New to the site, question about symptoms

Hi there :) I'm a 20 year old animation student in the Uk. I haven't been diagnosed with bipolar (yet..?) and I wanted to make sure I'm rating my moods correctly. Eg. worried I may be confusing a good mood with hypomania.

So here's how I feel/act during what I assume to be a "good" high

(Called Euphoric hypomania)

-Physical symptoms showed before any mental elevation, eg. legs shaking nonstop and overstimulation with noises and colours
-Woke up feeling normal, then around 5-6pm on 2nd Nov I suddenly start feeling really happy, even though nothing happened to make me happy
-Needed music to satisfy me; full volume but still not loud enough, became on edge when there was silence
-Did coursework for uni, cleaned bathroom during, sang outloud/danced to songs "moderate elevation" (Had been putting off coursework and cleaning for a while)
-Went shopping and got a haircut during "mild elevation" (normally I'm too tired to go anywhere)
-Took photos of myself and I actually looked drunk, wide eyed and flushed face, despite not drinking
-Was really clumsy, eg spelling mistakes, shaky handwriting, jumping at sudden loud noises
-Nausea whether or not I ate, felt feverish
-Physical tiredness but not mental, eg. yawning but my legs were still shaking like crazy

Other: fast thinking, wanted people's attention constantly, 3.5 hours of sleep after "moderate elevation" day.
Reasons it may be normal happiness: didn't do anything reckless, didn't speak to anyone, didn't really travel anywhere, no sex or drinking, only lasted 3 days

"Bad" high:

(Think this is called Dysphoric Hypomania?)

-Less and less sleep the longer I was in it
-Arguing with people in my mind/imaginary conversations
-Veeery irritable
-Legs shaking, also; hands shaking
-Overstimulation at everything: loud noises, bright colours, people being in the same room as me
-On my worst day I suddenly decided I wanted to drop out of university and move into my own flat and started making plans, but stopped planning once it caught up to me that I couldn't do it due to lack of money
-The doctor was the only person I spoke to during this time, and I was quite rude to him
-Lost 8.5lbs in one week due to excessive binging/purging
-Left class early because I was too mad to be in the room, even though I needed to do exam work
-Assumed people's thoughts and got mad
-Lasted one week

I'm already 90% sure my depressive episodes are just that, though it's atypical in that I; a)sleep a lot b) eat a lot c)am able to leave my bed

so question is: are the highs I described actually hypomania?

Thanks for your openness and descriptions. From my personal experience, as someone with Bipolar II, both your euphoric and dysphoric hypomania sound accurate. The dysphoric one sounds like some of my mixed states (which I think are the worst thing ever). One thing a doctor will do is ask about the duration. I have a great book called the Bipolar II Disorder Workbook, which talks about this a bit. Depression must be for a two week period, and for Bipolar I mania is a week, but for Bipolar II, hypomania is 4 days.

I'm glad you're working with a doctor, and open to doing research and reaching out to folks. My first major depressive episode was when I was your age, and 19 years later, I'm still learning, as well as struggling. You'll get through this.

Interesting. I don't ever think I have had dysphoric mania. It's always been euphoric. With sleeping, I am type I but I always have to get at least 7 to 8 hours. They originally flagged me as type II just because of that. Making snap bad decisions is definitely a symptom. What you are describing sounds like full blown mania, not just hypo mania.

I have definitely had mania that only lasted one to two days.

I have bipolar 1, usually have dysphoric mania if I’m manic. As you listed above, not a pleasant experience. I hate it every time. It’s the combination of energy and depression with anxiety is such an ugly feeling I get so agitated I want to jump out of my skin.