GoingNorth
Crazy Cat Lady
I am not normally a drinker. Problems with alcohol run in my family with both my mother and sister having been in recovery for a long time. I came very close to crawling into a bottle myself for the first few months after husband died.
I quit when I realized that the drink before bed to help me sleep had turned into three drinks, basically.
Since that time, I only drink at family holidays and get togethers with friends and that not always. I might have a beer or two with dinner or a glass of wine on religious holidays.
My last visit to friends and family spanned a religious holiday dinner and a get together for a few days with friends after the holiday. At the holiday dinner I had a couple of glasses of kosher wine (usually strong stuff because of how it's made). A couple of days later I went out to a mexican restaurant known not only for good food, but for making a fabulous margarita.
I love margaritas and I didn't have to drive, so I had two of them.
Here's what I noticed. I woke up the next day after my week-long "binge" and was horribly depressed, crabby, irritable, wanted to snap people's heads off, etc.
Now, I'm bipolar, I do get depressed and nasty and all of that, but I don't just wake up like that out of the blue. I "slide" into a down cycle over a period of time.
I did get out of that after a few days; I guess once the alcohol finally cleared out of my system, but now I'm bordering on hypomanic and have a call into my psychiatrist about it.
All of this is to advise you that alcohol might be a real issue with you or your bipolar kids, and it doesn't take everyday drinking or the consumption of huge amounts to cause changes in mental health/behavior.
I didn't consume any more alcohol than many people do "normally". My intake was hardly high enough to be "flagged" by a medical professional, and could hardly be classified as a "binge".
I honestly believe that bi-polar people (and those with other MH issues) do not process alcohol normally. I also believe that younger people (adolescents) who already have brain chemistry differences from older adults, are more sensitive to the bad effects of alcohol.
Me? I've learned my lesson. It's no hardship to not take the occasional drink. I don't like who I turn into when I've had a couple of drinks.
hth
ToK
I quit when I realized that the drink before bed to help me sleep had turned into three drinks, basically.
Since that time, I only drink at family holidays and get togethers with friends and that not always. I might have a beer or two with dinner or a glass of wine on religious holidays.
My last visit to friends and family spanned a religious holiday dinner and a get together for a few days with friends after the holiday. At the holiday dinner I had a couple of glasses of kosher wine (usually strong stuff because of how it's made). A couple of days later I went out to a mexican restaurant known not only for good food, but for making a fabulous margarita.
I love margaritas and I didn't have to drive, so I had two of them.
Here's what I noticed. I woke up the next day after my week-long "binge" and was horribly depressed, crabby, irritable, wanted to snap people's heads off, etc.
Now, I'm bipolar, I do get depressed and nasty and all of that, but I don't just wake up like that out of the blue. I "slide" into a down cycle over a period of time.
I did get out of that after a few days; I guess once the alcohol finally cleared out of my system, but now I'm bordering on hypomanic and have a call into my psychiatrist about it.
All of this is to advise you that alcohol might be a real issue with you or your bipolar kids, and it doesn't take everyday drinking or the consumption of huge amounts to cause changes in mental health/behavior.
I didn't consume any more alcohol than many people do "normally". My intake was hardly high enough to be "flagged" by a medical professional, and could hardly be classified as a "binge".
I honestly believe that bi-polar people (and those with other MH issues) do not process alcohol normally. I also believe that younger people (adolescents) who already have brain chemistry differences from older adults, are more sensitive to the bad effects of alcohol.
Me? I've learned my lesson. It's no hardship to not take the occasional drink. I don't like who I turn into when I've had a couple of drinks.
hth
ToK