Alcohol and bipolar...how common?

As many of you know, my husband and I are spearated. He has bipolar, and is in complete denial of it. One statement he said to me was that he didn;t have bipolar he was just "unhappy, depressed, and drinking" and that was why he displayed the symptoms of bipoar. He said he was diagnosed because he "told them what they wanted to hear" but that his "mania" was only the alcohol.

I have been turning this concept over and over in my mind...worrying it raw. It seems so bizarre to me to rationalize his (bipolar) behavior by claiming to be depressed and drunk. And to lie to a doctor so you could be diagnosed bipolar is as equally bizarre. He had to do some lengthy test to rule out many things, and he told me at that point that the symptoms of bipolar were spot on to what he was feeling...

How often does drinking accompany bipolar, both the highs and the lows? How often do they create things like this story to be able to deny the illness?

And oh yes my husband brags about faking tests that identify problems to cause the results to sway one way or the other. He is a skilled manipulator.

I was sober for over 5 years before I started to address my problems that were going on in my head, first diagnosed with depression, then with panic/anxiety, and not getting any better despite the large quantities of anti depressants that I was on.

Alcoholics are good about lying, manipulating, and denial. But until such a time as they are willing to help themselves there isn't much that you can do for them.

Carmen