(Schizoaffective not bipolar but same diff)
I had a lot of strange behaviors but I thought they were personal quirks. I had to hide a lot of my thoughts. During "up" times people would ask if I was on speed, that normal people don't act that way. In 11th grade English class my teacher saw a decline in my writing (using words that don't exist, going off on tangents, etc) and she brought it up to the guidance counselor, who suggested I see my doctor. I was losing sleep at this time and hearing voices I couldn't trace the source of. I never actually thought anything was wrong with me.
That was until my boyfriend had a serious chat with me and said he thinks I'm bipolar. That my mood swings aren't normal. I also found out at this time that he told some other people I was schizophrenic. I realized I needed help (didn't know if bipolar/sza/etc though) at this time. My doctor thought it was sleep deprivation, but my first pdoc diagnosed me with psychosis NOS.