I guess I'm the first person to vote in your poll. I selected "talk a little".

Normally when I see questions like "When/if I should tell my bf/gf?" I ask how long they've been the bf/gf, how serious the relationship is, and most importantly, how much you trust him/her. I don't know the answers to any of these questions as they relate to your boyfriend. I sort of get the feeling that he has been your boyfriend for a little while, and that you probably do have some level of trust in him.

The issue with this boyfriend of yours is that he already knows something based on what your wrote, and you say he has questions. Given this, I think you should talk a little bit about your diagnosis, as long as you trust him. If you don't trust him, then maybe you should keep the relationship casual until you do.

I understand you not wanting him to think the worst is possible. That's great that your illness is in remission, or at least partial enough remission that you function relatively or completely normally. You would need to say that way up front, if you talk about it further. It is important. Tell him that if he visits a forum like this, many of the people he'd encounter are not in the place you are now. Surely many people in your place are not visiting forums, and are leading normal or relatively normal lives.

I don't know your past history. I do know that people with bipolar disorder are affected in different ways than others, have varying skills in coping and avoiding triggers, respond with varying success to medications and coping skills, and just plain have different courses of their illnesses. Some people are plagued by the illness much of their lives, others have only two or a few major episodes in their whole entire lives, with maybe some little disturbances in between that they manage. If you feel your bipolar illness is not a major league concern, then you might want to tell him that. Perhaps your worst bipolar days are long over.

I have no idea how severe or numerous your earlier episodes were. Maybe they were very severe. You need not dwell on the past with your boyfriend now. You can concentrate most on the present. I will say that if your relationship becomes very serious (living together, marriage) I would tell him at least the basics about your worst episodes. Such a commitment would mean that he would become a significant part of your support system. The best support requires a more detailed background knowledge. But even with that, you still have the choice to omit some things.