Does alcohol make your bipolar worse??

Somehow when I drink my mind is more clear. Less noise ( i suffer from huge brainfog). But the day after when i really drank too much, especially when i am alone, i feel more depressed. When im manic it makes me even more agressive and less inhibited.

I think the problem with alcohol is being able to use it in moderation. Taken when relatively stable, it is good in very very small dosages. But, for me, it can swing me so fast. It might only take a couple of beers. I can be thinking, this is slowing things down nicely, I like this.....the 10 minutes later my mood has gone out of control, in either direction.

I just don't drink anymore. Too many potential reprocussions

I can't really drink anymore. I used to love to go out and drink and be wild, but I no longer have that urge, and haven't since the 2 years I've been medicated. I miss it. The hangovers are so bad and I feel suicidal depressed for at least 2-3 days after a night of drinking. On the plus side is that I can now enjoy one or two drinks without thinking I have to get drunk.

I miss it though- I miss the excitement. My drunk antics were not very cute anymore at age 39 (probably weren't before either) anyway. I'm so flat now anymore than a few drinks drags me down more.

It puts me in a mania...

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I don't drink often, but when I do its definitely in moderation.


I learned long ago, even before my dx, that alcohol amplifies my moods when I over do it.


So if I'm mildly depressed and get drunk, guess what? I'll be suicidal, and if I'm even just leaning toward hypo, I'll be dancing on the table without a care in the world.


So, I live by my mothers wise old words... "Too much of anything is bad for you, do everything you do in moderation"

I'm out of control as is, that's how I see myself. I'll never touch the stuff.

I don't even say () months sober, and if someone congratulated me on this, I'd be thiking, "F U, u don't know **** about me and my struggle. And I'm not interested to compare notes or whatever"

Me and alcohol, it's personal, everyone has a different ideas and, I stay away from discussing it.

@Trippin, I've read few of your posts in the past where you dropped your pills down the toilet. I'm just glad that you're still around and giving us your always sage advices.

I actually decided this weekend to stop drinking. My friend and I decided we would get wasted once a week to get rid of the stress from grad school. The problem is that I'd feel so down the next few days that I'd get behind.

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Thanks I'm known for having Superman's liver, so physically I didn't suffer too badly for too long. 1 week and it was all over, physically of course.

My partner, father of child binge drinks while manic and anxious to slow his thoughts and soothe his symptoms and I originally believed he was alcoholic with depression and anxiety. A few years ago after some major episodes and some serious paranoia I have come to the thinking that his primary deal is bi polar 1 and it leads to the horrible drinking. I had originally thought the mental problems stemmed from out of control drinking and it made me absolutely furious as he could not see the reality of his behaviors. Binge drinking, not eating, not sleeping, poor decisions, rage mania followed by the crash. It's the chicken or the egg debate but I have much more patience with BP being the primary culprit. After this last paranoid episode he agreed to see the doctor and he gave him Respirdal. It's only been I week and I am slow to be hopeful of much of anything with him because he's so stubborn and resistant and has never truly accepted this diagnosis as accurate. So for the first time in years I saw some real insight from him and he was so much more centered and self aware I felt that tinge of hope again that he could thrive again, not just survive. He actually seemed to understand that his tense stormy relationships were caused by mania morphing into binge drinking, leading to the Great Depression. He was connecting the dots! So yesterday I discovered him drunk in the afternoon which he denied (ugh) and found a stash of his beers outside. He's on this Risperdal and it affected him very badly. He slept it off. He's super anxious about taking meds and his body is sensitive to everything. Any advice? The one boundary or rule I have to allow him to stay here (we have a 6 year old) is NO DRINKING which he breaks constantly. This time though he is on Respirdal and it appeared to be working until he pulled this again. I know he can go dry periods of no alcohol. Do you think it's the BP or alcoholism I am combating? Thanks for any insights here. I really would like to stay hopeful but I have to maintain boundaries and he lies when he drinks.

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Worse….omigod so much worse. I use to be really bad with alcohol but i quit because i could not maintain moods if drinking. I'm doing so much better since i stopped

I relax when I drink. I'm a social drinker and nothing happens to me when I drink and take my medicine. I'm getting off of my pills in September approximately.

alcohol doesn't do anything for me. I think with the meds I can't get drunk. And when I do drink enough I ended up feeling like crap and headache all day. Drugs and alcohol will make symptoms worse. Almost always. If you do enough

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Alcohol is a go to coping medication for me. It calms me. But...I'm an alcoholic, so take that as you want.

I self-medicated bipolar with alcohol for many years and it did keep me stable but eventually I almost died from drinking and was about 2 hours from death according to intensive care doctors. I recovered and there a few med changes that actually started to work.

I don't know which is worse booze or drugs but since the drugs work for me now I only have a few beers about once a year.

Up to age 30 or so, alcohol didn't affect me much. I mellowed but never appeared drunk (even on a cop stop--so many be I wasn't driving the best).

I'm 69 now and looking back guess my drinking might have stirred up the lurking BP, which wasn't diagnosed until seven years ago. I was a recovering alcoholic from age 35 till 67, when physical was my excuse to start drinking again. I've had three bouts of drinking, but my BP has been raging out of control since then.

Frankly, I think there's a connecting between these two mental illnesses.

Best luck to you. riposte. I hope you stay off alcohol and find the best treatment for the BP.

roads

A weak/moderate drink or two at most on a single day is fine, anything more and for the next week or two I'm depressed and unstable. I recently went to a wedding and drank three days in a row, three+ drinks each day, and I'm still feeling really down. Alcohol should only do that for a few days, so my guess is it either triggers depression in me or messes with how my meds (Lamictal, Lexapro) are working for me.

I have a drink (a beer or two) maybe once a week, maybe less, maybe a little more. I do not like or drink hard liquor. My wine of preference is mead - fermented honey wine (19% abv but it's gooood! ). I have a 16 oz. Viking drinking horn I fill, after which I am toast. I really can't hold my alcohol anymore. My husband is a recovering alcoholic (I keep my stuff out of site) but when he drank he was a nasty drunk. But I am a goofy drunk, and if anything it improves my moods. It's actually fun.