Bipolar disorder is unlike any other mental illness I know.There are so many different variations of the disorder that it is impossible to list them all in the DSM IV(diagnostic and statistical manual of mental Illnesses) the diagnostic book used to diagnose mental illnesses the book at best gives a list of most symptoms. What is difficult is that most people do not go to the Dr. whan they are feeling good so people who meet the requirements for hypomania and not mania go undetected sometimes for years.  There are so many other symptoms that cross over into other disorders that the bipolar person can sometimes go misdiagnosed for years.  Putting a bipolar person on the wrong medication can have unfavorable effects at the least.  It is important when you go to the doctor to be completely honest with him.  No matter how small the symptom or insignificant you might think the issue is.  Had I known that a heightened sex drive was a symptom of bipolar I would have shared that with my doctor.  If someone had mentioned to me these things in the beginning it might not have taken over 15 years to diagnose me.  I had one psychiatrist many many years ago just tell me I had mood swings but put me on lithium.  I was you and did not know the questions to ask.  All the research I tried to do kept bringing me back to the same set of symptoms which did nothing to explain what I was going through. On the way to the hospital one time a very good friend of mine thought it would be a good idea to stop at the bookstore (what timing) I thought.  I was losing my mind and she wanted to stop at the book store.  The book she bought changed the way I thought about myself.  This has be come my bipolar bible.  The book is "An Unquiet Mind" by Kay Redfield Jamison.  This book changed my life.  I was able to identify with what she went through and not just be a symptom on a page in a book.  Though our stories are different I could see myself on the pages of her book and for this reason it is my bipolar bible.  If you have not read the book at least watch this video to see what it is about.  It truly a fantastic account of a bipolar life of a well known psychiatrist who has the disease herself.