Hi does anyone here have a problem with alcohol. I use it to self medicate in the evenings but now my dose of prozac has been upped to 60mg and ive been started on tegretol I would really like to stop. Not that easy though! Your advice would be very much appreciated.

Seek outside help, if you are serious in sobering up.

Hi does anyone here have a problem with alcohol. I use it to self medicate in the evenings but now my dose of prozac has been upped to 60mg and ive been started on tegretol I would really like to stop. Not that easy though! Your advice would be very much appreciated.

Me again sharonamy....
I'm 28 now, but at about 20 (undiagnosed) I used to drink (very very little) and do the (very) occassional psychotropic drug to try to escape my reality. It worked at the time - but looking back it elongated my struggling.

Now diagnosed and medicated, I would never ever touch anything again. Whilst I don't long for anything, it can't get a tad monotonous leading a completely sterile life. However, its stable!!!!!

Stablisied on my meds, to lose this for a night of fun is far too dear a price to pay. I feel that if I took a glass of wine it would put me out of control of my emotions - and that, no matter how small, means possible, and probable, instability (for anyone). At the end of day, alcohol affects everyone by changes of emotions, so no matter what meds you're on, it's still going to alter your med&non-alcohol state. We seem to share the 'BP Rages' in common - alcohol only served to magnify those too! If you stopped drinking I am sure your rages would become less often and or less severe, although meds are needed to eliminate the rages completely.

You sound like your looking to be stable, and are trying to get medicated - good on you!!! Well done!!! But, can you honestly say that you're giving it a fair crack of the whip if you stay drinking a depressant????? Give yourself the best chance you can - believe me, the freedom is worth it!


Very best of luck,
Nut.

Hello Sharonamy,

This is a very common problem among those who have BP. Recreational drug use is also common. It is estimated that 60-75% of all those who have BP self-medicate with drugs or alcohol, and many of those are substance abusers.

It is really important to avoid alcohol when trying to find the proper meds that will work best for you. Alcohol increases feelings of depression and works at counter-purposes with the pharmaceuticals.

Regarding how you quit is a bit tricky. Some people are able to do it on their own, but I understand the success rate is really very small. Obviously there are programs like AA. Interestingly, that proved to be a big help to my son. He shopped around a bit until he found a group that was mostly made up of young people. After attending a couple meetings, he discovered that a number in the group were bipolar, so it became a wonderful support group for him...where he met a new group of friends who didn't want to hang out in bars for their social life.

If you want to cut back on your own, I would suggest that you change your routine. Avoid the situations where you would normally have had a drink. Try to incorporate exercise or more exercise into your routine. Be sure you are eating a balanced diet and try to keep the stressors low. Hopefully others will have some ideas.

There used to be several people on this board who posted with concerns similar to yours. You might try running a search on this board to see if you could find their earlier posts. I can't remember if anyone had any good suggestions back then, or not!

Take care,
Tsohl

Thanks Nut. You have put in words everything I know already but somehow it is better seeing it from someone else. I like the term you used.....drinking a depressant. Why would I want to do that. Will try not to drink tonight. One day at a time. Ps been taking 100mg of tegretol each night for 3 days and feel ok. Might go mad and take 150 tonight.

Thanks again Tshol. I really appreciate all your help. Changing my routine as a lone parent might be hard. And as for exercise, I am 7 stone overweight due to the drinking and then eating cos I get the munchies!! This all makes me extremely depressed and is viscious circle. Can you recommend a forum where you can talk quickly about this? May;be I could do that in the evenings. I only drink when watching tv.

Thanks again Tshol. I really appreciate all your help. Changing my routine as a lone parent might be hard. And as for exercise, I am 7 stone overweight due to the drinking and then eating cos I get the munchies!! This all makes me extremely depressed and is viscious circle. Can you recommend a forum where you can talk quickly about this? May;be I could do that in the evenings. I only drink when watching tv.

I feel your issues, I don't drink but as someone earlier said that if they did, they would go nuts with emotional crap basically.
thats me, so I was always considered "uncool" :eek: and even now its so hard to find friends, because everyone goes to bars and what not... I have no social life because I feel i am afraid to be rejected, and unsure of things I even enjoy...:confused: also I am not working now, so I sit in the house, and I don't have a tv but I have a computer that I can watch movies on or whatever, so I drag up a rock if you will and munch away because a. my meds make me munch, or b. I like junk food, what can I say. :mad: So I have no self control with that, but as for drinking, and quitting I wish you the best of luck. I did used to a tiny bit in college/High school and it sent me over the edge and bad things tended to happen to me.. .so we wont repeat that mistake!
Anyways I wish you the best. I hope you can find the help you need and hope I can come out of my shell in real life instead of just the internet. sad huh? oh well sometimes I feel that this condition makes me someone I am ashamed to admit to find a friendship. :rolleyes:
take care
:wave: Leomia

So you're drinking at home, then rather than going out? Hopefully when your meds kick in, you won't feel the need to self-medicate as much. I used to drink at home (as well as everywhere else, too :eek: ). One night I tripped over one of our large dogs, couldn't catch myself and ended up hitting my head, face-down on the corner of a stereo speaker...it wouldn't stop bleeding, so much to my horror my husband took me to the ER where I had stitches and a tetanus shot. I never drank again, even a sip of champagne for a toast at a wedding...and that was five years ago. I just said to myself "That's it." I NEVER thought I could stop drinking, but for me it wasn't even that hard and I really don't miss it...and no one could be more amazed by that than I!!! It's mostly breaking the routine -- there were certain times when I would pour myself a glass of wine...and you just normally crave something at those times...but my internist has told me that I am very unusual in being able to quit like this, that it is very uncommon.

Have you peaked in at the Addiction board? Sometimes there are people on there that are trying to cut down on drinking, or you could start a thread and see what responses result. I don't know of other boards but I'm sure there are many out there. Did you try searching on the internet for something?

take care,
:wave: Tsohl

Ts, wow talk about willpower.. drinking is a social part of my life..when i go out with friends or my husband for dinner. i have only been really drunk once in my life and really didnt like it..i do like the buzz a little tho..

Hi Sharon-

I have a problem with alcohol, although I haven't had a drink in over a week now (which, while this may not seem like much to some people, is the longest I've gone in over 3 years!) I know I used drinking mostly a form of self-medication, I just couldn't imagine sitting there, awake until 3 or 4 in the morning with these thoughts running through my head (I felt like I could never turn my brain off!!) so I drank. For over 3 years I drank pretty much every night (definitely every night over the past year), I drank around 2.5-3 bottles of vodka/week, and this was just what I drank alone at home (I usually go to dinner Fri/Sat nights and drink there as well, then would come home and drink). It actually got to the point where I would not go out after dinner with my friends (they usually went to bars) because I actually preferred drinking at home alone, where I could make the drinks stronger...

I guess I didn't realize I drank too much until about a year ago, and I tried to "drink in moderation" then (2 drinks/night), which didn't last long. I could totally justify it to myself, that drinking made me feel better when my meds didn't, that it was actually "good" for me in a way. My pdocs told me several times drinking interfered with my meds (I'm sure you've heard the same!), that they wouldn't work properly if I kept drinking like I did, but I kept drinking. Long story short, I've started new meds and this time the pdoc told me that I will never get better than I am now if I don't control/stop my drinking. I just thought of that old truism "If you keep doing what you've been doing you'll keep getting what you've been getting". I've tried it this way for awhile (ie drinking every night), it's obviously not working, why not try life without drinking, it may actually be better? So the same day I started my new meds (Seroquel for now, going back to the pdoc on Monday for adjustment), I stopped. I just didn't drink after that, and that was Monday of last week. For some reason my brain just decided I was 100% committed to getting better this time, and if that's what it takes, then I can do it.

I know some people reading this are probably thinking "It's only been over a week, how can she preach about stopping?" I can't, I just wanted you to know if you were going to try and stop, I'm going through it with ya! The only side effect (not sure if that's the right word) I had when I stopped was that I didn't go to sleep on nights I didn't take the Seroquel (I didn't take it when I had to get up early, it knocks me out for a loooonnnggg time!!). It's not like I stopped and everything was great, but I do feel better now that I feel as if that part of my life is in control. And I've lost 3 lbs since I've stopped! :)

Sorry for the long post, just wanted you to know I understand, and I know you can do it. For me, it helps when I plan "projects" for myself in the evening (clean out a closet, paint picture frames, rearrange/reorganize the cabinets) this keeps me from drinking for that night. I think support groups are a great idea, I went to a few AA meetings last year (suggestion from a doctor), but never found ones where I felt comfortable (maybe I just wasn't ready to stop yet). Anyway, take care and let us know how it's going.

Jules ~
It was a very social thing for me, too. And, it still is. I just don't drink alcohol any more. My husband still drinks and I still buy wine...I just don't drink it. I guess I've just been blessed that I was able to quit without it being difficult for me. I don't avoid situations with alcohol just because I don't drink any more. I just avoid drinking alcohol.

xxxTsohl :wave:

Cassie and Sharon: You can have a little support group right here!! So many people who have BP have or had a problem with drinking. There are bound to be more who will join in.

Good luck to both of you. I feel so much better than when I was drinking!

leomia, you sound lovely. And drinking really isnt cool! i think your e cool for not drinking. do you have any friends in the world?

hi tsohl, its good to hear that it is possible to stop. didnt succeed last night unfortunatly! but did manage to replace half a zopiclone with and extra half a tablet of tegretol and take all 60mg of prozac this morning, rather than 20mg at night and 40 in morning. Goal is to wean myself of zopiclone - sleeping tablet. and just take tegretol at night so am getting somewhere! I might try drinking a lower percent wine each night until ive got it down or out??

thanks cassie and well done. a week is fantastic - a great start to your recovery. i told myself when i started the new meds i d stop but it didnt happen , so well done u. the way you describe it, we could be twins! i have to ?! drink to calm down and also lay awake if i dont, with thoughts racing. i am very much in debt and worry about that. whereas if i drink i dont care/remember! still there when you wake up though.

tshol in what ways do you feel better for not drinking - looking for inspiration here! and did you loose any weight - looking for miracles here, lol.

leomia, you sound lovely. And drinking really isnt cool! i think your e cool for not drinking. do you have any friends in the world?

Thanks! well I do, back home, but I am 4,000 miles away from them,. Here in UK I don't know anyone and have no way of meeting anyone. Well I have a sort of friend my hubby works with but don't see much of her we just email so as far as hanging out with, no not really and that is what I need! Your reply there made me laugh. I will have to tell my hubby that I am "e cool" according to you. Go me! ha ha! :wave: hang in there and hope things are going ok for you. let us know... I remember when my hubby tried to quit smoking a few times it finally worked eventually but it was really really really hard, patches and all! :)

Leomie how long have you been in the uk? do you have kids? if so, can you not get talking to other mums. Do you prefer to be on your own?

thanks cassie and well done. a week is fantastic - a great start to your recovery. i told myself when i started the new meds i d stop but it didnt happen , so well done u. the way you describe it, we could be twins! i have to ?! drink to calm down and also lay awake if i dont, with thoughts racing. i am very much in debt and worry about that. whereas if i drink i dont care/remember! still there when you wake up though.
WOW! That is exactly how my husband describes it! He drinks at night (on top of lithium and other meds) to sleep and 'quiet down his brain.' He did manage to quit drinking completely for a year, but then his doc told him his liver was fine and he oculd drink again (this was all pre-BP diagnosis, btw). He does stick to beer only, because for some bizarre reason liquor tends to bring on mania in him. Does hard liquor affect any of you ladies that way?

Anyway, good luck!! And be strong. It's all a battle, right?
-Artemis

Tis 7.30pm here and I have a pint glass of 1/2 wine , 1/2 diet lemonade. Am very pleased with myself! But got a few hours to go before bed yet! Hope I can stick to the watered down stuff.......will report back in the morning. Felt v. weird today and not altogether sure I should be driving. Dont know if its the prozac and tegretol increase or the zopiclone decrease! And now a lack of alcohol.. oh well, have been fretting about drinking / or not drinking tonight all day so this seems to be a compromise.

Thanks! well I do, back home, but I am 4,000 miles away from them,. Here in UK I don't know anyone and have no way of meeting anyone.)

Leomia - Several years ago some American colleagues of mine transferred to the UK as a company assignment. They lived in London, and for a while they often complained that "we are surrounded by 8 million people, but we can't meet any." Strange as it may seem, they were lonely, and felt shunned (which of course was not the case). Then they discovered that there is quite a thriving American expat organisation in London, and even some American-British social groups. I know for a fact that my colleague and his wife became socially very active because of these groupings - trips, dinner parties, lots of social contacts, and that they were especially able to join in with fello-Americans on those big US festive occasions such as Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, etc. I'm sure you can ****** up some American expat org. contact details, as well as the Anglo-American social groups.

Hope this might be helpful.
Ron47

Hi Sharon,

If you've been drinking a lot, you could also be feeling weird due to the lack of alcohol in your system. Your body is used to processing a certain amount of poison and now you are suddenly withdrawing it. So that could be one reason why you feel strange.

Keep up the good work!!
xxxTsohl

Leomie how long have you been in the uk? do you have kids? if so, can you not get talking to other mums. Do you prefer to be on your own?

I have been here about 2 yrs, no kids, (cant afford them if I even wanted them, at this point we have too many finances and otherwise am not ready for kids!)
so no mums for friends, and I am planning to go back but it will take a while with all the paper work, maybe up to a year and even now, all my friends back home either are single so we have nothing in common anymore or have kids so they dont have time. Its a catch 22! Not that I have a problem hanging out with anyone with or without kids or a hubby, as long as they are cool and to me I am not judging so I can get on with anyone! :) I think....

and good luck keeping it up. Heck today I had a really bad day:eek: ... even I could use a drink... but wont bother :p
:wave: Leomia

Leomia - I know for a fact that my colleague and his wife became socially very active because of these groupings
Hope this might be helpful.
Ron47

thanks, where do you find these people?? :) Leomia

Jules ~
It was a very social thing for me, too. And, it still is. I just don't drink alcohol any more. My husband still drinks and I still buy wine...I just don't drink it. I guess I've just been blessed that I was able to quit without it being difficult for me. I don't avoid situations with alcohol just because I don't drink any more. I just avoid drinking alcohol.

xxxTsohl :wave:

Cassie and Sharon: You can have a little support group right here!! So many people who have BP have or had a problem with drinking. There are bound to be more who will join in.

Good luck to both of you. I feel so much better than when I was drinking!

Ts- wow, that's great that you've gone 5 years without drinking! I'm basically trying to take the same approach you did: I still go out (even went to a bar last weekend for a show) I just avoid alcohol. I've really wanted to drink since I stopped, but I just feel really good about saying "I've gone X weeks without drinking" (Monday will be 2 weeks...). I just think it'll be worth it, and aside from the most important aspect (I feel better about myself/my life) it saves money (I was averaging $100/week on alcohol with what I drank at home and going out to bars- that's over $5k/year. How many vacations is that?!) and I'm taking in fewer calories overall... I mean, there's just no argument as to why I shouldn't quit, ya know? I do need to find a hobby or something, though, I'm so restless these days!!! I always feel like I'm about to jump out of my skin or something...

Thanks for the support! :wave: I've actually found that my friends aren't the best support group for this. I don't know, not sure if this will make sense, but has anyone else noticed that you can "hide something out in the open"? By that I mean that you can make something not seem like a big deal because you don't hide it, and act like it doesn't bother you? I guess I've always been the first to make fun of the fact that I like to drink, and I always joked that it was a family thing (my father's an alcoholic), that with our stressful jobs we all need to drink, etc. Stuff like that... I guess the only problem with that is when I started actually addressing that I drank more than I should about a year ago, everyone pretty much just regurgitated all of those things back to me, even my dad "Oh, honey, everyone in the family does, it's not a big deal" and my friends would be like "oh, you're making me feel bad, I drink a lot too". I guess I just had to get to the point where I was like "I need to do this for me". :D

Hi Cassie,

Actually it's funny you should mention others' reaction to you wanting to stop drinking. I found that was in many ways the biggest problem I had. After I stopped drinking, I became very aware of how big a role alcohol plays in our society and it makes people uncomfortable that you don't drink. I tried to be rather subtle about it at first, but people would keep trying to convince me to have a drink. At a party I would politely say "no thank you" but that seldom was enough. Eventually I'd be saying "I DO NOT DRINK...or, I stopped drinking...." Luckily people are much more health-conscious now, so they usually don't ask why. One night we attended a dinner at a private club where people kept ordering drinks, then bottles of wine, after dinner drinks...and at the end of the evening wanted to split the check equally. Of course we did, but I seethed all the way home!! Also, it gets pretty boring watching people slowly get drunk...or at least impaired...and then I wonder what I looked like when I was drinking and thought I was acting :D perfectly sober. I love waking up every day feeling good and never having to worry about what I might have said or might have done the previous night. It is very liberating.

Tis 7.30pm here and I have a pint glass of 1/2 wine , 1/2 diet lemonade. Am very pleased with myself! But got a few hours to go before bed yet! Hope I can stick to the watered down stuff.......will report back in the morning. Felt v. weird today and not altogether sure I should be driving. Dont know if its the prozac and tegretol increase or the zopiclone decrease! And now a lack of alcohol.. oh well, have been fretting about drinking / or not drinking tonight all day so this seems to be a compromise.

Hi Sharon-

Good job! Hopefully you're in bed by now (not sure what time it is over there) and were able to do well on the "watered down stuff" (what is that, like a wine spritzer?) Like Ts said, keep up the good work!! Sorry your meds made you feel weird, when I try new meds I always feel out of it for a while. Take care!:wave:

Cassie

hi, good news! managed to drink only 1/2 a bottle of wine mixed with 1/2 lemonade!! went to bed early and read magazines. Bad side couldnt get to sleep for hours and when i did had loads of nightmares and kept waking up every half hour. Still feel loads better this morning so determined to do a repeat tonight. Going to a car boot sale now! love to you all. x

Congrats! That's a start. :cool:

The thing to keep in mind is that when you say you need to have some drinks to be able to go to sleep, you're not falling asleep naturally. You're taking alcohol which is knocking you out, deadening parts of your mind so that you pass out into sleep, rather than falling asleep naturally. As a result, you are not getting the kind of good rest that your body needs. And I bet when you wake up in the morning, you don't feel all that great.

So keep that in mind. Try to change your thinking relating to alcohol. And remember that it takes awhile for your body to reset itself and to remember how to fall asleep naturally, on its own, without being knocked out!!

:wave: Tsohl

thanks tshol, its 6pm and thats just what i needed to hear. have been out in the heat all day, really hot and bothered. could easily down a bottle of wine or two! But.......will try to stick to the lemonade and wine......felt much better for it today despite nightmares about my dog dying and lack of sleep. Like you say though, i probably got more natural sleep than i have in a long time. x

May I suggest a big bottle or two of H2O before you even think about the wine?? As you know, alcohol actually dehydrates rather than quenching your thirst -- so drink your water...I'm not much for sweet drinks, as I always drank dry wines and gin and tonic, then vodka ...so what I enjoyed as a "cocktail" when I was first quitting was a carbonated water with a dash of bitters and a slice of lemon or lime, or even orange. You can get this in a bar, too. They even have a name for it in this country, but can't remember what it is. :confused: I also just drank the tonic without the gin.:eek: For me, I never tried the non-alcoholic wine. I figured it was best to just break the connection between "me" and wine, be it alcoholic or otherwise. I thought it might set up a craving for that flavor...and then it was just one more step to buying regular wine...so I have avoided it.

You could make yourself do something you dislike everytime you crave a drink -- like clean a cupboard, or do 10 sit-ups...or whatever it is you hate doing. Anything you can think of to break the connection to wine=relaxation; wine=pleasure...etc.

Have a great evening. Try to do something else that gives you pleasure tonight!!

:wave: Tsohl

May I suggest a big bottle or two of H2O before you even think about the wine?? As you know, alcohol actually dehydrates rather than quenching your thirst -- so drink your water...I'm not much for sweet drinks, as I always drank dry wines and gin and tonic, then vodka ...so what I enjoyed as a "cocktail" when I was first quitting was a carbonated water with a dash of bitters and a slice of lemon or lime, or even orange. You can get this in a bar, too. They even have a name for it in this country, but can't remember what it is. :confused: I also just drank the tonic without the gin.:eek: For me, I never tried the non-alcoholic wine. I figured it was best to just break the connection between "me" and wine, be it alcoholic or otherwise. I thought it might set up a craving for that flavor...and then it was just one more step to buying regular wine...so I have avoided it.

You could make yourself do something you dislike everytime you crave a drink -- like clean a cupboard, or do 10 sit-ups...or whatever it is you hate doing. Anything you can think of to break the connection to wine=relaxation; wine=pleasure...etc.

Have a great evening. Try to do something else that gives you pleasure tonight!!

:wave: Tsohl

Sharonamy...Tsohl suggestions are excllent.
However,let me share with you what my pdoc recommended when I was released form my last hospital stay,23years ago. Because I was self medicating before I was admitted with a lot of "hard stuff",he felt it best that I cut alcohol content down;but to not stop it all together. He suggested
a white "Wine Spritzer". That is a dry Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio. If you like a white wine not so dry,use a Chablis or Rhine. The "Spritzer" is Club Soda....You use a 10 oz wine glass with 4 or 5 ice cubes and pour in 4 oz of the white wine of choice, than pour in 4 oz club soda. (you may want to cut the wine to 3 oz and the club soda to 5 oz).

The pdoc told me I could only have one "Spritzer" a day. And Mrs Eyes keep a very close eye on me. Over a period of 3 months, with his monitoring my serium lithium and the Spritzer,we found a good answer toward my continued emotional stability.

However, I would work closely with you own pdoc as to what he/she fells you are capable of using alcohol.

Good luck...

I am gutted. Started off with my spritzer last night, good as gold. Then........my teenage daughter had a big row with her mate and took it out on me, so................like a mature adult (not)! I drank the rest of the bottle neat. Was still less than id normally drink, but I feel horrible today. Useless, depressed (supposed to be less depressed due to increase in prozac and introduction of tegretol). When will they work? Help!

don't fret on yourself... sometimes when something upsets us we all do whatever it is we are trying to stop. at least you recognize that you are trying and having a bit of difficulty on the road to recovery, but as long as you can get back up again! and I think doing the 1/2 and 1/2 for a while is a good way to come down slowly so as not to shock you completely!
Hang in there and good luck!
:wave:
Leomia

thanks leomia......i think your right, my stystem is having quite a few shocks at the moment. feel really lethargic today. i hate that cos i feel really guilty when i dont get done what id planned too. nothing major planned, but it still freaks me out! did you have any success with the guys suggestion of the american / english club thing??

I don't know where to find these people, and haven't heard back from him, but thanks....
as far as you go, don't take it all on. things like this take a lot of time and perseverance so take it one day at a time! You can always do it later (just don't live by that phrase or you will be a procrastinator like me!!!)

:)

Leomia