Hi sewerrats; I haven't experienced full blown mania, but I have experienced hypomania (milder than mania). A bipolar II diagnosis is a person that has suffered major depression and at least 1 hypomanic episode. For a bipolar I diagnosis the person must experience a full blown manic episode or a mixed episode.

For me the hypomanic episodes are normally quite subtle and presents as me being highly driven, happy, or irritable. My hypomanic episodes have always been short lived (longest was a week). I spend more time in a depressive episode and the longest depressive episode I had lasted 3 months.