Bipolar and Alcohol

This should probably be in the addictions section, but I do think it is bipolar related. How many of you have a problem with alcohol? I mean I was fine for a while, months really, and then I binge drank on Tuesday and basically felt like crap all day yesterday as sort of a withdrawl.

Anyway, today is a tough day. It's raining, its dreary, and I just feel like curling up with a drink. This bipolar has been really beating me up this week, more so than usual. I don't want to go messing with meds, because I use meds to help with the delusions and keep me in check not to solve my problems.

I guess what I am asking for is some hugs and support, you know just to help me get through today without a drink. I was thinking of going out and having some lunch but the urge to order a drink or drive by a liquor store is too strong, so I am locking myself at home today.

So what's your experience with alcohol? How do you fight the craving?

One day, one hour, one minute, or even one second at a time. Just know that the feelings you are trying to escape from are real, and they will be there when you sober up too. Just address the feelings, that is the best way to deal with this insanity we have to live with.
I think that it is really common to be Bipolar and to self medicate, I know that I have that tendency. Most other people with BP I know have the same tendencies.
We are here for you, you can get by. On a crappy day like this it is tempting to escape. But you can do this.

HUGS!!! BIG ONES!!! I just left a message on your post in the addictions section. Good for you for taking measures to keep from drinking! I view my alcoholism & "bipolarism" as being two separate issues. There may have been a time LONG AGO, before diagnosis when I drank to self-medicate, but I ran out of excuses when I was treated for bipolar. I never drank every day, or necessarily every week, but when I did drink I drank to excess (blackout city).

I don't know what the stats are as far as the correlation between bipolar & alcohol abuse, but if anyone has those stats I'd be very curious to see if there's a relationship.

Again, good on ya for staying away from the booze today! I know it's not always easy.

(((Hugs))). I understand this is such a difficult issue. I personally try to remember the consequences in a constructive way to avoid giving in to the cravings. I try to think of other ways to self-soothe and get my mind off of the cravings. Try to think about things that give you comfort and engage in those behaviors, and you might find the cravings are not as intense. Also, this too shall pass.

It's dreary today and tends to be this time of year where I live too....

Anyway, I agree with you, LadyShadow, that there is a link between BP and drinking. My friend who is a Pharmacist also explained this to me. I have an on-off problem with alcohol. It's not to the point where I drink every day lately though. I can handle myself with 1-2 drinks sometimes, but there are times where I binge drink, and I've had serious incidents while manic and drinking where I woke up with an IV in my arm after blacking out and almost going into respiratory arrest.

During depressions, sometimes I drink too. I binge drank on Christmas Eve and had a terrible sleep, missed my PM meds, and it really threw me off. I try to be really careful, and I must say I found Lamotrigine to curb my drinking cravings, although I'm uncertain if others ever noticed this med doing this. This is where my Pharmacist friend explained this is possible. Prior to Lamictal, I went through a period of time I was drinking to some extent every day to self-medicate.

These days, I don't know if it's age or what, but whenever I slip up and drink too much, I feel absolutely horrible. I get insomnia, severe depression and irritability, and it takes a few days to fully recover.

Please hang in there.

Hang it in there and be good to yourself.

Thanks for the outpouring of support! I definitely needed to hear it. Today is just a tough day, but I think it will be getting better. I took a nice long shower and burned a really nice candle. I think things are looking up.

Thank you again for being my ear through this hard time

Hugs to you! I definitely developed a drinking problem. Less with depression, more with hypomania, to shut out the racing thoughts and get some sleep. I am not on meds for bipolar so far, so it is still an issue. I feel so crappy about it most of the time. I try to get a grip on it and it works for a while, but I slip back from time to time. You are not alone and from what I've heard bipolar people have far more issues with drinking than others, anyways of course this is not an excuse to neither manage bipolar or alcoholism, so it is good that you took measures to stay sober. I just read a very good book on that topic, by Marya Hornbacher who also wrote Madness. It is about the twelve steps of AA and mental illness.

"I've got a drinking problem, one mouth and two hands..."I don't know if it has anything to do with the bipolar. I don't use that as an excuse. Sometimes the cravings are super bad and I just have to make it through the day knowing that if I give into it I'll be sorry the next day. It never helps for long and I turn into a different person and make unwise choices when drinking or in a drinking period. This Christmas has been hard. I had a relapse after a 13 month dry period but now I've made it since Dec. 19th. Some days I tell myself, "not today I won't do it, but tomorrow, I'll get smashed." Then I wake up the next day and do it over again. Stress and especially emotional stress triggers me.

I will be sober for 25 years on January 1st. And I've gotten through it literally one day at a time, or one crisis at a time. I still have occasional cravings for alcohol. especially when I'm around people who are drinking. But I know I can never drink again or all will be lost. Everything good in my life came from being sober...my career, my close relationships with my grown kids, my faith, my growth as a human being.

Trust me, it's worth the hard work of becoming and staying sober. Besides, your bipolar and your other problems are still there---drinking doesn't make them disappear---and then there's the guilt on top of it. Don't do it anymore. Try Alcoholics Anonymous, or another program that doesn't have a religious component if you are uncomfortable with that. Good luck to you.

I definitely had a problem with alcohol. I’ve been sober for a little over two years now and it’s been amazing how much easier it is to manage my bipolar. I drank to try and mask the negative feelings I was feeling, but overall it was just making things worse.

Fighting the cravings can be hard for me, but I try not to obsess over them. The more I obsess the more I think about the craving. So I try to keep my mind busy with something else.

Lots of HUGS and support to you!!!