Bipolar Metabolism

[weaver71]

The last couple years I have been watching myself so closely. I have noticed that hypo mania causes me to eat a lot and depressive states I hardly eat for days. I weight the same in my 40's as I did in my mid teens, most of the time. I normally weigh about 180 and am pretty fit, but months of mania in India lead to extreme situations that landed me at 130 pounds. I am trying to see if my appetite changes and then my mood, or if my mood affects my appetite. It would be nice to have a lowering metabolism as a kind of warning signal. I can't seem to find any research on metabolism and unmedicated bipolar. There are  not enough unmedicated bipolar to study, or that's what I've read. Anyway, has any other BP1 out there noticed any pattern with metabolism and cycling or learned anything about that relation?

[Bubulous]

In my experience there is always an appetite change but I tend to eat a lot less when I am manic.  Learning whether the chicken came before the egg also becomes my life's goal sometimes.  I always write down things that can be signs of mania coming.
I even thought one time that my intestines and bowels had something to do with my mania.  If my brain weren't creative maybe it would be easier because I can over-analyze anything and some things really don't need to be analyzed.
I wonder whether my creativity kicks in when I become manic or if my mania makes me more creative.
I like that you brought up creativity earlier.

[weaver71]

Thanks for the Metabolic Syndrome article, that adds another piece to the puzzle. I know stress and anxiety are bad for the body and mind, and bipolar gives me plenty of those. Most studies I found cannot determine if mood manifests changes in the metabolism or if metabolism changes trigger moods, including the above article. The mood switching process studies show circadian rhythms change with mood, but they can't tell whether the sleep deprivation or the mania come first. I am going to observe myself more, I am curious if anyone else feels a shift in metabolism. I have noticed, just before mania escalates, I start eating more and it feels like the calories push me to build the energy to go manic, I will have to observe and see if that is consistent. I am still baffled by psychotic mania and mixed states, I think that is triggered by stress for me. I tend to stay more hypomanic, not always, when things are good and I don't have to shift gears too much.

I also noticed recently that I started skipping breakfast accidentally and was just craving food less. Shortly after, I switched from hypo manic to hypo depressed. It was maybe a day or two. I know it is not hypoglycemia, I eat like a beat-nic farmer, but I wonder if I am triggering my moods by not having a schedule and simply eat when hungry and fast when I am not. I sleep when sleepy and just stay up when I am not. I have seldom tried to maintain any kind of schedule for a long time.

I am wondering if anyone has noticed a shift in food intake, just BEFORE a mood shift. This last shift to depression was mild, I am maintaining pretty well, perhaps if I force myself to eat in depression and regulate my calorie intake in hypomania, I will not go psychotic or into a chronic deep depression. Being as there are so few studies, I was hoping to get some personal experiences to see if there is a pattern or connection to changing metabolism before a psychic change.

[ILADVOCATE]

   Yes I know when I experience mania my appetite increases and over  eating can be a form of of self medication as well. Also as mentioned on this site
emotional eating can be another factor. I haven't experienced quite
that much difference when depressed as regards eating but this is quite common as well. There is some ongoing research into this. One article provides a well written summary on it. Use the search phrase
"Bipolar Patients Twice as Likely To Have Metabolic Syndrome"