[Slowbrains]

How does BP affect to your alcohol consumption or vice versa?

I developed practically an alcoholism to myself with untreated BP. I needed it for anxiety, depression or mixed state as relief and keep away social anxiety...

In hypomania i always did quit drinking, smoking and lose 20 pounds. It lasted few months...

Now i'm quite stabile with my medication but still i notice that every now and then i feel certain crave for having beer or two -won't harm anyone... c'mon let yourself a break etc. I know it would lead to uncontrolled drinking.

I wish some day to get over it, or am i cursed for rest of my life with this?

[pearlys]

When hypo/manic ( especially mixed state) I drink a lot more. Probably some form of self medication. Not so much for social anxiety cuz I feel ashamed when Im drunk. But when hypo/manic a lot of the shame and anxiety is not there anyway so one inhibition less to drink
Take care.

[Moogieotter]

Alcoholism is a helluva thing. I self-medication to the point of alcoholism as well. In my case the drinking was more damaging to my life than the bipolar disorder. I had to fix that first.

Cmon over to addictions sub-forum, Slowbrains, and there are other alcoholics there who can help you. Good luck!

moogs

[Slowbrains]

Thank god i'm not alone with this, i wish i'd had the diagnosis earlier...

I've heard many people start drinking while hypomanic. I always was in "natural high" state and thought i would never drink again because i feel connection to universe and alcohol is not needed in that level... then it begins to turn in to a mixed state before total depression and there is when drinking begins.

[Crazy Hitch]

Alcohol just makes me want to sleep ..... I blame the meds

[wildflowerchild25]

I've never been addicted to anything but from what I understand the cravings do not ever go away completely but they lessen over time. That's what my husband said anyway.

I think you should visit the addictions forum too, there are more people who understand that aspect of MI. of course you are welcome here as well.

I myself tend to drink more when I am hypo/manic because I want to go out and go to bars and stuff. Haven't been truly hypo or manic in over a year though.

[Hashi/bipolar mom]

Well, hello there! If anyone has information on this subject its me, your resident BP/Alcoholic! LOL

Recently BP diagnosed but now I can see the self medicating since I was a kid. I used to medicate with food. Once I had gastric bypass many years ago, and couldn't eat to medicate I then moved onto alcohol to change how I felt. I was skinny (back then, not anymore...ha) and alcohol was instantly absorbed into my body due to part of my small intestines being taken out. Talk about a high! Whooo Hooooo! That lasted until my first DWI a few years ago and then I got sober after rehab. I was sober for a couple of years but then I went back out one night (realize I was manic now), then went back to AA and was sober again for about a year and a half. Then I started going out about 3-4 times a year in a manic state. Each time the consequences were worse. Jumping out of a car, hospital visit, and latest is the DWI.

Definitely look into some sort of program. Speaking for myself, I can't drink period or ever again!!! The consequences are too great and now I know why I'm doing it. I'm hoping that me being newly diagnosed and hopefully getting on good meds will help me not want to self medicate with alcohol anymore. However, I will say that having a sober peer group is awesome. There are others out there besides AA. Also, there is a new app for your iphone that is called Sober Grid. It's convenient.

Good luck to you!

I drink for all sorts of reasons, mainly for the first 18 years of abuse which created my multiple personality condition. So now, we got a bunch of alcoholics in here which makes it soooo hard to quit.

When hypo- I tend to drink beer like water, but when truly depressed, I can careless. When normal, I pace myself to drunkedness.

And yes, I drink on meds. I can say that I can't tell of any drug/alcohol interaction because of the med types, but alters that are depressed are still depressed.

[C2015]

I don't drink any kind of alcohol. I've never liked the smell or taste of it.

[angelicgoldfish05]

Originally Posted by Hashi/bipolar mom

However, I will say that having a sober peer group is awesome. There are others out there besides AA.

what others are there? aa has not been so helpful in many ways... mostly predatory guys tricking me into a 13th step when i naively thought they wanted to be my friend... makes me mad and i dont like it.

[Christopher1990]

Id rather drink coffee. I think the meds block me from being drunk. idk. the only time i used to really drink alocohol was when I was self-medicating as a sleep aid. and also binge drinking during college. but, i never big on alcohol

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[Wildflower4]

I enjoy a glass of wine or a beer on occasion but I have noticed that I drink considerably more when I'm manic. I think it's part of the reckless behavior thing. I don't have the inclination to drink at all when I'm depressed. Not sure why.

[notthisagain]

When I am hypo or manic, I'll drink too much and I'll all of a sudden be the most social person in the world. The next day I feel embarrassed and wonder if I've said anything off-the-wall to people and want to retreat. It's better for me if I just stay away from it, but a good time for a lot of my friends is to go out drinking.

[Hashi/bipolar mom]

Originally Posted by angelicgoldfish05

what others are there? aa has not been so helpful in many ways... mostly predatory guys tricking me into a 13th step when i naively thought they wanted to be my friend... makes me mad and i dont like it.

Girl, been there and done that! There is a mostly online support group that has online meetings. It's called Smart Recovery, then there is Women in Sobriety, Life Ring, etc. There are other options. My AA group was awesome because they had Women only meetings as well as mixed meetings. My Sponsor also was well respected in the group and she would take them aside and talk with their sponsor to get them in line.

As I mentioned there is a new app for your phone called Sober Grid and you can be anonymous there. There are AA people but other people as well. Plus, you can block people if you need to!

There are options.

[gina_re]

I think if I didn't start being treated when I did I would be alcoholic. I had started drinking every night before I saw the pdoc. I did still continue social drinking for a while though. Now, I don't crave alcohol at all. It's been about ten years. I might have a glass of wine or champagne at a wedding or other special occasion.
But over this summer I had a few drinks and things went south from there. So really trying to stay away from it now. I really think I was hypomanic over the summer.

Originally Posted by Hashi/bipolar mom

Girl, been there and done that! There is a mostly online support group that has online meetings. It's called Smart Recovery, then there is Women in Sobriety, Life Ring, etc. There are other options. My AA group was awesome because they had Women only meetings as well as mixed meetings. My Sponsor also was well respected in the group and she would take them aside and talk with their sponsor to get them in line.

As I mentioned there is a new app for your phone called Sober Grid and you can be anonymous there. There are AA people but other people as well. Plus, you can block people if you need to!

There are options.

I second Women For Sobriety. I also had a bad time with AA. It will be 13 years since I quit drinking on the 24th of this month. I still smoke pot but alcohol is like kyptonite for me.

[Nammu]

I'm not much of a drinker. But when I had my last mixed episode I went out one day and bought three bottles. I wanted to drink but didn't know what to get and those bottles were pretty. I wasn't on any meds, I didn't have a Pdoc hadn't seen the PCP for over a year. I think there was something driving me to self medicate. A week or so after that I sought out help.

When I'm depressed everything is too much of an effort.

When I'm manic I'll do whatever people around me are doing if I'm will people. If they drink so will I, if they do drugs, so will I. If I'm hold up writing feverishly, or doing art work, or reading on one subject to solve the worlds problems I'm too single minded and focused on what ever it is that I convinced is the greatest work ever to bother drinking. Of course what ever I'm doing holds my attention for only so long before I get another brilliant idea.

[Slowbrains]

I'm considering AA. My wife forced me to go to a meeting but i just couldn't. She told it's going to be divorce otherwise, really! I honestly promised to quit drinking if i wouldn't have to try to go there ever again. Well... you must guess what was the result.

now i drink elsewhere... Any trip to somewhere for over night... I feel like a total loser!

BTW never drink on seroquel!! I passed out twice while walking to restroom from bed. First time took me to emergency room to have couple of stitches to my eyebrow. Second time my wife just check i'm alive and breathing and left me lying on the floor bleeding. She was so full of me that time. I still have a scar without hair at top of my head

[BipolaRNurse]

I quit drinking on January 1, 1992. I had no clue then that I had been self-medicating, but looking back on it I realize that I drank out of impulsiveness during mania, and to drown my sorrows in depression. Still, it was almost 20 years before I discovered I was bipolar, and then the drinking made all kinds of sense. I still crave alcohol from time to time but have not taken so much as a drop of Communion wine in over 23 years. The cravings never go away completely but they can be controlled.

[raspberrytorte]

In my early twenties I self medicated with alcohol. When I started medication I stopped. Now I get hungover if I drink a couple of beers! It's sad. I blame lamictal.

[BlackSheep79]

I self-medicated for a short period in the past while on meds. I drink every once in awhile. When I do my mood is off for a couple of days, so I don't drink to often.

Truth be known, I'm an alcohol/ addict...but I don't huff (that makes it better....not).

[coffeebuzzbuzz]

When I was a teenager and did not know I was bipolar yet, I was self destructive/medicating and drank a lot and did various drugs. This went on for a couple years. I slipped into that mindset again a few years ago. I binge drank and did dxm for an entire summer. A lightbulb went off in my head so I stopped again. I haven't had a drink in 18 months now. Just don't feel the need. Sometimes I think about it. I liked the social aspect of drinking, but the really messed up aspect of drugs. I would use by myself the majority of the time so I could enjoy the dissociative feeling. Since my mom is an alcoholic, I feel conflicted and guilty about this. Ashamed I suppose.

[secretgalaxy]

I don't drink much but last night I tried hard liquor for the first time (before that was just wine) and it made me tired more than anything. Wine makes me hypo(manic) so I have to watch out. Maybe I didn't have enough last night (1 shot). I have been hypomanic for some time now so it was weird that alcohol tired me rather than made me hyper.

[Captainc]

I never been alcoholic although I have been a drug addict. There was a period were I was drinking the most frequent I ever had which was last year. It still wasn't a lot maybe a few times a week then maybe a month off and I wasn't drinking more then a few drinks per time.

Anyway I noticed I was having extreme anger when I was t drinking just in the space between. I was braking things and scaring people around me. So since last November I just decided not to do it very much and only drank 2 times since then. I still have a half bottle of Kentucky straight burbon above my fridge