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Originally Posted by Innerzone
Do you keep a mood chart, and if so, is there a place to track consumption? Mine does, and damn if there isn't some correlation, mapped out right in front of me.
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Yep, do have the data. A little while back I ran some correlations and found that with a one-day lag, drinking definitely had a stronger negative impact on mood than I had expected. I didn't run it with a 2-day lag, though.
It just doesn't quite give me a way to figure out what the consequences will be from having one drink versus four, or anything like that. So it's really only useful in the all-or-nothing way, and that's sorta what I'm hoping to wiggle around. I don't mind not drinking most of the time, but I'd like to have a glass once in awhile.
And of course I know I shouldn't drink at all. But I respond a lot better to data and logic than to blanket injunctions. At least I'm trying to make an informed decision, right?
Yes, I'm being stubborn. It's hard to give up something I've enjoyed when "everyone else" gets to have their fun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Innerzone
* When my meds are keeping me on a particularly good keel, I'm less inclined to drink at all. While I do aim for only occasional (because it's gotten a bit too reflexive for me at some points in the past, and that is really not good, esp. w/ meds!), I really don't see not doing it at all. That's just me.
* The correlation on my mood chart is not necessarily the very next day.
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I'm not particularly sorted on meds yet, but when things are good on that count, I do drink less. (And when I'm hypomanic, I drink like a fish in the desert.) I know what you mean about reflexive behavior, though...
The not-next-day correlation was what I was really trying to figure out. I can find a couple of spots on my mood chart where a good night of drinking was followed by a miserable day a couple days later. It's just not consistent enough that I'd pick that pattern out by myself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Innerzone
Seems worth putting it on a mood chart. That would probably really help you get a much better feel for the answers to your questions. Because everyone's different. (But I hope my experiences are of some help, because that last one was especially familiar. Tell ya the truth, it'd be my guess that Saturday was the one most instrumental in Monday's state.)
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Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. Yet another thing adding insult to injury, but whatever. It's just kind of bewildering to rediscover how your body works all over again, and finding that it's not working the way you had come to believe is quite a disappointment.
I know it's stupid to put so much stock in being able to do "normal" stuff like have a drink once in awhile. At this point it's more about being able to do it, rather than the actual drinking, so it's probably more of an acceptance issue.
