For a long time I was very “iffy” about my diagnosis because “how can I be hypomanic if I’m not feeling happy” was an all too common question

Maybe, as a crooked comparison, it’s a bit like drinking way too much coffee; you feel energetic, but maybe also jittery, and happiness doesn’t really have anything to do with it.

As for antidepressants; after decades of two kinds of severe depressions, i learned to meditate and haven’t been depressed in over a decade. It changed the way i view the world in a fundamental way and i learned to not focus on the depressed feelings (focusing on them would make it more intense). So, i don’t use any medication for it anymore.

Thanks for your kind words and have a great day

I hope they’ll figure out what it is. Often, like yours, it can be a very long journey, like with a virus for instance.

What i learned is to divide chores into small pieces. And when i have a busy day, i try to plan a number of days of being able to take it easy, physically.

And if people don’t get it, the spoon theory can be helpful to explain to others.

Yes, i was not trying to say that hypomania is fun for everyone, but thankfully for me, it was a pleasant surprise, though it took a bit of digging to find out what was happening and where it came from.

Years ago, i got off anti depression meds within two months (only later heard that it’s better to taper down over a year). One of the symptoms i got was hypomania; it was awesome! For a week i had energy like never before and after a day of cleaning i caught myself looking around and trying to find something left to clean.

Kicking those meds was a nightmare, but honestly, that week of hypomania was the greatest i ever felt. Mentally i was fine, nothing weird, but just this boundless energy. While usually, since i have a genetic bodily disorder, i often feel tired and if i do too much, i can’t do much for a week after.

That’s beautiful, i never heard of it so thank you for sharing. I have a scar from one of my - deceased - dogs; she had sharp nails. I love that scar; it’s like she left a permanent memory on my skin

The worst will wear off but i don’t think there is a universal time frame for how long it will take. I’ve had many pets and it also depends on how close you were with them and how they died. For those with a traumatic death, it took much, much longer, compared to a pet that peacefully died of old age. Don’t wait for the pain to wear off. Just live your life and it will take how long it will take. I do hope you don’t have to deal with people saying things like; just bring in a new pet. That is a completely personal decision; for some it might help, for others it might feel like a betrayal.

Wishing you all the best.

Serious question; would it help if some of us left beehaw? I’m part of that influx and i first joined lemmy.world. Then i understood that it would be better to spread out among other instances and i created a few more accounts, one of them here on beehaw, because i really like the spirit of it. But if it would help, i would be willing to leave beehaw to help you cope with the load. If enough people would feel the same, it might lighten the load? Another option might be to close the instance for new people, until these issues are solved? I’m sure people would understand the reasoning for doing so?

If you would leave the fediverse, i would not follow. I’m not that big on social media anyway, the fediverse being the only exception.