Dear people in my life, stop defining we by my disorder....

Seriously can’t do anything without people picking at me. I am planning a three day trip to Maine that includes an expensive hotel. I am out to lunch with a friend and she accuses me of hypomanic spending. I work a full time year round job. If I want to take some of my earnings and go on vacation it’s my business! Grrr. My brother does that to me too as do people I work with.

Does anyone else have people falsely accuse you of things like that?

My wife sometimes does that too, jumping to the conclusion that I must be hypomanic as soon as I buy something out of the ordinary. I try to limit the knowledge that I'm bipolar to as few other people as possible to avoid exactly this. That said, keeping it hidden is difficult, too, so it kind of sucks either way.

There's a fine line between caring and overbearing. I am sorry they misread the situation. It sounds like you earned a nice treat for yourself. Maybe seeing you plan something and enjoy it for yourself in this way will help them to better see the difference between this and hypomania in the future. I hope you have a wonderful time.

Only my husband and psychiatrist, but to lesser degrees than I think you are describing. Perhaps my old neighbor did to a degree, but more in a stigmatic way than a caring one. For example, that neighbor only really wanted to talk or deal with my husband, and not me. She seemed to look down on me and her superficial friendliness towards me was more when she wanted something from me, like when she was away, ask me to let some worker into her house or feed her cats. It was almost as if she saw me as intellectually inferior to her, which was far from the truth. She's since moved far away. I confess that I don't miss her.

I don't know your family members' or friends' personalities, but maybe you need to be very assertive in squashing such thinking that you describe. If they perceive you as being weak or out of control, you may be reinforcing it by not speaking up loud and clear. And if you do speak up, make sure it's not in a defensive way. Make sure it won't be taken in a way that would sound like a declaration from a teenager. You are an adult who works and supports yourself. That is to be respected. They need to respect you and you are more than just a disorder. If they've forgotten a bit who you are beyond bipolar disorder, it's time for you to remind them. If you choose to do this, I'd also be sure it's firm, but not aggressive.

I had a friend who thought my sometimes bubbly nature indicated I was being manic. Thankfully, my therapist said that was just my personality--and I told her that.

I tell very few people about my diagnosis, too.

I hate this. I’ve experienced it regarding sleeping too. Went through an enormously stressful time and hadn’t slept in a couple of days. I went to my pcp to discuss options and she immediately went to it must be a manic episode. I switched doctors.