[Theresa1991]

How do you handle drinking during Mania? And how do you distinguish if something risky you did was due to mania or due to being drunk?

I tend to drink more both when hypomanic and when depressed and a lot of the stupid thinks I did were linked to being drunk, but I guess they merged with an episode.

Originally Posted by Theresa1991

How do you handle drinking during Mania? And how do you distinguish if something risky you did was due to mania or due to being drunk?

This is a good question. I can remember many times when I have felt euphoric prior to drinking (the entire day or part of the day) and the drinking just intensified the euphoric feeling. It would feel great to drink after an intense and successful week. When not feeling like this (in college and in my 20s), I would have 2 drinks and stop. When feeling euphoric-I would drink more than that and occassionally do risky things. Was it mania or just drunkeness? I don't know.

[Ocean Swimmer]

I'm very careful about alcohol.
They say it's a depression deal.

I am one to believe that alcohol and addictions are a form of self-medication.

In my case, the mania comes first. An increase to alcohol comsumption follows. So too do I become extremely social. Alcohol and going out for me go hand in hand. Perhaps it falls under the category of seeking risky behavior.

I've done some embarrasing things; mostly things associated with partying too hard. I admit I found myself permiscuous. This comes with Bipolar but I think the alcohol just adds more fuel to the fire.

I wish that I had friends sensible enough to hold me back or discourage me from acting in such a manner. But, I realize that this was also a symptom of the alcohol and mania. I was on a wild ride and I seemed to attract people who wanted to hang along while I rode it.

[gayleggg]

I tend to drink more when I'm manic too. And I've done quite a lot of bad behavior due to the mix. I think it was caused by the mania but fueled by the alcohol.

[Moose72]

Many of my medications say to not mix with alcohol. I still occasionally (every 2 or 3 months> have a drink.

[Theresa1991]

I did many super risky things, commited minor crimes, did drugs, had dangerous promiscous events and so on. I guess when I go hypomanic something in me just makes click and I need to go out and party and the fact that I seem to amuse people doesn't make it better...

[LifeInProgress]

When I was really manic, before diagnosis, I would get blackout drunk from Thursday afternoon to Monday morning, and think nothing of it. Didn't everybody drink like that?

Ain't self-medication grand?

[Trimmer]

Originally Posted by Theresa1991

How do you handle drinking during Mania? And how do you distinguish if something risky you did was due to mania or due to being drunk?

I tend to drink more both when hypomanic and when depressed and a lot of the stupid thinks I did were linked to being drunk, but I guess they merged with an episode.

I am very likely to drink and seek marijuana

[xRavenx]

I have a harder time stopping drinking when manic. During mania, I find myself drinking when out to 'take the edge off.' This increases the likelihood of me taking part in risky behaviors that have ended up hurting me emotionally, physically, etc. I've blacked out multiple times. It's nothing to mess around with. I still regret the things I've done; some incidents that ended traumatically. I can rarely stop at just one drink when I'm out somewhere and manic.

In a nutshell, drinking + mania=a very dangerous combination.

[ComfortablyNumb5]

I self medicated for the first 11 years after Dx and never cared to even take proper meds till I detoxed from alcohol last year. I did so much irresponsible stupid crap through my whole 20s that the regret keeps me up all night. But i remember drinking just to get a nights rest so I'm guessing I was numbing the mania. Now I have had slip ups since I detoxed so I'm still not perfect but now when I drink say, once a month, I wake up in a horrible mood. Almost mixed. So I'm guessing throughout the years I was medicating and causing episodes from getting blacked out drunk or stoned.

[Theresa1991]

My t said that my risky behaviour partly couldn't be counted for hypomania because I was drunk at the time I did (some of the) risky things. I think she thinks way too shortly. I think hypomania many times caused my drinking or my not being able to stop. I also tried to take the edge off, to be less irritable, to be less agitated and more than anything to have a ****ing good time because I felt invincible.

[Shazerac]

It makes my want to rip my hair out how so many Tsand Pdocs don't understand th mix of MI and drinking alcohol. It's like the chicken and the egg conundrum. It not that a person gets manic because they drink. They drink because they're manic. It's a huge difference dammit