Author: Kim Barnett

I have been struggling with Hypomania for over two months now, and I’m extremely irritated, frustrated and exhausted. For those who do not know, hypomania is defined as a mild form of mania, marked by elation and hyperactivity. Thank God, I’ve continued to take my medication during this episode, otherwise my hypomania would have definitely transitioned into full blown mania by now. Mania, for me, is coupled with psychosis, and is a lot more challenging for me as well as those around me, who do not always know how to handle it.

Over the past two months, I’ve had severe insomnia, only sleeping 3-5 hours a night. Even though I’m lacking in sleep, I am not lacking in energy for most of the day. My body is exhausted but my brain is super active and does not want to shut down, except for the 3-5 hours of sleep my brain will allow. My mind and my body are simply not in sync. I keep coming up with these “great” ideas of projects I can complete, since I have so much energy, but unfortunately, my focus to complete these projects is lacking. I can barely get one household chore completed before I decide to move on to the next. During Hypomania, I have so many projects going on at the same time, and rarely finish them all. I feel like the energizer bunny and literally can’t stop moving. I sometimes just pace around the house just to get some of my energy out. I have a foot condition currently, which requires surgery, so this need to keep moving is really causing me some unneeded pain.

The worst part for me is the incessant talking. I talk a lot naturally, but add hypomania to the mix, and Oh Lordy! I just can’t stop sometimes. Recently my voice has started to go away from all of the talking, and yet I continue to keep talking, furthering my voice loss. I feel so sorry for my husband, as I’m sure it’s a lot for him to handle. Thankfully, he has become quite the expert at tuning me out when I get overly talkative. LOL! I’m thankful for that. I talk so much I even annoy myself at times, so I cannot imagine how others feel about it.

I’ve recently found out that I’m very anemic, and that the iron supplements I’ve been taking are no longer absorbing enough iron into my bloodstream. This has prompted my primary doctor to order an Iron Infusion for me. It will be my first infusion of any kind, so I was a bit shocked when I found I needed this. The anemia is adding a whole new level of difficulty, to my already difficult hypomania.

My body has been even more exhausted than previously, however my brain is still overly alert and active. I’m physically weak, drained of energy at times, and have been falling asleep randomly, like I have a serious case of narcolepsy. Because of the hypomania still being an issue, I’m finding the two medical conditions are attempting to fight each other. The energizer bunny in me still wants to pace around the house and talk incessantly, which has led me to talking in my sleep now, according to my husband. The hypomania is so strong, I can’t even stop talking while asleep? That’s freaking baffling to me! Even though I have major hyperactivity, the anemia fights back and lets me know when my body is exhausted and needs to sleep. So I’ve been having to take mini naps during the day, in order to satisfy the anemia’s need for rest.

I’ve never experienced the two of these conditions at the same time, so this is very new to me, and I’m trying my best to manage the two. Having to combat hypomania and anemia at the same time, is more of a challenge than I anticipated, and I’d prefer not to have to deal with them both simultaneously. Sometimes multiple infusions are necessary in order to bring your iron levels back to normal range. I will have a total of three infusions to start. I’ll update you all on the status of my two coinciding conditions, sometime after the infusions have been completed.