Hypomania presentation and personality type

I work in a psych hospital, so my coworkers literally just say, "dude! You are manic as hell right now!".

When hypomanic, yes, people notice. I can hide depression WAY better. I wouldn't say that in hypo I'm unrecognizable, since they've seen it before. More like, "there she goes again...". But yes, there's a very big difference. And it is stubbornly resistant to containment systems. Lol.

I'm definitely an introvert, but when hypo/manic, I'll yap with (at! ) strangers left and right. Can't stay still, the rhyming --yes! -- totally crack myself up. All kinds of word play. And the gatekeeper takes a holiday -- the most embarrassing things! And I never see them coming... the word "choice" (yes, quotes, because it's not an entirely accurate description) tends to make things come out on the racy side. Which would be fine if intentionally directed, but noooooo. Just random commentary. And smiling. God, I can't keep from grinning -- everything is so ... amusing (unless irritable agitated, which is a whole different story).

And cleaning frenzies. And projects everywhere.

Yeah, it's obvious.

(I can stifle *somewhat* at lower end of energy. An observant person would still pick up on the intensity. At the higher levels EVERYONE notices.)

My bipolar is VERY abnormal.

It took 10 years from first depression to get my bipolar diagnosis. Most of that is because all of my swinging and episodes were happening below the emotional neutral threshold. It's only after I got on mood stabilizers that I had a happy day. I started mood stabilizers two years ago, and that's the first time we ever saw my hypomania.

I (almost without exception) always have mixed episodes with either predominantly hypomanic or predominantly depressive symptoms.

Like others have said, I'm excellent at hiding symptoms. I spent so much time trying to be perfect when I was younger that now I can't turn it off. Most people have no idea, ever, what's going on inside me.

Hypomania is probably only ever visible to me. Next it would be my husband or therapist? When it is visible, the most obvious things to others are
when I spend an entire day being productive (errands, cleaning, cooking, tasks - nothing enjoyable, JUST productive) and feel good at the end of the day
talking faster, but not much faster than usual
managing social situations with ease and laughter, smiling the whole time
needing less sleep. Even with my seroquel, I go down to 8 hours and don't feel tired.