i have two friends that i have known since childhood. they do not have any mental illnesses. in comparison as my family observed & they & i remember my moods were extreme.

I wasn't dx until I was almost 40 but in retrospect I had milder depressions in my late teens and my first hypomanic episode in my early 20's. Sadly form all those years misdiagnosed and on and off prozac, I became more ill than I would have otherwise and became a serious ultra rapid cycler. Thank God we got that under control finally.

My son on the other had, who is 20 now, was dx at 7, symptomatic at least since 2 and had his 1st suicide attempt at 6 1/2.

I wasn't diagnosed until I was about 32. I don't remember having many symptoms. Some of my friends did notice I was a talker (hypomania?) though to others I was somewhat shy. I did remember having depression but it was mostly tied to my menstrual cycle, or so I thought. Now I have full-blown bipolar I with psychosis and everything.

I think I can even go back farther to when I was around 4 or 5. My sisters used to babysit for me and I would always get into these crying fits and pass out. They used to throw a whole glass of water in my face to get me to come out of it. I hated that.

My sister Lindy who was the middle child used to get me drunk on my mom's pink cataba wine. I would pass out and then she would not have to watch me.

I remember my dad coming home one day while I was passed out on the kitchen floor. He patted my face with a cold wash cloth and from that day on I never passed out again.

a sense of glowing, just an all over feeling of feeling sublimely good, mmmmm

i just knew i was different, dont know if i can say youngest bipolar symptoms because i dont know when it was exactly...

like i said i just knew i was different...

I have to go with Unwell's answer too and add that I was lonely all the time..I was not allowed to socialize and on those rare occassions I could never fit in..people made fun of me and called me names and the anger started to build.....and the sexual abuse DID NOT help

I can remember alot of times I would wake up after a good night sleep and I would have all this built up energy. I would have to pace back and forth to try to get rid of it. I also remember all my friends saying I was different then them. But at the time, no one could put there finger on what was so different about me.

I was always sooooooo sad. I felt sooo unloved. Even though I had friends, I felt like I was so alone in the world, like noone cared that I existed. I used to cry myself to sleep. I remember wanting to die as a child. I like how it was phrased earlier...like you could feel your heart breaking.

I started with panic attacks at 11 and took days off school where I would just lay on the floor infront of the lounge fire all day.

My son has been labeled (within the school system) as behaviorally disabled. He's going through some special ed. program to prep him for real school (he's only 4, no kindergarten for another year), i wonder if he may have BP, but I'll avoid that diagnosis as long as I can w/ him.

HKTeeta pretty much covered my last 30-odd (no pun intended) years. I was the inconvenient child who said and did strange things. I got hit a lot for embarassing my parents.

i am a kid so ya i think i messes with everything in school i get to mad or sad or happy to do something i guess i dont know

I was a depressed child and teen. Got into a lot of fights and arguments with my parents as a teen and had suicidal ideations during those yrs. Then in my 20s I had some manic episodes but wasnt' diagnoses till I was in my 30s.