Do you clean more when....?

[macrent2]

It seems that my friends and family can tell when I am starting to, or am in a hypomanic or manic state because I begin to clean excessively. I sometimes will spend hours cleaning. During my first hypomanic state (which turned into my first manic episode) in the Spring to Summer of 2009 it manifested as cleaning the exterior of the house, the garage and gardening/weeding. I can't do that in Northern Indiana at the moment due to several inches of snow and the temperature in the low 20's. I spent most of the end of last Summer to the end of the Fall in a "normal" and then depressed state. However, I have been hypomanic since the end of this past semester (Since around December). I saw the doctor the second day I was home and told him. Both he and I think the Saphris, occasional Ativan and mix of other herbal/homeopathic/aromatherapy methods are keeping me from full blown mania.

Anyway, before I left to come home from my university for Winter break, I literally cleaned my apartment from top to bottom (no detail was overlooked while cleaning, it had to be perfect so I would return to a clean apartment)! I have been home now for two weeks and have been cleaning/reorganizing my dads house room by room day by day. Do you find you tend to do this when in an elevated, hypomanic or manic state? Maybe it has to do with not cleaning or having the energy to do so when in our depressed periods? Maybe I was not cleaning during my depressed period most of this semester and when I became hypomanic I saw the result and fixed it? What do you think?

[dionomo]

dude i clean for a living  clean at home build things in the landscaping plant trees all kinda stuff and keep on doing it
all the time i feel like a clean freak sometimes i think its been going on for years but im not tryin to keep track anymore
i think it helps keep my mind straight and off of the millions of horrors and paranoid thoughts
but after a while of workin hard for so long i have noticed i have been drinking a little more
to stop my body aches/pains and like stop my head from going and almost feel relaxed

[Paz]

 I am a clean freak myself.......and when I am manicy I clean, clean, clean!!! We have household help and I still clean, it's hard to find stuff that needs tidying or reorganizing but I try to find things to do. When my mania starts to slow down, I find it very hard to concentrate on tasks......it seems that my ADD starts to flare up, I wind up trying to get many things accomplished and I cannot focus on the task at hand, this causes great frustration and even tears on some occasions. Eventually I crash and get depressed. Thankfully any episodes that I have had in the past few months have not been too bad, and I am always hopeful that I will have another long period of remission[stability]. I believe that a Healthy Lifestyle & Diet & Vitamins have really helped for my episodes to be less severe than they used to be. I really feel that Mindfulness, Meditation, Exercise, Homeopathy & Aromatherapy are important tools for my well-being, I have pretty much dedicated myself to having a Therapeutic Lifestyle, everything I do in my life is for my well-being. And I can't forget to mention my little Dog, he has been a huge comfort to me over the years, and he really helped for me to be able to adjust to our big move down here.

 I think you may be right with your observation about you not cleaning during your depressed period......I am very similar.......after I bounce back from the edge of the abyss I usually start tidying up obsessively. You are very aware of your surroundings, and that is a very good thing. I bet your apartment looks great!