TRIGGER -substance abuse

I was on another online forum and my post about marijuana and alcohol use was moved to "off topic."

I feel it is an issue many bipolars face. Would you think it was an appropriate post?

I would say it was appropriate as so many bi polar self medicate. Nearly all of them I reckon!

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Yes. I self medicated for years. It's truly something bipolar suffers face especially when meds the pdoc says to take don't work.

I've always had very little access to alcohol because my boyfriend monitors what I do, but often when there was any in the house, I'd drink my depression away while he was at work. I didn't even realize it until my boyfriend told me he was concerned that I'd constantly ask for alcohol any time I felt depression settling in. Are we more prone to addiction? God knows what would have become of me if I did have access to alcohol on a regular basis. I'm not keen on weed because the first time I tried it I had too much. I went on a pretty bad trip full of anxiety and hallucinated till I blacked out for over 10 hours, so I guess that really scared me off from it.

Yeah, been self medicating too. I think it is appropriate to post it on bipolar forum because the use derives from BP. Most of the few BP people i know irl are binge drinkers or self medicating alcoholists. Just like i was a occasional binge drinker before becoming alcoholic.

Weed never worked for me, i get very weird feeling like i'd be kind of vanishing. I just see and hear what's happening but i lose contact to myself somehow. No weed for me...

I self medicated with alcohol for years before I started meds. I don't think substance abuse is off topic.

"Off topic"? What's off about that? It's what we do.... Trying to fix ourselves through self-medicating because we are "off"!

In England, they call it dual diagnosis. When you have both an MI and a substance problem that you use to help you cope, whether it's bipolar or not. Many HCPs are trained in both.

It's definitely an issue for me. Seems like an appropriate post

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Thank you all. That is what I told the moderators. On some sites they want you to be the PERFECT bipolar.

Life is not like that. We don't always take our meds, and sleep enough and exercise and sit in the sun.

In fact, I did that last year in Hawaii and that is what caused me to quit meds. BOOM back to mania.

I was exercising, eating almost vegan, very little alcohol, no stress, sleeping, no pot. And went off meds.

But I needed my meds.

I don't struggle with substance abuse but it is highly comorbid. I would think it is entirely appropriate.

I am definitely someone who abuses/abused substances to cope. Alcohol mainly. For a while it was weed, but it made me psychotic a couple of times, and lazy/fat/stupid the rest of the time, so I got away from that. Cigarettes as well. I quit cigarettes 6 months ago though and haven't looked back. For the past 4 months I've been trying to stay completely sober. It hasn't worked out perfectly, but I've come a long way from binge drinking on a daily basis just to feel normal.

Definitely not off topic. When what we're doing isn't working, or the meds aren't working, or life is throwing a bunch of s*** at us and stressing us out, we turn to whatever we can just to feel okay. Or to feel nothing.

I'm kind of scared to be labeled as, or to self identify with being dual-diagnosis. I don't know why. I just feel like there's more stigma around dual diagnosis and addiction than there is with straight mental illness. Does anyone else feel like that? Like it's more our fault that we get addicted to things and less our fault that we were born with a propensity toward having bipolar, when really the two kind of go hand in hand, and both have genetic components.

Yes, I'm an alcoholic and when I'm manic, it's the first thing I grab with bad consequences in the past.

I think this is a great area to bring up substance abuse and addiction! Bipolar and substance abuse go hand in hand for myself and a lot of us. Addiction also runs very strong in my family so I kind of have it from both ends. I've gotten off meds and turned to drinking countless times. I haven't drank since May but will I fall back down again? Who knows honestly. There's many times when I want to just give in and run to the liquor store.

I'm also open to admitting that I still, quite often abuse substances. Especially my vyvanse. I haven't been strong enough to admit it to my pdoc so I just keep getting my scripts! Yea I admit it, I quit drinking but I'm not often sober. I've also been abusing Suboxone for a couple of years now. But that one is a matter of physical addiction at this point and my next step is to taper down. Anyone who went through opiate addiction will tell you that the withdrawal is something straight from hell and you have to be very strong. I can't afford to take a vacation to be sick right now! Excuses excuses. Story of my life. But someday... Someday!

Are you taking the suboxone strips you put under your tongue? I was on subs for a year after a nasty opiate addiction. I tapered very slowly, and at the end I would cut up the strip into little bitty pieces. It was mildly uncomfortable but not bad, and it felt good to get off of it once and for all. No more dope sickness.

Also, weed and a benzo will help when your uncomfortable. It's nowhere near as bad as standard opiate withdrawal. There's a lot online about people's taper experiences.

Redacted

Yes I'm taking the strips. Usually people take up to 2 strips a day but I only take a quarter a day. I don't even get a buzz anymore. I just take it to keep from getting sick. Luckily I'm on risperdal and I find if I'm going through withdrawal and I take a little more risp it makes me feel a lot better. The crappy thing about subs is the half life is crazy long so a really slow and long taper is recommended. I read that a lot of ppl switched to norcos and then tapered off of them. I don't have access to a norco script or subs so I depend on buying them off friends. So when my friends run out, so do I and then I get sick. I warn everyone about subs now. It's legalized, controlled hell and I regret the first time I ever took it.

Never heard of it. I will look it up.

I don't have a problem with it, but perhaps they found it triggering? Or perhaps they thought it was a push for self medication?

I wouldn't mess with the norcos. That'll just take you back to square one. I have heard about people using tramadol.

Suboxone is rough but I can honestly say it saved my life.

Opiate withdrawal is hell on earth. I quit dilaudid 3 years ago. I loved opiates and thankfully I didn't relapse during my mixed episode in November.

I have been an addict/alcoholic since I was a teenager. I always binge drink when I'm manic. Weed makes me paranoid so it's not hard for me to not smoke it. I quit opiates 3 years ago right now, thankfully detoxing was so bad that it has kept me from giving into them again. Alcohol is the hardest. I've been wanting a drink so much lately. I haven't had a drink since 11/19.

Hi .

I'm curious.

I just started meds. I now do not have the feeling/craving for alcohol or binging. I struggled with this my whole life. THinking I was just an alcoholic. Going to meetings. One time for 8 years, staying sober. Never completely convinced that was the sole problem. Now I feel like the bp is the issue.

Do I need to keep going to meetings? labeling myself an alcoholic or start a new sober life on medication with hobbies and a new outlook on life. Do I need to attend 12 step meetings and state I'm an "alcoholic" and I'm "powerless"?

Confused