I guess what I'm really asking is, do others consider our feelings, thoughts and actions completely valid? or do you think that on some level they're thinking "oh, she's manic right now, she's not really happy to see me, it's the chemical imbalance."? Or maybe they don't take my depression seriously, saying, "oh it's nothing, she'll get over it soon enough, it's just her illness".
This really isn't coming out the way I want it to, but I hope that you're at least getting the general idea.

There's also the flip side to this...when I level out and all is said and done, I WANT them to know it was the illness when I lashed out or behaved differently or spent a ton of money. Do I excuse my behavior and manipulate my illness to my advantage depending which side of the cycle I'm on? Do you?
TgrsPurr.