My pdoc and I had a discussion about that just last week. It was the first time he'd ever really made those distinctions, but he basically said "This (described symptoms) is what you're like when you're hypomanic, and then x happens when you're manic." I've never been hospitalized---at least, not yet---but my mania has been destructive enough that it's cost me jobs and a lot of respect and good will.

A doctor who says you have to have been hospitalized to qualify for a bipolar 1 diagnosis is being intellectually lazy, IMHO. You may or may not be BP 1, but a good doctor treats the symptoms, not the diagnosis.

For me, hypomania is when I feel GREAT and the world is SPECTACULAR and I love EVERYBODY and every day is the BESTEST DAY EVER!!! I'm breezy and giggly and I'm like, wow, look at all the COLORS! I can do anything and everything, I spend lots of money and treat everybody within shouting distance to a meal. I'm also super-creative and super-productive, and I'll do things like sing out loud (I have a terrible voice) and dance in the rain.

THEN it turns ugly. When I'm full-blown manic I get paranoid, angry, scared, irritable, and argumentative. My thoughts race all day, all night. I'll pick fights when I think someone's trying to ruin my "fun", drive way too fast and too aggressively. I can't sleep, can't sit still, feel like I want to crawl out of my skin and like I can't find a place for myself. I pace and yell into the phone when I'm talking to someone (usually by the time I'm this bad off, I'm calling my pdoc), I can't focus, and sometimes I even have auditory hallucinations. When it's over I experience blackouts, kind of like when you drink too much only it's with the mania---I can't remember a lot of what happened during the manic spell.

Don't know if that's helpful, but I thought I'd throw that out there as an example of two different types of manic states. FWIW, I think you're BP 1 but of course I'm not a doctor so I can't diagnose you.