As I've mentioned, recently diagnosed BP type II and still coming to terms/questioning the reality of diagnosis. One area of uncertainty is hypomania and how it might have shown up in my life in the past.


I can identify two periods that obviously stick out to me. I can also recall other, more numerous periods when the evidence was possibly there but it showed in less obvious ways.


Here is a list of hypomanic symptoms pasted from here within PC, and how I think they might have shown up in my life previously:


--Inflated self-esteem/grandiosity: work/life is in my back pocket - I'm the best at what I do; any feedback to the contrary makes me very angry in a personal way towards the person (their feedback usually turns out to be correct in the cold light of day); I'm never wrong in my personal life/interactions with others

--Decreased need for sleep: for weeks/months at a time I can work in my professional office for 10-12 hours a day then possibly work a second job for 2-3 hours or go home and cook dinner/get kids ready for bed/have 'me time' until 1-1:30; bed at 1:30-2 and back up at 6, jumping right into morning routine; wife amazed at my ability to function on this schedule

--More talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking: Google chatting the ears off my two close friends - can't type fast enough and I've solved all the problems of the day, incredibly witty and insightful (in my own mind); constant stream of cursing/judging others in my head and vocally talking to my self in a stream of consciousness

--Flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing: see above

--Distractibility as reported or observed: despite impending deadlines (related to 10-12 hour workdays above) and in view of leaders at work, obvious shirking by internet browsing for hours during the day; constant job search/seeing myself in new jobs/careers/places; intentional avoidance of responsibilities; taking much longer to complete tasks than others

--Increase in goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation: near-constant nose picking, beard pulling (resulting in holes in my beard), knuckle cracking, skin picking/squeezing, pacing

--Excessive involvement in activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments): borrowing money in ways that I have no plan/chance to repay; buying clothes/dinners out/entertainment/toys with money that HAS to be used for living expenses; days-long insistence/intense pressure for sex with my wife and wrath towards her when she refuses; excessive/situationally inappropriate autoerotic behavior (i.e. at work)


Sorry this is so long. I hope that anyone's experience/thoughts can help me and possibly others who are wondering how their hypomania looks.