Anyone related to someone with Bipolar?

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As the title says really. I know theres probably a few people here who have it themselves but is there anyone who doesnt have it thats either related to someone who has it or lives with someone who has it? I just have one question...

Do you find it confusing when theyre suddenly 'ok' after months or years of not being ok? Im mean like expecting one certain bad reaction from the person over something that happens because you have come to expect that reaction in the given circumstance and then they just drop it fairly quickly? I even went as far as to spend the day out to keep out of the persons way and when I arrived home the person was pretty relaxed and happy.

Il also mention that I know very little about the condition and have never spoken to anybody else related to or living with someone who has it, and the only person who has it who ive spoken to is the person I live with.

My grandmother is probably bipolar, my sister shows signs of it. I thought I was myself but after I changed my diet to a perfectly balanced, sugarfree health diet with only fish, rice, vegetables, fruit, sugarfree hard bread and tea, I haven't had any bipolar type swings.

Back before, I could get into really manic episodes where I started off having one glass of wine but ended up drinking the entire bottle while playing the same song over and over on repeat and feeling completely grandiose, as if the entire universe evolved around me.
When I landed, I usually just wanted to crawl into a dark, underground cave and dissapear, cease to exist.

The change of diet really changed things. I never have insane ups or downs now, just a neverchanging existential void.

My older brother is dysthymic bipolar - that is, low and then really low. My brother has these moments where he looks like he is going to be ok and coming out of it and then he crashes and we don't know how low he is going to go. Initially, for the first few years, it is troubling but after a few years and with him going through multiple times through therapy, I think he now has it under control - no big drastic moves to express his lows for a couple years now.

I heard my cousin in LA has it but I have never seen her having it.

I live with someone who has it, but we've only known for less than 1 year. Mainly with medication she seems basically normal but maybe just with a lower energy level than I'd expect someone to typically have. But without the medication - whoa, look out! Just turns into a complete emotional wreck, crying all the time, worried over every little thing etc etc etc.

A cousin (diagnosed and all).

She's in jail for stabbing her boyfriend during a manic phase for not giving her money to buy pot; only 5 years for such. Three kids to three different fathers too.

I don't think she's ever been ok, really (except when on antipsychotics).

My second son is bipolar.

ruveyn

If they aren't on medication, or the medication isn't all that effective for them, then what bipolar is is probably more or less as you describe... they oscillate back and forth between depression and mild or extreme mania... between highs and lows. Probably they can even be in a mid-state where they're 'ok'. For people they might be depressed for months or years, then become manic. Other people they might go back and forth much more rapidly. I think if you read about bipolar, you'll find that if someone stays depressed, or manic for less than 6 months or so before reversing, they're considered to be a 'rapid cycler' but it can be even more frequently than that. So I'm not at all surprised by what you describe - that for years they'll act one way, then one day its different.

I have an aunt- on my father's side- and a cousin-on my mother's side- who both have it.

has anyone heard of uni-polar? my sister has the manic one. girls on bird seed all day long,

Probably 1/2 of the people in my family are bipolar, several officially Dx'ed.