effects of alcohol

Diseases & Conditions Bipolar Disorder
1
Does alcohol consumption change the
brain chemistry in bi-polar people?
My nephew was diagnosed about 8 years ago.
His Dr. took him off medication a year ago.
Unfortunately, my nephew had an episode a week ago mad
..he says that he "had a few" beers a week,
..no problem."  Comments?
 
2
OMG YES!  Drinking is a total NONO for BPs.  Not even a couple.  It totally rearranges the chemicals and causes depression.  It may be mania first, but falls downward quickly and it can last days or weeks.  It also interacts with every medicine we can take.
 
 
3
I don't think the nurse could have said it better......this is my own personal exp but i used to drink like 12 to 14 beers and feel just Tipsy.....now i drink like 3 which would legally be under the BAC but i feel like 20....also with the drinking...i got hot and when i get hot no matter if i was sober or not...the lamictal would seem to make me really sick......i think the real problem with drinking isn't so much the drinking itself but for people that are bi polar I think we choose to drink for the wrong reasons and it just kinda amplifies the meds when a bad idea gets in your head its hard to let go.....my 2 cents :)
4
hope that no one takes this the wrong way, but after reading all of this, Im know that I wasnt out of line with my b/f. I always notice after he drinks or smokes pot that he is way out of control....these things seem to cancel out any good his medication does for him and I have told him so. Whenever I tell him this, he says I'm wrong. It is very upsetting because Ifeel that he is more interested in getting high or drunk than in maintaining some stability for us and our relationship.

Thanks for listening...
5

Fear of dreaming, unfortunately as long as he is unstable and using drugs/alcohol in any way, his moods will always be priority over you or anything else in life.  That's the naked truth about BPs that take whatever medicine, or the wrong one, and use.  They are not stable and cannot think clearly past thier mood.

I suggest you really, really, really learn the details of how bad it can be.  If he is like this just over the phone, it will be much worse when you see each other regularly, god forbid live together.

I hate to be a doomsayer, but it's reality.  BP is for life, and the majority of BPs won't take meds, or they go on and off, so they are constantly manic, hypomanic, or depressed.  Paranoia is a common feature too.

I'm not just a nurse, I have suffered it for 25 years, and I have made my family miserable, not to mention no long term relationships due to the horrible treatment of other people, always the closest ones.    I am lucky my husband has put up with it for 11 years, he finally said if I didn't get stable, he was going to leave.  This man is precious, an angel on this earth, so I finally got medicated and stable.  Now, I am that wonderful person he fell in love with and I treat him like a king, never forgetting I have a lot of making up to do.  But that was a long wait for him, and anyone else would have left me.

You need to decide if you can live like that.  Don't do ANYTHING until he makes it a priority to get stable and STAY that way.  BPs are famous for getting better and then going off their meds, it's classic.

This is a wonderful place to ask anything and everything you ever wanted to know about the details of this illness.  What you read on the internet barely scratches the surface.

6
Common sence says if you are BP take your medication,all you do is cause yourself & everyone around you hell on earth.
Be responsable.

SnowyLynne

7
 Hi snowylynne, I do think your advice is great, however it has it's gray area. Being responsible about taking the meds is easier said then done. The meds don't make you stable and well over night, that's the downfall. The fact is sometimes they can make you feel worse. This is my personal experience, but sometimes you feel real good one day and maybe two, or even a week and you think well maybe I don't need the meds let's try it without them. Well for me I go right back on them. It's like a strive  for  independence and life without the d*** things. It's the thought even if for one sec. of being " normal" or at least feeling that way. As for causing everyone hell, I understand where you are coming from, however sometimes just for that one second, I feel selfish and say I wonder if they understand where I am coming from! I know that sounds awful, but really that is how I feel. I do appreciate everyone who has ever had to put up with me, but if they love me, they understand I did not choose this either. I just wanted to add that. Good advice though!!!! :-)
8
Thank you for sharing and for your insight psychnurse...your words validate what I have thought all along. I guess my instincts are sharper than I thought.
9
I did also want to say however...is that when he is sobre and taking care of himself (taking his meds and not using), he is over the top creative and imaginative when it comes to making music. He and I have produced some great work together (I am a visual artist, he is a musician). We even got some of his music produced and packaged and sent to disributors in USA, Canada and Europe, and it did very well. He got good reviews and was written up in a series of magazines.

I know what he is capable of, and that's why it breaks my heart to see him destroy all of this.

Post Edited (fear_of_dreaming) : 7/12/2005 6:58:05 PM (GMT-6)

10

I'm not sure I understand.  We take medication and over time we get better because of this medication.  So we think if we stop taking it we will be ok?  What am I missing?  I am not hypocritical, maybe just ignorant.  Do we forget its the meds that are making  us better?  Are we fighting accepting that we will never be normal?  Or maybe that all the quacks don't know what they are talking about and I'm not bi polar I'm just weak minded. 

Why do doctors take them off meds?  I don't understand?  At some point are we going to get well if we take these long enough?  Or is this a lifetime thing and we just learn to cope and live the best we can with the best attitude we can.

 

Pepper 

11

Pepperina, bipolar does not ever get better, except when it's controlled with the RIGHT medication you will feel better.  It actually gets worse as we get older.  You are not weak minded; you have no choice because bipolar is a bain disorder, just like any other organ in the body.  It's physical and we have no control, except to be responsible enough to get and STAY medicated.  It is the meds that make us feel better, there is no cure, so if you go off, you'll be right back where you were, and many times worse than before.

Not trying to scare you; have seen countless hundreds of bipolar patients go through this over and over, in total denial.  I am no exception!  I finally did get stable, tho and I wouldn't go back to that hell.

Any doctor that would take a bipolar off meds probably bought his degree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You NEVER, EVER, EVER take a BP off meds!  It's extremely dangerous for the person, and every time you have a manic episode it's harder and harder to stabilize.  If your doc even suggested this, GET ANOTHER ONE!  Get a psychiatrist, not a GP.

Please do it TODAY!  I read another thread that you are having a manic episode.  Those episodes can be very dangerous; please get help asap.  Keep us posted, OK?

 

Shannon