It seems like I go through periods where I only get a couple of hours of sleep a night followed with periods where I sleep more than 12 hours straight through. This is bloody uncommon and unnatural.
Do you feel like you don't need the sleep when you only get a couple of hours? I think Rodafina has a point that this could be a great deal to do with your bipolar diagnosis.
The thing I'm finding in recent years is that there's a big disconnect right now between my "mental energy" and my physical ability to use that energy.
Often when my mood starts to switch I get this really contradictory feeling state where I feel like a coiled spring that's about to burst but with a feeling of distress or urgency. I struggle to put this into words. No matter how I try the words always seem inadequate.
This churned up feeling has been identified by other people with bipolar as "dysphoria". It really wrecks any semblance of a sleep pattern I might have. It can wake me up after an hour or two and I don't feel like sleeping, I feel like blitzing through the house and cleaning and organising. Problem is, my body doesn't get the memo. So I'm in the state of exhaustion but unable to switch off.
When I used to get these episodes in the past, I would just stay awake and try to focus this random energy into something. Some times I would start to find my mood climbing and climbing, other times it would just crash. But at least it would resolve one way or the other.
I think I've got so much sleep debt now and so many aches and pains that I simply can't stay awake anymore like I used to. Which sometimes was more out of frustration half the time.
I'm wondering if perhaps you could talk to your doctor about some sleep meds? There's no point waking up after a couple of hours with perhaps a brain running ten to the dozen, if your body has no ability to keep you ticking along energy wise.
There are over the counter meds but, I think you maybe need something stronger. But I'm not medically qualified in any way to be able to really advise you definitively.
There's a (for me pretty useless) med you can get otc which is basically an antihistamine known as Promethazine Hydrochloride. It's sold here under the brand names Phenagan and Sominex. These can help to reset your sleep pattern for short term use. It's something you can talk to your doctor about. I've not had much success with them personally.
The way I metaphorically describe the whole thing I experience is my "Brain writing checks my body can't cash." If that resonates with you, I'd definitely recommend to talk to your doctor about this soon.
I hope you are back on an even keel again soon!
