Gaps

"One can distinguish mania from the high energy of ADD by the level of intensity. An average person could simulate the energized state of ADD, but could not voluntarily reproduce the energy level of mania. Mania is the most extreme from of non-drug-induced drivenness that we know. The manic person can go without sleep for days, traveling the globe or spending his life's savings on wild schemes or making grandiose claims of self-importance or talking nonstop from morning until night.

"The manic individual is truly out of control. He cannot slow down. He does not just talk fast, he talks as if the words were being propelled from his mouth, a disconcerting symptom referred to as "pressured speech." Listening to someone who is in the grip of mania gives one the feeling of wanting to duck; the words seem to be thrown at you. A manic's mind leaps from topic to topic, like a frog jumping lily pads, alighting for a moment here only to spring away to another place. This symptom is aptly called "flight of ideas." It makes logical conversation of any length just about impossible. Let me give an example, taken from my days working on a psychiatric inpatient unit:

"'Good morning, Mr. Jones.'

"'Why good morning, Doctor, and good morning to all the lovely little squiggles you have on your tie, and to squiggles everywhere, who, by the way, are outward representations of chaos, a soon-to-be-quantified branch of physics and mathematics, which, if you haven't boned up on your integrals, will leave you without much hope of doing more than passing over the topic, as the cow passes over the moon in the ditty which you may have heard when you were a child. You were once a child, Doctor? It is safe to assume that we all were children once, that is a safe assumption, the first three letters of which are a-s-s so don't be an ass and assume anything, as my old teacher used to say. Sound advice, especially for a planetary stargazer, wouldn't you say? There is more in the stars than there is in every brain put together, like link sausages, a delicious breakfast at that!'

"While the individual with ADD can branch from topic to topic, he does not do so with the suddenness or pressuredness that the manic does. And while the person with ADD may be restless and full of energy, he is not driven by nearly the same horsepower as the manic."

That was found in an article http://borntoexplore.org/addmood.htm that was extremely interesting (if of course you've got an interest in the relationship and even possible misdiagnosis between ADD, ADHD, and bipolar or cyclothymia.

That being said, I'm thankful the bug has for the most part left me, though it decided to launch its grand finale as a case of the trots so after about 12-24 hours of bloating and sitting the energy bar is drained.

Excited about the week, many things to do, hopefully the energy to keep going.