I posted on the bipolar thread this particular message and it was suggested that I come here:

Since my husband is in the process of getting a diagnosis, I wanted to ask here if these symptoms fit someone with bi-polar or if there might be a co-morbid condition going on, as well.

1. My dh won't wear his seat belt. He feels that the government is too involved in our personal lives and he doesn't believe the belts save lives anyway. UGH

2. He has broken (or removed the battery) from all the smoke detectors in the house. He can't stand the noise and literally turns into a raging mad man when they start to beep.

3. He has felt cheated at work so he took his work computer(he works from home and they provide a laptop) and dropped it on the ground on purpose. He was trying to break it so that they will give him a new one. He was proud of his actions and defended his behavior to me and to our 12 year old son. His thinking is 'an eye for an eye' and he sees everything done TO him as an injustice.

4.He doesn't trust anybody. NOBODY. Everyone is out to get him, just ask him.

5.He has severe noise anxiety. He can't stand the sound of the blowers in the neighborhood and has actually gone out and asked them to use brooms. He has NO tolerance for those noises and almost got into a fist fight with the groundskeepers at our country club.

6.He has broken a lawnmower by kicking it. He slammed an iron on the ground just because it wasn't heating up properly. He's very good at door slamming just to make a point, I guess. There's plenty more like this, just giving examples of the rage.

7.He's a perfectionist. He has high expectations of himself and gets frustrated when other people don't fit into his mold of what is right or what is wrong, relating to behaviors. He doesn't tolerate differences in humanity. To me, it seems like he wants everyone to see the world the way he does and to conform to his ways. If you don't, there is something wrong with you.

8.He sees things in black and white, there is no gray.

9.He is paranoid. He keeps talking about taking all our money out of the banks so that the government can't get to it.

10.He is extremely passive aggressive and will admit to being a master manipulator.

So, do any of these things fit bi-polar? Yes, he is moody. One minute he can be totally normal, the next minute he's flying off the handle about some injustice or he's driving like a maniac and I feel like it comes out of the blue. Most times it just seems like he's seething with anger. He can't even handle listening to me bang the kitchen pots(no, I'm not banging them on purpose. I'm just cooking dinner and that requires pots and bowls, etc) around when I'm cooking dinner. I can see him tense up. He will complain about the number of dishes I make while cooking yet I never ask him to do the dishes because of this. He's even argued with me over which kind of spatula to use but wouldn't pull out the one he wanted me to use because he didn't want me to have to wash it. A spatula! I mean, how long would it take for me to wash it? 10 seconds? UGH!