[bipolarguy]

It feels as though I have had bipolar my whole life. I just didn't know what it was called... I remember talking to people about ups and downs in life. I would tell them I loved being the extremes because it meant I got to feel life at its fullest. I knew it was just the way I was. Now I know it's bi polar but I don't want to get completely get rid of it... I just want to manage it. Does anybody else feel like this??

[Moose72]

Not my whole life. I didnt really start having a lot of symptoms until my 30s although there were a few episodes in my teens and 20s but not like my 30s and 40s.

[~Christina]

I traced my bipolar beginnings to age 6.

Looking back now I can see Bipolar blaring , I thought everyone had a racing mind and ups and downs so I thought what I dealt with for years was normal and typical.

I didn’t get diagnosed until age 43

[Blueberrybook]

I don't know if it's knowing I always was BP. But I always felt different from the other people. I remember in kindergarten or first grade, the teacher had the class playing some game, and I was sitting there wondering why I didn't seem to be having any fun the way the other kids were.

[Tucson]

When I was in grade school, before sixth grade, I did some peculiar things. For instance, one time, I had an uncontrollable compulsion to do cartwheels wherever I went. I was excited and full of energy. I did not kmow what to do with myself. When we were suppose to stay in line to be picked for one or the other baseball team, I was cartwheeling in the background. I could not help myself. In the outfield, guess what? I was cartwheeling. A ball landed nearby. It took me a few minutes to understand what I was there for, so I picked it up and threw it back.

One day when in sixth or seventh grade, I took off and rode my bicycle over thirty miles to my grandmothers house. On a whim. I started out not understanding specifically where she lives but figured it out. I then rode back in rush hour traffic. I always stood in the area following my mothers instructions, unless I told her I was going to a friends nearby.

[BipolaRNurse]

I think I've probably been BP for most, if not all my life. I never slept, even as a baby, and I had night terrors from about ages 6 to 11. Had my first depressive episodes at 10 and 13; I think mania showed up in my early to mid 20s. However, I wasn't diagnosed till I was 53, and to my surprise I ended up being diagnosed bipolar 1 at 55. So it took a long time for the disorder to develop in me.

[*Laurie*]

Yeah, I remember having what I would now call bipolar emotional dysregulation as young as age 4.

[Unrigged64072835]

I knew I was different since kindergarten. There were a lot of things going on though, so it may have not been just bipolar.