What the heck is Bipolar 1, ADHD, and a Sensory Processing Disorder?! -Mania

This will be one of a few "technical posts" about what each of my disorders are, as far as I understand them, because even with living with them, they can still be a bit fuzzy. As Diana says in one of my favorite musicals, Next to Normal, psychiatry "isn't a very exact science, is it?" They do their best though.

So, let's start with Bipolar 1. It is NOT like they portray in the movies. People like us are not serial killers, murderers, psychos. I just wanted to get that out of the way first. It's a mood disorder characterized by extreme highs and lows (mania for highs and depression for lows). Another way to look at it is the way my dear friend, after she and her spouse saw the movie Christopher Robin,  summed it up: "Kel are you Eeyore or Tigger today?" I loved it so much that that's how I characterize my moods. Because this is so complicated, I'm breaking it into two posts: the Manic and the Depressed.

This is the post on Mania (My Tigger Days):

The manic highs can feel amazing--I have ALL THIS ENERGY, I don't need a lot of sleep, I can create things like crazy, I can start a million projects, I have ALL THE IDEAS and they are ALL BRILLIANT! I am social and witty and people tend to like me a lot more as Tigger than they do as regular old Kelley--at least that's my perception.

But, the mania has REALLY BAD sides too. I can go for up to a week with very little to no sleep (not good for your body). I get really nasty, I have a lower frustration threshold than normal, I talk all the time, nothing ever gets done because my thoughts race far too fast, and they get mixed up. I spend all my money and go broke--literally. I can sometimes hallucinate and see or hear things. (I once thought a dance floor was trying to eat me, no joke).  I also hyper-focus on one thing and cannot read, watch, talk about or learn about anything else.
And when the mania is over,  and I finally come crashing down from my high mood, I have a cluster fuck of a mess to clean up with finances, people, and myself.