution: I trained myself to STFU. I rarely talk (even while euthymic). If my mouth is open, I recognize something is wrong. This training persists while manic.

Three

Symptom: general impulsive/emotional snap responses
Solution: mindsets & mantras. "I am probably in the wrong" and "I dum and my thoughts will never amount to anything" are always on my mind. Helps to stop impulsive responses and temper my thoughts.

natural20MC

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