Do I Have Bipolar Disorder and Ulcerative Colitis or IBS?

@ZappyRacc - What a wonderful explanation!

For what it's worth, a lot of folks never seek bipolar diagnosis because there's a popular myth that it's swinging from extreme happiness to extreme sadness. And that's an issue, equating depression with sadness and mania with joy, because that's not how it works. I learned in my psychopathology class when I was getting my degree that it's really more like two ends of the extremes of energy than emotional range. Depression is the extreme of low mental energy. It's not always feeling sad or suicidal, it can also mean those days where you wake up and it just feels like nothing matters and you want to go back to bed, the days you can't think of anything to do which actually sounds fun, you forget things easily and feel like you can't really keep up with life around you. Chronic pain and anxiety get worse because you don't have the energy to fight them mentally or engage yourself in a distracting activity to help you feel better. You just wanna wear PJs all day and don't feel motivated at all. Similarly, mania isn't typically extreme happiness or unbridled joy without explanation. A person experiencing a true mania will likely feel more restless than anything. They might hyperfixate on a new project or hobby, skip sleeping or meals, get in arguments easily because that "amped up" feeling can easily redirect into rage. I kinda get two images in mind for the two extremes, and both are examples of people you might see at a bar or house party. Depression is the girl who has a couple drinks and then glues herself to a couch and cries her life story to anybody who tries to sit next to her and turns down any attempt others make to cheer her up or get her moving because she has married herself to that couch until she sobers up or the bouncers carry her out. Meanwhile, at the very same party, we watch a guy rail a fat line of cocaine and then get in a fight with a fish tank because one of the fish "looked at him funny." There you have your mania. You can be happy and joyful while manic, or you can be irritated and erratic. Similarly, a depressed person can feel good. It's just that depressed people don't have a lot of energy or motivation, and manic people have way the hell too much of both.

I also have GI problems. I need to be seen about my IBS. It's been a while and it's definitely not getting better. Every time I have to go, it is urgent! And can be quite painful. I would see a doc for sure.

Something that I experienced before my diagnosis was bipolar rage. I didn't even know it was a thing until a few months ago. Basically you get so mad, madder than any "normal" person would, and you lose control of yourself. I've broken things, said things, etc. The other big thing for me was hypersexuality. From 14 until I finally got my meds at 31, I never cheated, but was single and mingling quite a bit. Of course, there are mood swings, too. But the rage and the hypersexuality are what I consider to be "telltale" signs.