You're exactly right that bipolar varies from person to person. It exists on a spectrum. My current mild depression has lasted 18 months! When i moved to Vancouver years ago i left my belongings with a bipolar friend here, to send on to me when i had an address. Once i did, the friend was incommunicado for a month due to bipolar depression, and i had only the contents of the one suitcase i'd brought with me for a whole month.
The uncertainty was difficult to bear, as all uncertainty is, so i can sympathize with your distress over not hearing from your man for five weeks. It's lousy when people are not clear about their intentions, but life is complicated, and bipolar romance even more so, and i sure cannot tell you what is going on with your man. It's up to you whether you want to hang in there, or close the book on the relationship, and move on.