Everybody knows the broad symptoms of bipolar disorder, but are there small things that tie us together, too? Habits, likes, dislikes, behaviors? I’ve been curious about this for a long time, so I’m going to start out and invite you to list what you think might be your bipolar quirks in your comments. I’ll start out by listing my personal food quirks.

• I crave salt, which is very common among folks with bipolar disorder.

• I tend to “discover” a meal and make it again and again. Examples: I found a great hamburger stroganoff recipe. I could get 5 or six meals out of it, and I made it four or five times - then suddenly didn’t want it any more. And a couple of months ago I got onto a kick of eating apples with Monterey Jack cheese. Every evening, cut up an apple, cut up some cheese. Then just this week - UGH. The cheese tastes terrible to me

• If I’m involved in something - whether it’s working, reading a book, playing a computer game, watching TV - I’d rather starve than stop and take the time to fix a decent meal. That’s part of why I live on mocha Frappucino. It has chocolate, caffeine, enough calories to quell the hunger, and all it takes is opening a bottle.

• I’m extremely sensitive to food textures. If something is rubbery or slimy - like mushrooms or the fat in meat - I’ll gag on it. And I really hate egg whites.

The fact that onions make me sick, that I love fried doughnuts but dislike raised, that I hate oatmeal cookies, or that I can’t stand any bread that isn’t white - those are just personal taste. But the four things I listed have potential to be bipolar quirks. Do you share any of these? Do you have other food oddities that you think might be part of your bipolarity?