Theresa, I don’t know if anyone told you, but your episode could have been triggered by your flight. People with bipolar disorder are very sensitive to sleep-wake disruptions, such as those that can be caused by trans-oceanic flights and the associated time changes. One thing that can be done to stabilize circadian rhythms that are less than optimally robust is to set a stable wake time (it doesn’t matter what time, although morning is better, from a social/employment point of view). What time you go to bed isn’t as important, but when you get up matters (although stabilizing the former is also very important). Your readers also might be interested in investigating lithium orotate (available at www.vrp.com). Some of my clients (I’m a clinical psychologists) have had very good results with it.

If you are bipolar, stabilize your day to day routines. Eat on a regular basis. Sleep and wake on a regular basis. It’s simple, and it works.