Sounds similar to an event I had with my mother a couple of years ago. I was rather hypomanic, maybe fully manic, but that's beside the point. After the breaking point, I tried talking to my mom about what had been happening, and to try to get her to understand that, no, I was not happy with how things went, but that by the time I had reached the point I did, I was far too gone. I tried asking for their understanding, and for help in recognizing when I'm going manic or depressed, because I can't always tell on my own. A few minutes later, when the tension had died down and I was trying to lighten the mood by joking, they both pounce on me saying "now that's manic." WTF? I laughed. Aren't I allowed to laugh? Sure, maybe there was a little more energy behind it, but heck, I was still a little flooded with nervous adrenaline. I may be bipolar, but I'm also human. I don't need someone sitting on me, jumping on every mood that stays from "zen." I just wanted a support system that included more that my husband.

Yes, you are allowed to have normal human emotions. I guess it comes back to my emotional diabetes POV on being bipolar. Yeah, you can be happy or sad. It's when you have too much happy or sad that you need to check your emotional "sugar" and take corrective steps if needed. We don't need someone running up and pricking our finger every hour, but if we're showing signs of approaching serious ups or downs, and we've crossed the line of being able to do something about it ourselves, THEN we need help.