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[COLOR="Blue"]"I don't believe I ever had a problem with addiction." That was me, Lisa. I drank enough alcohol to float the Queen Mary, and snorted enough white powder to sink it. When I crashed in 2011 after being mis-diagnosed for 30yrs, I received the correct diagnosis and med combo (Lamotrigine 150mg & Lithium 600mg) I'm still taking, and all the substance abuse issues just kind of dissolved into the blue. All through the decades I thought the drinking/drugging/hypersexuality/spending/**** decisions were the problem...but they were only a symptom.
I had other symptoms too: I was a Union crane operator, and if some superintendent would look at me more than 5 seconds I told him to go get my money...literally over a dozen times in the early 80's. One year I bought 7 brand spanking new cars. The sexual revolution still had legs, and times were grand in that respect. In conversation with other 60somethings I'm asked what my favorite drug was back in the day. I don't even hesitate...it would be the birth control pill. When the substance abuse started to wane, I uncovered the terrible truth that spending was the worst of all my addictions by a country mile.
I knew something was up. I knew it since I was 13, but didn't know what to do with it. At 26 I went to rehab. At 29 reached out for help in the form of therapy. During those years, I learned to shy away from telling psychs and therapists the whole truth. Once you were framed as a substance abuser, the therapy took a hard left and got away from the root cause: bipolar. But all has been stable around here since 2011. Sure, my creativity has taken a hit...but the alternative of going off meds is NOT an option. I spent mid 6 figures of my inheritance in two years before I crashed. I guarantee unmedicated I could spend the rest of what we've got before Thanksgiving.
Your husband sounds awesome! Good Luck, Lisa!
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