Can mania be contagious?!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2002
Can mania be contagious?!
3
Fri, 03-03-2006 - 5:06am

Folks, I was having a good, active day with some energy but no real signs of mania until I went to church choir practice. We had a new director who talked fast, went quickly from one idea to the other, and was, shall we say, too ambitious in his rehearsal technique, requiring too much of the group too soon. To me, he was a bipolar person going through mania (granted I have no real proof of this). Thing was, after I got home, I could not get to sleep without taking two ambien and two lorazepams, and even then woke up at 3 in the morning, thoughts racing like crazy. Could this guy have set me over the edge?

Express!
Beth "Petrouchka"

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-08-2004
Fri, 03-03-2006 - 8:32am
I've wondered the same thing myself.

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-01-2004
Fri, 03-03-2006 - 9:21pm

I know that situations like this can sure trigger me, whether it's "contagious" remains to be seen!


iVillage Member
Registered: 11-22-2003
Sat, 03-04-2006 - 10:22am

Beth, I was reading recently in an informative book about BP by a doc from Johns Hopkins that, actually, yes, in a way it is. They've found that spouses or significant others of people with BP often develop BP-like symptoms over time. They're not sure why and they don't know what the connection is, but they have seen it happen. In the mood I'm in, I'm going, "Oh, goody! I'm "infecting" him, too!" It's not true. He was BP before I came on the scene, I just bring it out in him because of what's happened in our lives since we got together. It's tough to see him like this and just accept it as his moods and his cycling. It's like I'm the only one "allowed" to cycle and be messed up; he's supposed to be the normal, rational, stable one, but he's usually not. This is a crazy house! My 2 yo is showing signs already that concern me. Maybe it's just 2 yo stuff, and maybe it's more. But mental illness runs strong on both sides of the family, so it's about 95% that at least one, but probably both, of my boys will have issues. I'm scared! I don't want them to go through what I went through. But at least I recognize that and am watching for it. I will get them help asap if I see something. My parents denied it and it almost killed me many times (su). Anyway. I know this post isn't about that, but it plays a part down the road.


I hope you are able to see that it triggered you and I hope that you are able to take care of yourself in situations like that. Good luck at choir practice!

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