I'm not diagnosed bipolar, or diagnosed anything, but when I was 20 (more than a decade ago) there was a 2-4 month period where I became psychotic. It started out subtly, the world felt very colorful and happy, I felt powerful and confident, and then over time I felt *too* powerful, and then that powerful feeling was replaced by an ever-gripping paranoia. In the 'paranoid' stage I believed I was being pursued by people in black vans, that I was being gangstalked, that my pursuers may have been aliens or could read my thoughts, and in the end stages of it, that nobody was trustworthy, my food was likely being poisoned, and that generic radio broadcasts were secret messages that my pursuers were sending to me to threaten or intimidate me. 

My family didn't want me to see a doctor because they were very appearance-focused at the time, and didn't want anyone to know what I was going through, so I never got diagnosed with anything. 

Eventually it just kind of went away with no explanation and never came back, but when it went away, I was a completely different person than I was before I had it. 

I had very different interests, both academically and in my personal life. I was always very intelligent, good at problem solving, and always had the highest test scores in my classes, but after the episode I've never been higher than average and usually get Cs and low Bs. I was also a serious artist and musician, and since then I can't really paint or play music anymore. I have paintings I've made before the episode and paintings I've made after and they're like night and day. 

Since then I'm significantly happier, not in a manic way, but in a way like it makes my whole week if I get to play with a dog, see a sunset, or go for a walk in the woods, or dig a hole and see some cool worms, whereas before I would have been very bored by things like that. Most of the time I'm content to just sit in a room and play Stardew Valley, or vacuum, or mow the lawn, or if I'm feeling really adventurous, drive out to the beach and go beach combing for coins. I don't get bored anymore. Even if there's nothing to do I can still sweep/mop or play with the cat or make spaghetti or bike around the block and then there will be something to do. 

It's still very weird for other people who knew me before, and when I go home to see my family sometimes people I knew back then will say "hey, you used to be some kind of genius and now you're giving everyone Forrest Gump vibes, what's up with that". 

Has anyone else been through this? Is this normal for bipolar or other similar conditions?