SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post - Hypomania turning into full-blown mania?

QU31 · 10-31-2007, 08:06 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering if anyone has personal knowledge of whether someone who has been diagnosed bipolar and has hypomanic episodes might one day out of the blue have a full-blown manic episode.

I just finished reading A Brilliant Madness, by Patty Duke, and it scared me a little bit. My boyfriend is a rapid cycler with frequent hypomanic episodes. To my knowledge he has never had a full-blown manic episode. He is 33. I'm hoping that if he were to have one, it would have happened by now. There is a case study in the very last chapter of the book where this woman was married to a man with bipolar I and right after they had a child, he completely lost it, after 6 years on lithium and no severe manic episodes. Also, there is a section in the book where Patty Duke is talking about the end of her second marriage--she was having a manic episode and thought she had it in her, for the first time, to do physical harm to her husband.

I don't know if this is just my own anxiety problem trying to anticipate things that may never happen (I have a problem with crisis-anticipation). He is responding pretty well to the medication, although the low level depression seems to be ever-present. I suppose it's an issue for me because I'm almost 36, and as far as having children, there's not a lot of time left. I'm scared of what might happen if there is a child and he starts having full-blown manic episodes like I read about in the book. On the other hand, I guess, too, an asteroid could slam into earth tomorrow, so perhaps I should live in the moment and not try to predict bad things that may never happen.

Any opinions?

10-31-2007, 08:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
QU31 Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Midwest Posts: 112	Hypomania turning into full-blown mania? Hi everyone, I'm just wondering if anyone has personal knowledge of whether someone who has been diagnosed bipolar and has hypomanic episodes might one day out of the blue have a full-blown manic episode. I just finished reading A Brilliant Madness, by Patty Duke, and it scared me a little bit. My boyfriend is a rapid cycler with frequent hypomanic episodes. To my knowledge he has never had a full-blown manic episode. He is 33. I'm hoping that if he were to have one, it would have happened by now. There is a case study in the very last chapter of the book where this woman was married to a man with bipolar I and right after they had a child, he completely lost it, after 6 years on lithium and no severe manic episodes. Also, there is a section in the book where Patty Duke is talking about the end of her second marriage--she was having a manic episode and thought she had it in her, for the first time, to do physical harm to her husband. I don't know if this is just my own anxiety problem trying to anticipate things that may never happen (I have a problem with crisis-anticipation). He is responding pretty well to the medication, although the low level depression seems to be ever-present. I suppose it's an issue for me because I'm almost 36, and as far as having children, there's not a lot of time left. I'm scared of what might happen if there is a child and he starts having full-blown manic episodes like I read about in the book. On the other hand, I guess, too, an asteroid could slam into earth tomorrow, so perhaps I should live in the moment and not try to predict bad things that may never happen. Any opinions?