Hi Haley, and welcome to PC! I'm sorry you had to wait for a response, but a lot of people are going through a lot of stuff and I didn't see this post till now.

I'm bipolar 1 too, diagnosed only a couple of years ago, so I'm still pretty new at this game too. Like you, I run hot at times and experience mania in much the same way. You'll find a lot of people here with the same things.

Of course, the best person to explain your illness to you in detail would be the mental health professional who diagnosed you. There are things you need to understand about your condition, what to watch for, when to put out a distress call to them, how to take your medications (I'm assuming you're on meds?) and so on.

But there are also things you can do for yourself. Educate yourself by reading some of the books recommended by PC (there's a sticky thread about bipolar books at the beginning of this forum) and talking to people here. We all experience BP differently, so there's plenty to learn and lots of people to learn it from. Hopefully by
bumping your thread back up to the top, you'll get some more responses. Until then, I wish you the best and hope your association with us will be a long and helpful one.