How do I know when I'm getting manic?

It's a good question. How do I know?

I mean, one day I'm at baseline, and at some point a few days down the road I realize "I'm manic, I need to increase my lithium." How do I know? What else do I do to manage my illness?

First of all, let's cover the easy one - the depression. Generally the depression is much more easy to pinpoint. I lose energy. I lose interest in things I love, I feel hopeless and lost in a world of misery, and my "Time to increase the lithium" sign - I feel like taking a shower is just the most difficult thing in the world. The Shower Sign is my clue to do a few things.

* Take more lithium
* Add B-Complex, L-Carnitine, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, and Coenzyme Q10 to my supplements, if I'm not already. Doing so has actually whacked a depression in the burgeoning stages.
* Sit down and figure out what I love to do, and start doing it regardless of "feeling like it". I do the things I love, and as I do them I feel better, even though I didn't want to do them to begin with (Thank you Bipolar Survival Guide).
* Make sure I'm eating and resting properly.
* If it's really bad, I add in some mild exercise every day if I didn't work that day.
* On my off days, I GET OUT OF THE HOUSE and do something, anything, away from home. It keeps my mind active. If I'm idle, I'll just brood and get worse, if I'm "out" I automatically focus on external things and feel better as a result.

So, when I'm manic, what do I do? Here's a pretty good link on signs of mania: http://bipolar.about.com/cs/mania/a/red_flags1.htm.

But what about me? An abstract list of symptoms and a mania are pretty incompatible.

Yesterday morning I noticed I felt unusually energetic. I had trouble getting to sleep the night before (*), but I had a lot of energy the next morning, far more than usual (*).

I felt restless and hyper at work(*). I wondered if I was getting manic (*). I repeatedly wondered if I was getting manic. (**) When I got home, I did active yardwork things - I wanted to do something physically taxing to "burn it off" (**). After doing so, I still had lots of energy. (*). I wanted to talk to everyone in the world yesterday and today (**) but I could shut up when needed (not too bad, then).

Last night, again, trouble falling asleep. (**) Today I felt kind of restless and invincible, "I'm on top of the world!" (***) I had an unusual amount of energy. I continued to wonder if I was manic. Ron reacted to things I said as if I were getting irritable, even though I felt fine. I was VERY impatient. My thoughts kept jumping around in my head, like a flock of flapping birds. That's when I realized, I'm getting manic.

Other times, I can't shut up talking. I want to spend all my money on oddball items I'll never use. This week, I did a good job budgeting my money. I didn't let my mania affect anyone but Ron (sorry, Ron), and I caught it pretty early. I still feel like "I don't need this illness label" - BAD THINKING. My typing is worse, and I almost feel a little high.

That's why, as soon as I publish this post, I'm going to eat something and take an extra lithium tablet. I will continue to take an extra every day until I get toxic (another post). Then, I'll reduce it back to my normal level of 2 tablets a day.

I think the hardest part of the illness is realizing - I'm getting sick again, I need to stay on top of this. I need to STOP this, and I need to do it now.

Now.