Quite a few people get diagnosed that way... 
Other modern medications work pretty well but often people quit taking them because they miss the manic "highs," or the meds make them feel less focused.
Functional, or even successful at work, with a completely chaotic, high drama, dysfunctional home life describes a lot of people in my family. My grandma may have been bipolar (among other things...) She never missed work, she was respected there, but her personal life was a never-ending high drama catastrophe. When she retired she became a danger to herself and others and had to be removed from her home. She fought off the police and paramedics for hours. After that she'd get kicked out of extended care homes, and live with my parents, peaceful for the most part, until she wasn't.
How to deal with it? I compare it to treading water in a giant surf, just beyond the break, at a beach covered with jagged rocks and freshly broken glass. You bob up and down with the waves, and when a big one is about to break on you, you dive under it. Whatever you do, you do not ride a wave into the shore. The rocks and glass there will cut you up.
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