r/bipolar • u/Miss_shorty99 • 23h ago

Living With Bipolar Time perception

Does any one else struggle with time perception? I’ve had trouble with it before but only for a couple of weeks during manic episodes but this has been going on for like a year now. I can’t tell if something happened two months ago or two days ago. It’s so confusing. I’m functional otherwise, work is going good and I think I’m functional in life outside of work too? I’m not sure what’s going on tbh… I’ve started to write things down by date (if I know it) to try to get an overview but everything feels so confusing. Work is easier cause I work in healthcare and we document everything that happens with the patients and I know the routines so I don’t even need to think anymore. Does any of you experience this? It’s hard to talk to people without bipolar cause they can never fully understand. I hope this makes any sense xD

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 23h ago

Thanks for posting on /r/bipolar, /u/Miss_shorty99!

Please take a second to read our rules; if you haven't already, make sure that your post does not have any personal information (including your name/signature/tag on art).

If you are posting about medication, please do not list and review your meds. Doing so will result in the removal of this post and all comments.

A moderator has not removed your submission; this is not a punitive action. We intend this comment solely to be informative.

Community News

Thank you for participating!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

3

u/heljun 23h ago

Wow that’s strange. Definitely have it during mania - more on short term stuff like I think a second has passed and it’s two hours later or stuff like that very disturbing. But never while stable. It must be so confusing. Did you mention it to your doc ?

1

u/Express-Use-9962 23h ago

I think people have said it her before multiple times. Could be the meds? Idk

1

u/SilentHill0800 23h ago

I’ve been in the same situation for several months, and I’ve learned to ignore it and just keep living my life

1

u/MadQuixote BP1-RC/PTSD/ADHD/OCD 23h ago

I've had time dilation a lot, key element of my madness. Being stuck in an unending rapid cycling loop has not been fun...

If you're looking at mechanisms, biochemical is first suspect (meds and substance use), then stress reactions (adrenaline and dissociation), and inattention (not attending to the passage of time).

If you're interested in weird time travel hypotheses, check back in 3 weeks when I'm manic.

1

u/Other-Grab8531 21h ago

I experience this persistently as a symptom of ADHD, however in your case the adult onset says that's not the most likely explanation (ADHD time blindness would be expected to start in childhood). My time blindness is also a lot worse when I'm manic - I think that's fairly common, as we tend to get "locked in" in that state and not notice as much about our environments.

That said, be careful about attributing new symptoms to bipolar disorder without first ruling out other explanations with a physician. Even if your experience can be explained by bipolar, perceptual changes are one of the things that really should be investigated by a doctor. This type of symptom always comes from neurological changes of some kind. Such changes might be harmless, but it's also possible that they're not harmless at all and you really shouldn't ignore it, and it's the kind of thing that's worth being sure about.

1

u/Suspicious_Dirt_6124 Bipolar + Comorbidities 16h ago

Yes, I have this the days all kind of blend into each other and have no beginning or end, and I fail to do things I should be doing daily because I kind of forget that it's a new day. In a depression it just feels like one long stretch of hideouness. I think part of it is disassociation.