I used to drink in the evenings and sometimes during the day for anxiety but not very often. I knew i had a serious problem when id freak out on my oldest son for getting water on the floor during his baths when he was 3... I had a drink one time and i remember literally saying to myself..wow i need to have a drink like this more often bc it calmed me down, I never even considered i had a mood disorder, just that something wasnt right.

My sister, also bipolar and PTSD, is an alcoholic, started drinking when she was 13-14. She replaced whole meals with beer, do shots any time of day. She just got her 4th and 5th OVI at the end of the summer, she will be getting out of jail tmrw to go to rehab for the second time. She has been known to say "i self medicate" and she started saying that long before a diagnosis.