alcohol ??

[abbylotus]

i'm just curious if people are still drinking cocktails when they are dealing with mental illness issues. if that makes sense. i'm reading a book about bipolar disorder and it says any amount of alcohol can cause an episode. i find this interesting. i know alcohol, for me, can definately be a trigger if i don't watch it very carefully. two drinks max, usually just one. i used to drink heavily when i was manic. not at home, but i would have a need to go out to bars and drink there...chatting it up with anyone and everyone. quite a lot of my friends are still running the bar circuit (i work in a resturant/bar as well) so it was never difficult to find a partner in crime. i know i should not drink at all and that would be the best choice, but i really can not not have a drink once in awhile. i don't want to give up that liberty. i want to be able to have one glass of wine or a nice whiskey on the rocks. certainly not everyday, but if my DH and i were to meet friends for dinner i want to be able to socialize in that manner. i don't know. i'm torn as to doing what it best, and what i want. i think i'm holding onto the last thread of my former self before i was diagnosed. i now take so much better care of myself....i keep my pysch/doc appts, i take my meds, i eat well, i exercise, i use a light box, i take vitamins, i get plenty of rest, i limit my stress.....i want to be able to have a drink once in awhile. does anyone else feel this way?

[AnyMama]

I think a lot of it depends on the meds you're taking too. Alcohol can be a real no-no with some meds. It's best to stay away from it with most atypical antipsychotics, currently being used as mood stabilizers in bipolar patients. Another consideration is that many of these meds are HARD on your liver, that's where they're metabolized, and often you're relying on the metabolytes to actually treat the illness. So compounding that with alcohol, also being processed through the liver is not so great.

I would be less concerned about it as a trigger if you're on an affective treatment course than I would about it interacting with the meds and the whole liver thing.

This is a good "talk to you doctor" question. Your doc might say that a glass of wine or beer occasionally (once a month or so) is okay. I would stay away from the hard stuff, though. What about an NA beer? DH found a German import that he thought was really good.

I know it's hard, at least from a partner perspective

[Autumn Breeze]

It's a 'talk to your doc' and 'your an adult' kind of thing.

That said, I've been drinking "more" recently. More being drinking at all, since it had been so long since I drank.

Anyway, it doesn't seem to play much into my mood the following day. At least not in the amount I drink.

[Nathan1097]

I was on Abilify and you are not supposed to drink while on that. For that matter, Depakote, either, which I"m still on. The Abilify made me so hyper (VERY VERY!) as a side effect, that I resorted to drinking until I could be prescribed Ativan. My dr. stopped the Abilify and I see her Monday. I, too, started drinking nearly every day, when I rarely drank before. (i.e. once or twice a year.) I did tell my pdoc this. She said I was self-medicating the symptoms. I KNOW I was! I could not STAND the mania.

[leewd]

My DH is bp2 and is not supposed to drink. He's on Abilify, Effexor, Clonapen (as needed), thyroid, Deplan, and now (as of today) Ritalin. (Please forgive any spelling errors . . .)

That being said, for him it tends to be an all-or-nothing thing. He can stop drinking totally and not drink for many months. But when he starts to drink again, he tends to drink several days in a row and have 2-4 drinks each day.

I do not think having an occasional drink would be a problem, BUT for him it is simply not an option because he cannot stop himself at an occasional drink.

I think this is what you need to look at. CAN you have an occasional drink? If not, you will need to stop drinking completely. Don't go to the bar (unless you are working and you KNOW you won't drink). LEAVE immediately after work. Do not give yourself the opportunity to drink. Don't allow alcohol in your home either. If you can do this for 6+ months, you MIGHT be able to handle a drink. BUT if one drink leads to 2, 3, etc. You will need to stop completely.

Sorry!
--LEE

[abbylotus]

I don't even know why I was flirting with the idea that I can drink alcohol. It just isn't a good idea for me to even go there. I'm on the wagon....for ever. Period. This is coming from this past Wednesday when I was out to dinner and decided to have ONE glass of wine.....which promtly turned into MANY glasses of wine and I came home and found myself in a pychotic episode....wailing, crying, wanting to kill myself. Absolutely terrible. Not to mention incredibly scary for myself and my husband (thankfully, the kids were staying at my inlaws for the nights). I'm just done with alcohol. That's it.

[townie]

Generally any drug that weakens your liver is a no-no with alcohol. Some drugs even forbid ibuprofen or whatever's in aspirin. And poor Heath Ledger kicked the bucket because of an adverse reaction to some meds he took with other prescribed medications.

The lesson there is to always remember what meds you're taking (the generic names especially) when your doc asks.

[AnyMama]

um, Heath Ledger's tox screen showed 2 different Benzos in his system (sedating), oxycodone (sedating), hydrocodone (sedating) and 2 sleep aids (sedating and sedating)...it wasn't just some freak reaction to prescription drugs here, most folks wouldn't wake up from that combo.

Now back to the drinking. sorry you had to go there to realize what you needed to do. But at least now you know and you can figure out how to work around it.