Thanks for the link to the article
It's reassuring reading the replies on this thread as I know I'm not alone. It's been a problem for me since I was probably 12 or 13 and too young to understand what was going on. Since then, over the last 22 years I've struggled with periods where my sexual behaviour was out of control, and then I'd be left wondering why I'd been out sleeping around and looking at stuff online. Now I have a diagnosis and understand Bipolar, it's obvious, but I'm still struggling to get people to understand it. They simply see it as an excuse to cover sexual indiscretion and don't understand that it's a symptom of an illness. Very frustrating.
I read somewhere that hyper-sexuality is more of an issue with female sufferers of Bipolar, as is rapid cycling. I found this rather interesting as I experience both (I'm male) but as a young teen and up until my early twenties and beyond I very strongly identified as being female and felt I was in the wrong body. Times were different then and it wasn't something that was discussed, much like mental health.
Hyper-sexuality really is a fascinating, if somewhat destructive element of Bipolar. Thanks to those who've shared on this thread, I've found it helpful.