First of all welcome to the forum. When I was diagnosed bipolar it was really hard to swallow at first. The more I thought about it the more things made since. I wasn't diagnosed till I was 31. It explained why anti-depressants would make me a "witch" after a while. My mania was not always happy go lucky, sometimes it was just complete irritability. EVERYTHING would get under my skin and I knew it was the anti-depressant so I would quit taking it. I think the bipolar would explain a LOT of my actions as a teenager.

That said, it helped for me to research it and I could connect the dots. Then there was therapist (who actually was the person to recognized the symptoms and referred me to the pdoc), she helped me learn coping mechanisms. Psych Central helped me just being able to communicate with others with bipolar. It took time, but things fell into place. You c
have come to a good place where I hope you can find comfort.