Diagnosed 10 years ago and I’m just figuring something out. I’ve never had a clear difference between mania and hypomania as it relates to me individually. I recently had a manic phase that last 4-5 days and I think I finally see it. 

When I’m hypo, I juggle 1,000 ideas. I spend all of my money. I sleep very little. I’m hyper sexual. I stutter, my brain is foggy. 

When I’m manic, my brain focuses on 1 problem. Then it decides that the world will end if I don’t solve that problem today (I call it Chicken Little Syndrome). I have stress flushes in my head. I forget about all of the other issues. If I spend money, it’s directly on that one problem. My sex drive dies back a bit. My mind is still foggy, except that 1 issue. It’s never about whatever the problem is, it’s the intensity that I commit to it. I throw all of my body and mind into worrying about it. 

It feels good to have a clearer idea what full mania and hypo look like for me. Maybe now I can start to put stops in place.