Anybody experience hypo-mania?

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I experience it regularly, but I don't seem to have a down (depression) after it. I sometimes wake up in mega euphoric moods for no apparent reason, and need to do something stimulating and interesting. I go really hyper and I can't stop moving, its quite strange. Is there a name for when you're manic/hypo-manic, but you don't experience any bad side effects afterwards?

This isn't recent. I've experienced it all my life.

How long do those moods last for?

I get hypomanic as part of my condition, and they usually last several weeks. The longest was several months, which was rather interesting. It was mostly fun until I crashed.

Yeah, all my life. I think it's a delight and not worthy of mental disorder classification. What's the word for the thing between hypomania and depression? "Eh"-ishness? Hypomania seems to be synonymous with joy.

Hypomania is an issue when it causes you to do reckless things. Being hypomanic was largely unproblematic for me as well, but I did develop a bit of a drinking problem [I drank - quite a bit - because I thought it would calm me down so I could sleep] and I collected a lot of speeding tickets because I drove like a lunatic.

You can have euthymia, which is a positive mood that isn't hypomania. Whether or not those elevated states you experience are actually hypomania, I can't tell from the information you've given. There's a lot more to hypomania than just a good frame of mind. There's increased energy, racing thoughts, pressured speech [i.e. you're firing words at people], increased sex drive, etc.

I get hypomanic but rarely. The longest hypomanic episode was 6 months. Believe it or not I didn't have that much problems sleeping only sometimes during this 6 month period. The reason being is that my pills knock me out for long periods of time. There are times where I get severe insomnia and literally can't sleep for about a week or so. Maybe an hour or 2 a night and some nights even less. During my hypomanic episodes I talk really fast, have constant huge ideas that I think are worth millions of dollars, I have hyper energy, and sometimes spend a bit more money. Not too much money just a few hundred at a time on things that I really don't need. Not thousands. Sometimes since I get grandiose delusions it would be classified as mania but I don't do anything dangerous so that is why I am calling it hypomania. I thought my art was worth millions of dollars, that I was going to be the next big thing and make about $100 million a YEAR, that I was going to travel the world with my art and my speaking ability (I speak at autism conferences in real life), and at one time I thought I was going to meet the President and thought he was going to invest in me or my brother's company. Talk about delusional thinking! There were times that I had hypomanic episodes in college but didn't let it affect my schoolwork in a bad way because all I thought about is studying and getting 100% on tests. I was a total perfectionist in college. Even the teachers said I need to calm down and not stress so much. I graduated college with honors. Just a 3.7 GPA which to me is a failure because it isn't a 4.0. I got the same GPA in high school. The only reason why I got that high in school is I took the easiest classes and the tests in both high school and college were multiple choice and I am always good at guessing. I also studied many hours a day. No matter how hard it was.

I was hypomanic all of 2007, crashed in early 2008, haven't stopped crashing.

@purchase: If you have issues with hypomania, then things like a mood stabiliser can really help. I haven't had full-blown hypomania since I started on a mood stabiliser in 2009, although I did have some elevated mood issues this year. It was probably a slight hypomania, in the sense that I had extra energy, appeared and felt more confident, was more talkative than usual, etc. It was noticeable to those who encountered me, so there was some clinical significance to that.

@scientistofsound: It is possible to have episodes of hypomania only, without the depression. Technically, that still falls within the bipolar spectrum. Whether or not you feel like you should get treatment is up to you - it depends on how much you perceive the hypomania to impact on your life. Personally, I would suggest treatment because I find that since getting my hypomania under control, my level of functioning has become more stable. There used to be spikes in my productivity - big spikes when I was hypomanic, for instance - and I found that it was hard to maintain that output when the hypomania burnt itself out.

I had a very brief hypomanic episode in response to taking Prozac last year. Pressurised speech, inflated self-esteem, slept a grand total of 8 hours in 3 nights, racing thoughts, hyperactivity, excitability - I was pretty much a textbook case. I went home with a boy I'd only known for six hours after having drunk quite a bit, which in hindsight was extremely dangerous and very out of character for me. The following night was pretty similar to the first and even after having slept only three hours in two nights, I went home, sat at my computer until 2am and got up for work the following morning. The comedown that Monday was horrible: migraine, nausea, extreme fatigue and a overwhelming sense of shame. I'm still glad I picked a decent guy to go home with, because who knows what could have happened.

Save for the comedown, I enjoyed it very much. I got my confidence back, got a lot of work done and actually developed a sort-of relationship over the summer. If only one could induce hypomania sometimes. Dangerous, but worth the risk, I'd say.

I've had some of the symptoms of a hypomanic episode, but I'm not so sure if they bundle together as discrete episodes that contrast with periods of euthymia or depression. I've never been particularly prone to any extended period of euphoria or elated mood, but hypomanic symptoms can also come in the flavor of an irritable mood, which I have experienced.

Here are some symptoms that are correlated to hypomania that I have experienced:

• Hypersexuality
• Irritable mood
• Insomnia/getting out of bed early with a strong urge to engage in sexual behavior or do something somewhat more productive (however, I crash by the end of the day from exhaustion)
• Talkativeness
• High energy level
• Flow of creative ideas
• Somewhat reckless behavior (spending of money, driving)

I think I'm hypo-manic and crashes sometimes for a whole month where I am unable to do any work whatsoever (I'm self employed). When 'manic' I don't do directly dangerous things but I can make some really poor life/financial-decisions.

Do those who take medication for hypo-mania feel that it takes away the creative genious present when in hypo-manic state?

I really enjoy being very creative and generally get near-genious ideas (this is proven and not delusional ) in my field (IT) so I don't want that creative ability to go away. I am afraid of seeking medication for what it will do besides stabilize the mood. Can anyone share their experiences on this?