I know I was depressed starting around age 10, and had my first suicidal thoughts at age 14--about the same time I started self-harming to cope with certain moods. I don't know about hypomania, because I always found it to be fun and still don't really consider the "ups" to be a problem. I was having definitely cyclical mood shifts by age 17 or so, though. I self-harmed and self-medicated with alcohol throughout my late teens, then thought I actually had a handle on things for a few years in my 20s, using healthier coping mechanisms, until the depressive episodes started to take on psychotic features when I was 23. I started self-harming again around that time. I started cycling more severely and rapidly, with the mixed and hypomanic states becoming more clear and impossible to deny. I still managed for two more years without meds before a catastrophic episode finally forced me to seek treatment at age 26.

I know I would be in a much better place if I'd sought treatment sooner, but there's nothing I can do about that.