Welcome, Cookie

I've had a couple of relationships with abusive and controlling men, and if my memory serves me correctly they started off hyper-attentive. I believe it's called love bombing. I'm not saying that's what's going on for you, but maybe some red-flags are coming up for you because this is a movie you've seen before.

But mostly I attract emotionally unavailable men, the sort who ignore me, take me for granted, expect me to do everything and occasionally put me down. Usually live a double life, tell me lots of lies, and enjoy being fussed over by me. Yeah, I suck and picking men. Or rather they pick me, and I ignore the red flags because what they offer is so much like my family of origin. So really, I am the worst person to give advice on relationships.

I can relate to the isolating though, it's part of the illness, or the less-than feeling that comes from comparing oneself to people who don't have bipolar disorder.

Anyway, enough rambling from me...I'm glad you're here, keep posting