Rogue Mood Swings in Bipolar Disorder

[David Baxter PhD]

What is a Rogue Mood Swing?
by Julie A. Fast, bpHope
March 16, 2018

Rogue mood swings often come without warning and can be overwhelming, but realizing what they are and being aware of them can help.

Rogue mood swings come out of nowhere without a trigger. They often break though medications that have been working and I define them as brain chemical mood swings. Many of our mood swings are triggered, but rogue mood swings simply show up and hit us like a big wave. We are often unprepared and may go for days without realizing how sick we are. Here is an example:

You have been stable on medications for a few years. Life is OK and nothing big is happening and one day in the car you just start crying. (If you are a woman, this is not PMS crying.) You feel a cascade of negative thoughts of how life is no good and you are going to die one day and there are so many poor people and you don’t know how you will stay on this earth. You simply have no idea what has happened.

​

These rogue mood swings can be very, very upsetting because many people take them as fact and act off of the symptoms. For example, a person who has previously been happy in a relationship might suddenly get manic and decide to pursue a relationship with someone else in what seems like an overnight decision.

It really is the norm for our mood swings to start slowly. We will have small signs we are getting sick, but rogue mood swings hit us like a sledge hammer and boom, mistakes are made.

​

They can break through medications and even the most successful management plans. They’re always shocking and often catch everyone by surprise. There is one catch I do want to talk about here where it looks like you’re having a rogue mood swing and yet in reality, you are having a reaction to a new medication. So always keep that in mind.

As someone who constantly monitors the illness, I always feel ashamed that I didn’t catch the mood swing before it went so far. How did I miss this episode? Well, some episodes don’t take their time. They drop in our lives fully formed and have to be treated quickly. They are always very intense.

What is your plan for rogue mood swings? I’ve taught myself to look for them and expect them, especially as I have rapid cycling bipolar disorder. I also rely heavily on the people around me and my health care team to point out if I am sick and can’t see that I’m in a mood swing.

Rogue mood swings happen. They are not your fault. They are a part of bipolar disorder.

 

[forgetmenot]

Even on meds then the mania can return uggg this is what happen tonight then my girl was stable all day and then 8pm she just felt the mania hit her and she ran for two hours one side of her town to the next side.
She is home now took her pm meds and is finally calming down. I hope this does not happen frequently Scary to think of her running at night like this dark coat on too ugg so easily to get hit. I told her to tell her medical team about this and how long it lasted. She said sometimes the mania comes and it is a more agitated feeling but tonight it was just an energy pushing her to run.

 

[Daniel E.]

Perhaps exercising intensely in the morning or afternoon would help?

 

[forgetmenot]

Thanks Daniel she exercises all day morning afternoon and night. Does yoga, swimming, cardio boxing and walks miles every day she finds it hard to stop for her lunch and supper. When her exercise classes are cancelled she hikes she hiked 3 hours the other day her phone was dying again and she was on new trail sort of lost thank god she met up with someone walking and he let her use his phone to call me and i somehow figured out where she was and got her. Her lithium dose i thought was pretty high oh well she is more stable today thank goodness out walking again just hope mania does not accelerate again tonight at 8pm we will see.

 

[GaryQ]

I wonder where she gets all this energy from? I was exhausted just reading everything you did today LOL