> Having multiple episodes in a row usually leads to a bipolar disorder with true depression following the manic episodes, I was told.

Yes. I am not sure about the odds, but you might have been lucky. It’s a good way to end up properly insane.

I’ve never been anywhere near that state but even milder cases can be frightening. I’ve had 2 periods were everything worked, I was so clever and solved everything, and that was wonderful. Except that after that I could not get out of bed for days, had severe burnouts (no true depression though, thank goodness). And it turned out that what I did was so “clever” and complicated as to be almost re-done from scratch, and also contained mistakes hard to spot amongst the cleverness. It turns out that it does not make you a super-human, but mostly feel like one. I wonder if I had been a painter or a musician instead, if those mistakes would not have been seen as strokes of genius. Since then I’ve noticed that I get mentally tired much more quickly, and I need much more sleep.

Anyway, I’m happy for you that you came out of it in one piece and enlightened.