Irritating Sleep Cycle

My current sleep situation, complements of bipolar disorder.

I recognize the sleep pattern that has controlled my life for almost a week now. It's always happened in the summer before. Because I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I am left to believe this sleep disturbance is a symptom of my emotional diagnosis.

My body requires that my "day," my waking and working hours, be in excess of 16 hours. After I've been awake for a day and a half, I sleep almost two days.

The number of "hours" in my day fluctuates. I can't tell when this is comng on. It just happens. It has to happen two or three "days" before I recognize what's happening.

There is not a pill I can take to fix this. A previous doctor prescribed a medication that worked, but we couldn't take the consequences. I generally just let the cycle play out. I never know how long it will last. I just have to make sure that no one "day" awake not get to three days. I'm near needing hospital help at that point.

This has happened from time-to-time for years. My Mother used to be very irritated with me when this would happen.