Is Drinking Necessarily a Bad Thing?

Moderate drinking is good for you Venus since you do not need to worry about drug alcohol interaction. It is good just as condoms as needed and weight bearing exercise and a calcium rich diet are good for you. There is no question about the protective benefit of all those things.

A clearly bad thing is prolonged sitting. It leads to reduced longevity, back pain, obesity, bad posture, menstrual cramps. Human bodies are not supposed to be subjected to pproloned sitting. It is a deadly modern thing. Research is clear. And convincing.

Yet, prolonged siitting is clearly not regarded as a vice. Quite the opposite, children are praised for their ability to sit still I.n class.

Alcohol consumption is regarded by many in. Ameri,ca as a vice, due. To the country's puritan beginnings. I remembed from my class in American legal history taught by the leading researcher Lawrence Friedman, that abstaining puritans looked down on catholic Italian immigrants who consumed alcohol, had many more children and were often loud and merry. Puritan values still permeate our life. It is important to be aware of that.

I choose to go by evidence-based conclusions hence I will limit sitting and strive. To drinka glass of red wine daily (I do not do that yet but I will make an effort) and finally get my act together and go on the treadmill on most days of the week.

Bipolar is a very costly illness. Besides the obvious cost of suicide which is even more frequent than in schizophrenia, there are the cost of drugs, the burden of side effects that include diabetes which in itself is a costly illnesss, the frustration of increased weight which is the most maligned side effect of drugs, the high cost of manic spending.

If a bipolar patient is forced to abstain from alcohol due to the potential of negative drug interactions, it just adds to the list of costs. Such patient cannot use the protective benefit and enjoy the social aspect of alcohol. That is purely a cost one sometimes has to bear, not any type of moral achievent or superior personal quality or anything.

My maternal grandmother would have been 101 today. She did not drink alcohol and did not drink or eat dairy. Consistent with those behaviors she had Alzheimer's and osteoporosis in late life. I will try to improve my chances of not getting these diseases by consuming appropriate amounts of alcohol as well as consuming lots of dairy. I understand that a positive outcome is not guaranteed but at least I will do what I. Can.

On Abilify with alcohol. When I planned to add a daily glass of wine to my list of. Wellness tools, I ran it by my GP. She approved but warned that alcohol might weaken the AD effect of Abilify which I was considering taking (but ended up not using). So my understanding is that Abilify+alcohol is not dangerous the way benzos+alcohol can be, it is just less potent. And even then, only the AD aspect of Abilify is weakened while the AP aspect stays put - that was my understanding.

Giving up coffee which is sometimes advised for bp is another cost since coffee consumption is correlated with positive health outcomes although it can be correlation without causation, but still.

The need to stick to a regular sleep schedule and avoid east-west travel as conventionally recommended to prevent episodes are also costs, because bp patients who heed this advice miss out on the fun that other people take for granted.

Horribe typos while using the phone, sorry.

Ok, I think I know what the right analogy should be. Alcohol use is like sun exposure and sex. It can be both good and bad depending on circumstances. Sex is beneficial along. Numerous axes but unsafe sex can be deadly. Sun exposure leads to production of vitamin D, an improved sleep-wake cycle and, in some people, better mood, but it. Can also lead to bad things such as skin cancer and aging.

So it is a question of looking at everything, good AND bad, and determining what is more relevant under current circumstances.

i struggle with this same question. i've been alcoholic and have been sober for many years. one day i wanted a drink and i had that just one drink.
i also struggle with pain issues and wonder if i should just take the damn pain killers because i'm in pain. i know i'll get addicted to them but whats worse being addicted or being in chronic pain. i'm working this one out.
so. i think addiction is different for everyone. ..it also wanes in and out. who the hell knows all the answers. lifes just not that tidy sometimes.
mileysmom

I know for me between the ages of 15-29 when I got pregnant with my son I did enough drugs and alcohol most nights especially in my 20's to put down a horse. They never affected me like they did other people they almost made me normal. Then when my son turned two I would drink from 4-8 at night 3 beers or a bottle of wine. When I went to my psychiatrist a year ago and was diagnosed and put on lithium the urge to drink was gone. I have drank a handful of times since then mainly this Christmas and thanksgiving because I am unstable and it calms me whether this is psychological or not do not know. However when I drink to calm myself I four cosmos two beers and a few beers obviously this is a bad idea. I firmly believe I was self medicating. I think going out very once in awhile for a drink is ok however if one leads to another to another it is not.

I talked about it briefly with my p-doc friend. In his opinion it is definitely a bad idea to mixalcohol with 1) all benzos 2) drugs with a pronounced sedative effect such as Clozapine. For drugs that are neither 1) nor 2), there is no danger from moderate alcohol consumption, so, say, my main drug, Lithium, is in the clear. My friend has twenty years of experience. I have also asked him to look at French websites dedicated to consumer information about mental health in France to see what they recommend in terms of alcohol consumption, because I am very curious.

I have just noticed GAD in your signature. What does beer do to your anxiety symptoms? Are they same or better or worse?

I don't think drinking is a bad thing like most say its good in moderation but past that is not good I go past that alot especially since I don't drive I get hammered lol but I've been careful lately to not drink heavily just last night I only had three vodka drinks and called it a night. So yes in moderation but not to excess but that's with anybody really.

Oh my gosh this post really cliqued for me! I totally felt normal on most the drugs I abused in the past. THANKS for posting!

Peace & Hugs,

TnT

[QUOTE=thickntired;2806338]Oh my gosh this post really cliqued for me! I totally felt normal on most the drugs I abused in the past. THANKS for posting!

Peace & Hugs,

Finally someone who has the same reaction as me. I was starting to thinking was the only one.

Drinking takes all my anxieties away.

I think I drink too much sometimes, once a week tops, sometimes once every few months. I have gone years without too. It helps anxiety for me too, helps to unwind. Usually though I'm looking for the social fun. No desire right now to drink. Now all I want to do is watch depressing drama movies and indulge in my sadness with my cats.

I was reflecting on why people have a hard time accepting the scientifically proven fat that moderate drinking is healthy, and remember a book I read on the plane, called Wheat Belly. The book advocates giving up modern, genetically modified wheat from the dwarf wheat plant, as the worst carbohydrate known to man. The books talks a lot about the biochemistry of nutrition, explaining processes such as glycation, and I am out of my depth to understand the explanation and determine whether they are correct. Still, I would not argue with the simple fact that the GI, or glycemic index, of whole wheat is HIGHER than that of... table sugar. In other words, the most decadent dessert is less bad for our health than the virtuous, supposedly healthy, fiber-rich whole wheat bread. This is clearly a novel idea because we are used to associate guilty pleasures with ill health consequences. But according to the author of the book, a cardiologist, the worst thing is what is at the very base of the USDA food pyramid.

Women who drink coffee have fewer strokes. In both genders coffee consumption is associated. With less Diabetes type 2. Less and easier Parkinson's with more coffee. Again, causation is not clear but correlation is. Some of the benefits of coffee are thought to be due to its antioxidant conten and some, due to caffeine.

What is a common factor of coffee, sex, and moderate alcohol consumtion is that most people find them pleasant yet they are goood for you.

oh.. what I would give to have a day that I could drink it all away... again.... and again.... and again..... oh what I would give.

Drinking while on bipolar meds is a bad idea, as everyone else has already said. I myself am an alcoholic, have been sober for 12 years, but all it would take is one drink. Alcoholism is not about where you are, it's about who you are. Once you're an alcoholic, you're always an alcoholic, like I explained to my son, you just choose not to drink. And drinking while on benzos is dangerous, to say the least, I've done that, too. I follow the old "one day at a time" credo. Just because it's a special occasion doesn't mean it's okay for me to have a drink.

In one of Hamster's posts she talked about her grandmother who didn't drink, etc. and may have been healthier with some "vices".
My grandmother lived until 90. She was an alcoholic who drank until she was about 80. She also had depression, but refused to take her meds most of the time.
With all of this, my grandmother had a keen mind and never forgot anything up until the day she died. As a matter of fact, we believe she willed herself to die because she decided it was time. When she went into a nursing home there really wasn't anything wrong with her except that her birthday was coming up, and she had decided that 90 was old enough.
I have no scientific proof, but always suspected that the alcohol pickled her mind, keeping her sharp all of those years. On the other hand, I dutifully take my meds, try to avoid alcohol except for the occasional binge, and my short-term memory is awful! Go figure.
Bluemountains

Bluemountains, yes, you may be quite correct regarding the goood shape of your late grandmother in her golden years as sensible consumption of alcohol is associated with better memory and cognition as well as better physical health in the old age. It is also associated with less Parkinsons and, plainly, lower risk of dying in any given year.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Hea...110565592.html

This link also shows what I suspected to be true: the defiinition of moderate drinking varie from country to country, see the graph. The only consisten thing is that women should drink far less than men, but the recommendations in absolute figures differr.

It is true that alcoholics should not drink but not because alcohol is intrinsically. A bad thing but because alcoholics may be unable to limit themselves to moderate drinking. I certainly am not an alcoholic and in fact I have never in my life been drunk so it makes sense for me to reap the many benefits alcohol offers. I am also fortunate enoough to prefer the taste of the most beneficial form of alcohol, which is red wine.

In regards to how moderate consumption is beneficial but high levels of consumption are toxic and harmful, well, Lithium is exactly like that, too, and I was hospitalized in spring 2012 for Lithium toxicity, but now that my dose has been reduced, I am doing just fine. The alcohol consumption in moderation is more pleasurable than Lithium consumption for most people though...

The most intriguing finding, see the link above, is that sensible consumption of alcohol is associated with less stress and... depression. How is that possible if alcohol is considered a CNS depressant? I have not read the actual research that supports this finding yet, but I can tell that in thosse few months that I have been trying to have red wine at least everry other day, I have had zero depression so at least it does not depress me for sure, and my intake of ADs has been low during all that time.

A completely random search for the word ALCOHOL in French ALCOOL and Lithium on Google yields recommendations to not abuse alcohol, to reduce consumption, to be sure tostay hydrated (which, incidentally, is always a good idea regardless of lithium or alcohol intake), but not complete abstinence.

Just randomly http://agidd-smq.forumactif.com/t161...hium-et-autres

I see one result from Quebec saying EVITER which means to avoid, and others just not to abuse. I have tried restricting my search to France in order to get rid of quebecois results, but it mostly yields pdfs which I cannot access from my phone so this exercise will need to wait.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Hea...104371314.html

supplementing with folic acid cancels out the (possible) association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk in women. And, whatever that association might be, the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke is far greater for a woman living in the US than that of dying from breast cancer, and moderate alcohol consumption clearly helps to reduce the risks of heart disease and stroke.

Same situation on my end, except I stayed on the Depakote and gave up the alcohol. Giving up the alcohol was not a big deal for me. Now, if you're coming to take my reefer, you better come armed. With backup.

some questions ?

well?

it all depends

I cannot personally see the value of alcohol in self-discovery because it does not do anything like that to me, but I sure acknowledge that it can help others with that. You are way better off with marijuana for self-discovery though. Alcohol quickly becomes dangerous with higher consumption and lethal, with very high consumption. The distance between moderate and very high, with alcohol, is not THAT big. I mean, yes, you need to try hard but not very hard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content

With marijuana, a human cannot consume a lethal dose. They say that consuming 1500 lbs all at once would be lethal, but can you do it? You cannot even come close.

In my young and stupid days I did come to consuming what is supposed to be lethal dose of alcohol.

As for self-discovery... I have inner-self censor... before letting go, drinking a little was the only way for me to turn the damn thing off. Yes, I still maintain it's not "self-medicating" because what psychdrug makes you losen up and speak your damn mind? If there is one, it might be the only thing I ever consider taking.

not proud of myself for this, but it is what it is.

As in, ten standard drinks in one night?

that's what I would do every night, all throughout my twenties. I would have between nine and eleven beers every night. I even thought that I was an alcoholic, but when I quit, there was no addiction. only desire to continue that was easily counteracted. I got off lucky.