i've always wondered if i'm slightly bipolar or have bipolar II so i was wondering what hypomania looks like. hearing some descriptions of it would help. (i've definitely got the depression side down pat.) thanks!

Hypo mania is different for everyone, but it is in general considered like a "mania lite." Go to the conditions & disorders tab at the top & read the description of mania symptoms.

I think I am unusual in that my hypo manias are completely fantastic--no irritation or anger. Just euphoria, high self-esteem, fantastic energy, no need for sleep, spending sprees--but not so much that I break the bank as my husband does have a good job so my spending hundreds of dollars in a few hours won't put us in the poor house but does cause concern, etc.

Joining clubs, organizations (or what I called my "crusades")where I would devote so much time & attention that I would quickly rise to the top & become the president or spokesperson or something (even appearing on TV or speaking in front of Board meetings of large organizations & I am normally a shy person).

I would be the life of the party, a ferocious tennis player, run 6 miles a day--just intense at everything & feel sheer joy. A physical sensation of adrenaline coursing through me w/a thrumming of aliveness in me.

It is like an incredible drug for me. No wonder I have such a hard time giving it up! Though I have to as I usually have hypo mania periods for months (3-6) at a time then have a sudden crash into a severe depression & do something rash like an overdose as I don't think rationally--my brain hasn't gotten enough sleep w/the insomnia.

I (& my husband) prefer my personality when hypo manic. On meds I am not the same energetic passionate person. I'm bland.

[suze999]

I have the irritability and anger version, nothing fun about it. I have experienced one period of euphoria, though. Grandiosity through the roof, planning and high energy, reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts and inability to concentrate or stay on any one project for a while (good thing I can delegate at work before I completely lose the train of thought). I've actually come up with some good stuff when hypomanic, and also a lot of crappy ideas that I was positive were the greatest thing ever. Then I have these moments of insight and feel so embarrassed and humiliated, just want to isolate and not talk to anyone -- that's usually on the downward slide. I haven't had an episode in a couple of years, since my Lamictal dose was cranked up, although I've had a couple of periods of moderate depression.

[madisgram]

i've got bpd with hypomania tho stabilized for the most part. symptoms for hypomania for me include extremely agitated, irritable, quick to anger, loss of sleep, trouble concentrating. i don't suffer from mania, just hypomania. i did have the tendency to suffer severe depression however with my bpd. add to that the periods of hypomania which i hated as much as the depression. i see it as the worst of bpd cause i never got to be manic in the true sense of the word. some ppl tell me they won't take their meds for bpd cause they'd miss the mania. i for one am glad to not have to be so depressed or so hypomanic anymore.
hope this helps.

Originally Posted by suze999

planning and high energy, reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts and inability to concentrate or stay on any one project for a while (good thing I can delegate at work before I completely lose the train of thought).

i have had this as well but i'm not sure if it's enough to be hypomanic. i did talk to my pdoc once about bipolar II but he had me take a quiz for manic symptoms which i don't have like the reckless spending and lots of sexual activity. i wonder if i still have bipolar II or if some of this is just kind of normal.

I've actually come up with some good stuff when hypomanic, and also a lot of crappy ideas that I was positive were the greatest thing ever.

lol

Then I have these moments of insight and feel so embarrassed and humiliated, just want to isolate and not talk to anyone -- that's usually on the downward slide.

oh, i'm sorry.

[Amazonmom]

My hypomanias only happen after a severe depressive episode, or when they are drug induced. The natural ones are just highly energized anxiety. Maybe I am happy for a day or two but then anxiety kicks in and I am miserable. It fizzles out after a couple of weeks.

My drug induced hypomanias are more stereotypical...but I don't find them pleasant in the least. I am super anxious, super high energy, always moving, I attack my poor husband the second we hit the bedroom at night (he likes that), and I become very open and honest...I am not rude (friends confirm this) but I seem like a different person in general. I still don't spend money. I am very tight with money, the most I have ever spent in hypomania is 80 bucks! For the whole episode! I am super distractible and talk a lot. I thought I was acting wacko while on Zoloft but my support group says they wouldn't have known anything was wrong if that was the first time they met me. They knew something was up because my normal is different.

I am at my most productive and happiest when I am euthymic...which I guess is good because then I have a motivation to take meds, do therapy,etc.

[northern]

I don't over spend but do spend on things we need but don't always have the cash to spare. Like this week had abit of spare cash instead of saving it for a rainy day I spent it on extra food we like, on the dogs for their comfort and wellbeing. I bought some perfume I love but hadn't had for sometime. Told myself it was to cheer me up. Now I don't want to open it because I feel guilty for buying it and should have kept the money for current bills owing.

I get very angry over nothing and can't tolerate other people. Hate noise as I am super senstive to loud noise yet on the other end of my moods will have the stero blasting the latest 'Nickleback' cd and singing at the top of my lungs, boucing around the house in a cleaning frenzy.

Can't sleep so spend hours on the computer. Last stint was 10hours straight. Felt great then crashed into a heap feeling miserable for the next week. Now I am going flat out doing nothing, jumping from one thing to another. Haven't read a book in weeks, yet can read 1 in a day.

Before taking meds for diabetes 2 I was aggressive in the bedroom now I can't even get excited by it at all. Happy just to get a massage and bugger the sex.

I pick fights with total strangers and will leave my shopping trolley full of groceries, storming out of the supermarket, so I don't end up smacking someone.

Drive at high speed, as I can, on the open country roads with no another person passing me by. The I scare myself as I am doing over 145kms in a 100kms zone, yet I feel I am going slow.

I know there is something wrong with me but getting the right GP or Pdoc to actually listen is taking it's total. Never mind when I am up I usually get all the stuff done I haven't be able too when I am down. I am having more long term depression of late so it's not great.

[BNLsMOM]

This post has been very helpful to me as well. I am recognizing my hypomanic behavior. I get very playful and silly and motivated for a few days and then I get very irritable, I get angry easily and little noises bother me, like my 7 year old drumming his fingers on the table, etc. I annoy my husband by poking him or finding a feather or something to tickle him with, thinking I am being funny. I'll start projects around the house, and I used to go out and get a new career when the economy was good. I don't spend wildly, but I'll buy supplies for a new career, like getting the books needed for personal training, beads and strings for jewelry making, etc. I'll buy a new outfit because I feel so good, I don't want to wear the things I wore when I was depressed. The biggest thing I spent on was taking out a loan for massage therapy school. I dropped it after one class, and was able to give most of the loan back, but had to pay about a third of it off.
Then I'll usually get to the annoyed, agitated stuff, have outbursts of rage, unwanted thoughts, and soon after I go into a depression.

I think I am rapid cycling and have had at least one mixed episode that lasted a few days.

I'm hypomanic right now. My big symptom is going without sleep for days and not being the least bit tired, but I get agitated, fidgety, anxious. My pdoc is trying to find the right med combo to bring my mood down and to knock me out. So far, no luck. I don't get the euphoria as much as I get the irritability.

[ashty]

hypo. errrrr? hells yeah!

For me, it is having an incredible understanding for the whole world. I have conversations with people and imagine tying threads together with my (whatever it happens to be) current project and reducing everything down to its very basic, visceral level. I get playful with words. I get irritated when I have to wait for things (paying for stuff especially - why can't they just be ready with the change already?!). I embark on new projects to some extent but because i'm training to be a teacher i already have lots to occupy me. The spending and the sex just happen when the environment allows so if that's not a current symptom it dosn't mean that you're not in the bracket for it. nuh uh. I write to people, lots. lots and lots. and I send them my songs (i'm a composer) and tell them to listen listen listen, and then listen again. I talk about myself A LOT and don't listen to them when they have somethign to say. Everything comes back to me, my cental point, the connections i've made and the reducing down of concepts to one base level that (apparently) only I have thought of because everyone else is just retarded.

sound about right?

i got diagnosed last week. woop woop!