I HAVE FIVE YEARS SOBRIETY. I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD ANY PROBLEM UNTIL I GOT SOBER,,,,,I WAS TREATED FOR ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION, I HAVE GONE OFF MY MEDS TWICE AND HAD TO GO BACK ON.
MY CLT TOLD ME I WAS SHOWING SYMPTOMS BUT I DIDN'T SEE IT.
OR I DIDN'T WANT TO SEE IT . I THOUGHT YOU HAD TO BE COMPLETELY FLIPPIN NUTS.
ABOUT A MONTH AGO I STARTED TO SEE SIGNS IN MYSELF AND HAVE BEEN GETTING WORSE BY THE DAY. TWO HOURS A NIGHT SLEEP,,
I GUESS WHAT IM TRYING TO SAY IS YES ,,, FROM MY EXPERIENCE THAT IS POSSIBLE.
Bipolar is expressed in as many ways as there are personalities and bodies. I don't think there is a limit to how bipolar can be experienced. When I was in my 20's, unmedicated, I could forget I was bipolar for years. It always comes back though, sometimes years, months, weeks, it seems to change all the time and especially as I age. I am off meds now, but am open to the idea I will have to take them again. I am Bipolar 1 and my mania can be very entertaining or ruin my life. After 40 years of age, I started to have more severe symptoms and more rapid cycling. CBT is likely what helps me more than anything else. If it were mild, I believe I could manage fine with therapy, yet I am open to being wrong about that. This is one tricky life having Bipolar Order 1.
I have type one and have been med free for five years. I'm going to go back on them now as my symptoms are coming back 100x worse. I'm just waiting for my psych to be changed as she ignores implications of non-medcompliance when I first got help and tries to rediagnose me with something that doesn't fit at all even according to my therapist, who works with people with said diagnosis. Once that comes back, I'm at least getting back on Risperidone, if not more. Who knows if I'd have my symptoms suddenly so much worse if I had never gone off meds, but I had to try.
However in my experience all type ones have a severe struggle throughout their entire life.
Bipolar type 2 is less severe than type one and symptoms (breakthroughs and episodes) may not be frequent enough to feel like you even have bipolar.