I spent a few years running from apartment to apartment and job to job. I had no idea I had bipolar. After my diagnosis I have had strong urges to run now and then, but I have kids,a husband, a house and pets. When I am feeling really mixed I feel held back by those obligations and the urge to run is stronger. When I am depressed running is just a thought, and when I am manic, I want to run to somewhere (like a communal living situation) with my family and start a new life with no problems.
So basically it is always in the back of my mind and for me it is about impulse control. I have my past as evidence that I could do it and pull it off (we even have moved a couple of times with the kids). So I have to control the impulse to tell myself that it would be easy. For me that's the disease talking.

As far as comparing bipolar to cancer, I have no problem with that analogy. It is not that we aren't fighting our butts off, it's that the disease attacks the part of our brain that is responsible for the will to fight. I am not saying that it is an excuse not to fight, but we need to know that we don't have to compare our fight to another person's fight. We fight when we can and sit back when we have to.

Ok, so that is the end of my "novel" here.