For me things were cruisy until I was about 8 years old then I began to self-harm and even attempted suicide (in a child-like way with 8 paracetamol) at age 9. I was experiencing a lot of trauma so my behaviour may be more linked to that than BP. From that age on I only became more and more broody with periods of severe suicidal ideation, deep depression.
By my mid to late teens I was a wreck but everyone put it down to being a teenager. I was wild, took heaps of drugs and my moods swung from euphoric and energetic to depressed and exhausted. When I was 19 I was put on anti-depressants during a severe depression and I immediately became hypomanic but the GP missed the significance of that totally. I stopped taking them.
At age 22 I had a mental breakdown due to trauma issues but I also went into an intense mixed episode that lasted for months and was only worsened by anti-depressants. To deal with this I sold all I owned and went backpacking around the world. It was an amazing experience, although I was still very unwell. It was dangerous really. I ended up getting sexually assaulted in London and had to return home as I was too distressed to keep travelling.
It took me six years to get back on my feet but the 'relative' stability only lasted for around 3 years when Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue had me almost bedridden and took my wonderful job away from me.
I had another mental breakdown at age 33 and diagnosed with Complex PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder and Major Depression. I attempted suicide several times the despair and torment was endless. Six years later I am still trying to recover. During the last six years once the trauma was dealt with and the PTSD subsided a bit it became obvious that I had Bipolar. Most of my suicide attempts occurred during mixed states and I would get delusional and paranoid. I rapid cycle and spend very little time 'stable' but meds do take the edge off the episodes. I think it is getting worse as I age though which is discouraging.