Path2Recovery

I'm a bi-polar person looking into treatments but as I was reading through some stuff I found a ton of people saying bi-polar people often fail to take their medication because they love the "highs" associated with the manic "up" phase. My moods vary wildly. My lows/depression is unreal. I'm usually never a depressed person but if something even goes mildly wrong I just spiral into a hole unlike any other.
On the other hand, on days like today, I feel like I just smoked some meth. I have the next 3 days off, have some $ saved up, overall it's just a great freakin' day for me... I feel amazing.
I've done coke and meth before but when I go sort of "manic" like today, those other drugs are small time compared to my high now.
Sometimes these "highs" will last for days. No need to sleep, so much extra energy, so alert and focused... And it feels just 100X stronger than any other drug I've done because my body is naturally producing these chemicals.
So I'm wondering what chemicals are being produced that are affecting me this much? Adrenaline? Serotonin? Dopamine?

Aellyce

Hi there.

I don't think it's as simple as what specific chemical is released in mania, it's more likely to involve a complex interaction of different brain areas and changes in their functioning.

Here is some online info; the first link contains stuff about neurotransmitters and other brain chemicals.
Brain Explorer - Focus on Brain Disorders - Bipolar Disorder - Aetiology
Psych Central: Dr. Grohol's Mental Health Page - Bipolar Research

I'm a bit familiar with symptoms described in "hypomania" and "mixed states" for bipolar, and it runs in one lineage of my family so I'm quite certain I'm "gifted" with some streaks although I've never reached the criteria for a diagnosis.

Yep it's common that people don't want to take their meds because they enjoy being manic, but it's not always exactly safe... I would discuss this with your doctor.