Thursday, August 10, 2006

Rapid Rapid-Cycling 2

I've been doing some more thinking about rapid-cycling and can see that I made an error in my last post. I said that, according to the official definitions of rapid-cycling, I usually qualify as a rapid cyclist in the first 3 months of the year. Incorrect.

Sure I have more than 4 episodes of bad depression and/or mania a year, but they DO NOT last for at least 2 weeks each (1 week for mania). To qualify I would need 7 "YeeHaa"s in a row , or 14 "Got-a-Gun"s in a row. The last time I had one of these was in June last year when I probably had 10 "YeeHaa"s in a row, but that was pre-BiPolar Daily. Sure I've had other YeeHaas and other Got-a-Guns, but never more than 2 in a row.

Conclusion: I am NOT a rapid-cyclist. I seem, in fact, to cycle TOO rapidly to meet the rapid-cyclist definition. That's pretty weird, because when you think of a BiPolar sufferer without Rapid-Cycling you tend to think of someone who has these LOOONG patches of depression or mania, so long in fact that they never manage 4 seperate sessions in a year. But no, a whole nother type of BiPOlar misses the boat too - the dudes who cycle so damn rapidly that each episode is not considered full-blown. Maybe they should start a new category for us dudes like "Daily Cyclists" or "weekly cyclists". Or "chronic rapid-cyclists".

Maybe I'm lucky the extremes only last days and not weeks. Imagine 14 Day's of "Got-a-Gun". I reckon he'd end up "Found-a-Gun".

3 comments:

  1. There is work being done to expand Bipolar Spectrum disorder to 6 categories. There is already a definition in the DSM called "cyclothymic disorder" which consists of very brief episodes. You might find this an interesting read: http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.lieber.html

    Mage

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  2. I'm more of a to-the-supermarket-and-back cyclist these days. Sorry, but I just couldn't pass that one up. I would describe myself as speedy and perhaps a little reckless rather than rapid. :-)

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  3. I'm getting tired of all this cycling. My legs hurt.

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