A caution about a glass of wine (or a beer) at night unrelated to issues of interactions with meds. I self-medicated with alcohol for many years. I looked forward to one glass of wine a night, just to take the "edge off" and to calm down. I did so at the end, even though it strongly disagreed with my stomach after I had an ulcer. I struggled greatly with how to cope because I could not live in my own skin without drinking and drinking even a half glass of wine caused medical problems. I joined AA because I was beat down to the point that I knew I could not stop drinking even a glass of wine on my own after I unsuccessfully tried many times, and I have learned there some skills to cope without having to drink for the past 21 years.

Alcohol addiction and AA membership does not depend on the amount of alcohol consumed, but the craving or obsession for it.

In AA meetings, I have met people with BP, who also had problems with alcohol. One of the AA founders, Bill. W was reportedly manic-depressive (BP).

Last week I was diagnosed with BP, and I am trying to come to acceptance of this. Today, I realized that there is some irony. In AA, it is often said that alcoholism is a disease which tells us we have no disease. That can also be true for some with BP I am learning. Looking back, I used one glass of wine to self-medicate some of my mania when it became too much for me, though I didn't know then that it was mania....

I am not saying that drinking one glass of wine a night is an issue for everybody, but in reading about BP, substance abuse sometimes co-occurs.