[Secretum]

I was feeling rather high the other day; 'twas lovely. Then, my parents let me have a glass of wine (I'll be 21 in less than a week), and I felt....EUPHORIC. It was a wonderful high. Is alcohol known to do this, intensify hypomania, that is? If so, can it make you feel like that during a depression? Is that why so many bipolar individuals are addicted?

Thanks

Well, alcoholics (some of them) drink alcohol to relieve psychic pain. I would imagine
that alcohol has a different effect for one who has an inherited gene for alcoholism (or a tendency to develop alcoholism) than it does for another person. (According to" Alcoholics Anonymous" it does react differently for one who is "allergic" to alcohol. Some doctors now consider it to be a severe allergy that cannot be corrected--one that can only go into remission by not drinking it.

I enjoyed one martini or one bourboun on the rocks, but never any more than that
and I frankly don't like to drink because of the depression that follows a drink. So I
don't. Drinking when in depression can drive the depression deeper, I think I read.

Some people believe that they can drink beer and not be considered an alcoholic because beer isn't liquor. That's a delusion. Beer is just as addictive as alcohol.

I'd be very careful about it if I were you. That's one substance that bipolar people
can do without totally. It makes the illness worse, according to my psychiatrist.

Take care of yourself. Please don't look to anything with alcohol in it to give you relief; ask for a different medication if you aren't getting the kind of stability of mood that you wish.

The fact that you experienced such a high from a glass of wine should be a wakeup call for you that you may have a sensitivity to alcohol. That's how the first drink feels for one who later may become an alcoholic.

Genetic

[Victoria'smom]

I know me and alcohol don't mix. I become suicidal and dysphoric mania or depressed replaces whatever I had before.

[Clinte89]

Be careful with drinking it for me anyway makes the highs even higher bu the depression that follows is nearly unbearable. So please be careful my doctor says people with bipolar in part due to meds should never ever not for any reason drink.

[Trippin2.0]

Alcohol amplifies my mood x 100! But i'm not talking about 1 glass, and definitly not wine (I'm a whiskey woman). I only drink occasionally, in moderation (control freak alert! Thats why I hate getting drunk) AND only if I'm sure I'm not even a gram of sad... I gotta agree with the above posters tho, I'd steer clear, you seem quite sensitive to it, and bp makes us sensitive enough as it is.

[cocoabeans]

I've been known to drink to calm down, which is weird because if I think about it, of the many times I've been drunk, I'm never really calm but, I don't have that inner sense of turmoil that makes you feel like crawling out of your skin or that your bones have run ahead of you.

Um...yea, luckily I've only ever been a drug abuser. I'm too moody to stick with anything long enough to be addicted. Addiction is a whole other game and can't say I've ever played, except with cigarettes but, that doesn't very well count.

Originally Posted by Secretum

I was feeling rather high the other day; 'twas lovely. Then, my parents let me have a glass of wine (I'll be 21 in less than a week), and I felt....EUPHORIC. It was a wonderful high. Is alcohol known to do this, intensify hypomania, that is? If so, can it make you feel like that during a depression? Is that why so many bipolar individuals are addicted?

Thanks

yes it is very 'usual' to self medicate. (not that you are doing that)

the bipolar mindset is an incredibly durable one...probably the most durable of all the mental illnesses...

the intense opposite duality insists on something....anything... all things give it to me I need to find a place in the middle.!!

DAMN IT!!

alcohol has been extremely popular throughout history it has risen women and men to their heights and brought likewise them to their wobbly knees!

..who knows now what they had going on hey?...AMAZING!!

alcohol can amplify intensify mania bring it on sustain it comprehend it even manifest entirely new experiences....

it's not a new thing....MUST be careful though....

but as all things...it depends whats going on..

..so I leave it open...its something one not must but will self educate I imagine it's ok....

[BlueInanna]

Originally Posted by Secretum

I was feeling rather high the other day; 'twas lovely. Then, my parents let me have a glass of wine (I'll be 21 in less than a week), and I felt....EUPHORIC. It was a wonderful high. Is alcohol known to do this, intensify hypomania, that is? If so, can it make you feel like that during a depression? Is that why so many bipolar individuals are addicted?

Thanks

I think it does intensify hypomania. And when I'm hypo, I crave it strongly, among other drugs, out of regular character for me. I was feeling hypo yesterday, and tempted. Some lady friends came over and I had about 3 beers... did the right things and called it a night at midnight It could have gone all night into mayhem if we went out to the bars.

And when you drink during a depression, for me, it intensifies that depression. Might numb me a bit. But usually I just feel more depressed.

[Anneinside]

I know that I am moving into mania when I think, "I'll go buy some alcohol" because I am a non-drinker. I don't buy the alcohol.... I just say, uh oh.

[PrincessxKitty]

Originally Posted by Secretum

I was feeling rather high the other day; 'twas lovely. Then, my parents let me have a glass of wine (I'll be 21 in less than a week), and I felt....EUPHORIC. It was a wonderful high. Is alcohol known to do this, intensify hypomania, that is? If so, can it make you feel like that during a depression? Is that why so many bipolar individuals are addicted?

Thanks

alcohol makes depression or any negative state worse. i learned that the hard way. the worst was drinking in a mixed state which was a big no-no.
as far as the addiction thing, i think it's part of the whole self-medicating process. the numbing feeling is addicting even if it only lasts for a bit before it intensifies the negative feeling.

try to stay away from alcohol though, as much as you can. i used to NEVER drink and i wish i would've stayed that way...

[BipolaRNurse]

I'm dually diagnosed with both alcoholism and bipolar disorder.....drinking is probably what masked the BP for years. I've been sober for just over 20 years now and haven't had anything to keep the crazy away but antidepressants and benzos. It worked for almost a dozen years, and then everything went to hell in a bushel basket. I can only imagine how crappy things would be if I were still drinking, especially on all these medications....probably woudn't even have a liver by now. Blech.

[Secretum]

Thanks everyone, for your input. I will be sure to only drink in moderation.

[Jim62]

I feel as you do. Alcohol makes me hypomanic. It puts me in an unusually good mood where I laugh all the time at everything. The day following drinking is always a good day too. Very productive.

My pdoc advises against drinking alcohol because it can bring on a depressive episode. i don't have that experience.

[bluemountains]

I find that I crave alcohol when I am hypomanic. I think it settles the racing thoughts and allows me to relax a bit. I have been trying to avoid it, though, because even if drinking a little I still feel the affects the next day-shaky, headaches, etc. The meds and the alcohol don't mix very well.