For me hypomania is just less pronounced, I have elevated mood, racing thoughts, fast speech, hypersexual feelings but not likely to act on them like when I'm manic. I don't tend to be paranoid when hypomanic. Just a bit elevated, amped up, if you will..I have a bit better impulse control when hypomanic.

The part of my bipolar that led to me being diagnosed as Bipolar I are my manic episodes. For me, I can get full-blown manic 1-3 times a year, everything is amped up times 10. I feel intense energy, almost constant racing thoughts, wanting to tell everyone everything about these theories I have about the universe & cosmos, painting, cleaning like crazy, & going out and being hypersexual. My last manic episode, I had sex with 4 different people in 5 days, & hardly slept at all. I filled up a whole notebook of random ramblings. I also tend to get paranoid when I am fully manic. Like I think people are looking at me, watching me, spying on me, random people. I also have these obsessive thoughts that I can't get rid of, sometimes they send me to the hospital because I can't turn my brain off. Totally irrational. Plus my anxiety tends to get worse when I am manic also. So there's definately a big difference between hypomanic & full blown mania for me.