[LiteraryLark]

Some say people use alcohol to self-medicate. What does this mean?

When I drink alcohol it is for two purposes: To relax and to forget my day. Does this mean I self-medicate when I drink because I have a ****** day and I want to relax and forget about it? When does it cross the line to unhealthy? What does it mean to self-medicate?

Also, I don't want to make two posts. Sometimes when I am emotional I'll drink enough to where I start screaming. It calms me down to scream, and I am always alone when I do this so that I can just scream about my fears and let it all out. Is this normal?

Self-medicate likely means you are using it to treat a mental health issue. When someone feeling manic, alcohol, since it is a depressant, might tone it down. Before I had children and was working a M-F job where I worked 45-50 hours a week, sometimes more, I would be extremely wound up on Friday. Always drank on Fridays, never slept much on Friday nights. Liked drinking to counteract how hyper I felt on Friday and liked socializing with the other Friday drinkers. Sometimes I think alcohol plays a number on you over time in that my body cannot handle as much now as it used to. I no longer drink. It's a depressant, so, for me, it was extremely unhealthy for me to drink when I was unhappy because it would make my lows lower. I would also sometimes have terrible suicidal thoughts when drinking alone and depressed. But I have some great memories of drinking when I was happy and doing activities with H or my friends. So even though I have given it up, I only regret drinking when I was alone and unhappy plus two times when I blacked out. For me, drinking when you are depressed or drinking to the point of blackout is when you have crossed the line to being unhealthy.

[avlady]

i drank from the ages of 15-24, i was killing myself with the beer and shots, i had to stop i knew because i felt my organs i my body dying. i am 55 now and havn't had a drink in over 30 years-well one sip of beer last year. I love the taste of beer although. i have to rely on my meds to help medicate myself and i don't even crave beer.good luck

[Thunder Bow]

Drinking is self medicating for alcohol is a drug.

Yes, alcohol is a form of self-medication. Especially if you are using it for a coping mechanism like calming yourself down. You need to mention this to your psychiatrist and therapist. If you are relying on alcohol to cope you might have a problem.

[BadNews4321]

Even though I didn't know I was bipolar at the time, my heavy drinking was, as I described it, to keep myself in one state of mind. I was aware enough to know that at times I had too much energy, and other times was very sad. I didn't think it was anything too serious though.

I hated both of those circumstances, so I drank to numb myself. That's when it got too far for me, when I was using alcohol to avoid dealing with that stress.

[amandalouise]

self medicating in my location means any time a person takes any kind of medicine legal or otherwise without being prescribed that medication....

example a person with allergies and doesnt go to the doctors to get a prescription goes the the local store and buys an anti histamine like aller rest, benedryl claritin... and takes it.

a person with a headache takes some head ache medicine for their headache with out consulting with a doctor.

a person having sleep problems goes to the store and buys their self a sleep aid and takes it with out a doctor telling them they need it.

a person who feels they may need some vitamins goes to the store and picks up over the counter vitamins and takes them.....

many states have now legalized marijuana for medical \ mental health use or for recreational use. some people dont bother consulting with their doctors and go ahead and use it.

many people use alcohol as a social beverage, some people use alcohol as a way to relieve their stress/ unwind, and other uses.

some people self medicate frequently and others on rare occasions.

my point when you think about it everyone self medicates at some points in their life, if they didnt they would be in the doctors office for every little cold, sneeze, sleepless night or need this herbal or vitamin to supplement my dietary needs and other reasons a person uses any kind of medication with out consulting a doctor first.

When manic my form of self-medication is is to disappear on my own for extended periods of time.