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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by panic_attack on November 11, 2003, at 9:52:05
My neighbor is a therapist and he really strongly beleives that I am bi-polar. I have never been diagnosed as Bi-Polar but with Panic/anxiety disorder. I did alot of recreational drugs as a teenager and heavy drinking. One night I OD on cocaine and I have never been the same. I am 23 y/o now and still dealing with alcohol abuse. I take Lexapro and Risperdal. After I go out drinking, I am in a complete mania all day long. Just feel real crazy and psycho and do not feel like myself. Feel like I am going to die and want to know if this could be Bi-Polar that I am experiencing? What do you think?
Thanks.
Posted by Larry Hoover on November 11, 2003, at 11:01:16
In reply to Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by panic_attack on November 11, 2003, at 9:52:05
> My neighbor is a therapist and he really strongly beleives that I am bi-polar. I have never been diagnosed as Bi-Polar but with Panic/anxiety disorder. I did alot of recreational drugs as a teenager and heavy drinking. One night I OD on cocaine and I have never been the same. I am 23 y/o now and still dealing with alcohol abuse. I take Lexapro and Risperdal. After I go out drinking, I am in a complete mania all day long. Just feel real crazy and psycho and do not feel like myself. Feel like I am going to die and want to know if this could be Bi-Polar that I am experiencing? What do you think?
>
> Thanks.I think the diathesis/stressor model is a good one to apply here.
A diathesis is a genetic tendency or vulnerability. Genes are not destiny, but they do make it easier to tip the balance in particular ways.
A stressor is any external event that requires the individual to respond *according to their genetic tendency*.
It's an interaction between the genes and the environment that produce the symptoms of a disorder (or not).
So, rather than saying that drug and alcohol abuse cause bipolar (or any other mental illness), those behaviours might be the stressors that reveal the genetic vulnerability.
The very tendency to use drugs and alcohol, to excess and OD as you describe, might be considered to be an early symptom of bipolar disorder.....the first hints that something irregular is already starting to show. Bipolars are something like 14 times more likely to abuse substances than "normal" people (whatever normal is, I haven't a clue).
You could have a panic/anxiety disorder, and have bipolar, or it might be simpler to think that your bipolar tendency expresses itself more in that way. It comes down to semantics, and what you're comfortable with as descriptors when you describe your own experience.
Good luck,
Lar
Posted by Bananafish on November 11, 2003, at 11:24:49
In reply to Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by panic_attack on November 11, 2003, at 9:52:05
Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bipolar? I'd say it's the other way around. A lot of people abuse drugs and alcohol because they are trying to treat the symptoms of Bipolar disorder (which they probably don't realize they have). Manics might drink to try to calm down or might use cocaine/meth to feel even higher. Depressives feel so terrible that they are willing to take anything if it might make them feel better. It becomes a vicious cycle. This has all led to the field of "dual diagnosis" in psychiatry--the attempt to treat a drug addiction by first diagnosing and treating an underlying mental disorder. If you are having frequent mood swings, you probably do have an affective disorder such as Bipolar. If so, you will have a very hard time controlling your substance abuse until you first treat the Bipolar. Good luck.
Posted by Porter on November 11, 2003, at 14:27:20
In reply to Re: Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by Bananafish on November 11, 2003, at 11:24:49
sorry for butting in I just love your post name bana...
Posted by Bananafish on November 11, 2003, at 17:55:47
In reply to Re: Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by Porter on November 11, 2003, at 14:27:20
> sorry for butting in I just love your post name bana...
That's quite okay. It's from a short story by J.D. Salinger called "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" about a man who survives service in WW II only to be undone by mental illness when he comes home.
Posted by panic_attack on November 11, 2003, at 19:25:40
In reply to Re: Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by Bananafish on November 11, 2003, at 17:55:47
Oh wow... how sad.
Posted by sarita0001 on November 11, 2003, at 20:53:56
In reply to Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by panic_attack on November 11, 2003, at 9:52:05
Hi,
It could be a substance induced mood disorder but don't quote me on that one. When I was a teenager I smoked weed and drank, I had a psychotic episode when I was 17 and was diagnosed bipolar. At 18, I stopped with regular pot use and since then drank sometimes. I can remember once when I was drunk I was crying uncontrollably and another time I picked a ridiculous fight with one of my friends (both times I was on lithium). Some say that if you have the tendency to have depression/emotional issues alcohol/drugs can exacerbate the symptoms or trigger episodes.
8 years later, through months of therapy my therapist and I think it was substance induced because I was drinking/smoking during that time and had a lot of underlying family issues. After that I never came close to being manic, it could have been because of the lithium, maybe not. But from 18-24 I didn't experience any other bipolar symptoms.So after all this time and going back to my childhood, etc, the underlying problem all along was anxiety that manifested itself into OCD(obsessional thought type). My dad has ocd too- so that is a big thing. I got the OCD diagnsosis Nov 2002 but I'd always had it. But diagnoses aren't always the answer- it depends on what is going on at the time. I am being treated for anxiety now although my original diagnosis was bipolar. Because of my history there is a possibility of another episode in the future only because I had one already- but like i said it was probably substance induced and since I don't smoke pot anymore or drink heavily this is unlikely to happen. Hope this isn't too confusing.
Sara
Posted by T_R_D on November 12, 2003, at 12:14:04
In reply to Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by panic_attack on November 11, 2003, at 9:52:05
> My neighbor is a therapist and he really strongly beleives that I am bi-polar. I have never been diagnosed as Bi-Polar but with Panic/anxiety disorder. I did alot of recreational drugs as a teenager and heavy drinking. One night I OD on cocaine and I have never been the same. I am 23 y/o now and still dealing with alcohol abuse. I take Lexapro and Risperdal. After I go out drinking, I am in a complete mania all day long. Just feel real crazy and psycho and do not feel like myself. Feel like I am going to die and want to know if this could be Bi-Polar that I am experiencing? What do you think?
>
> Thanks.It's tough to say...kind of a chicken/egg thing, I think...a vicious cycle where once tends to exacerbate the other. There have been links made of drug induced schizophrenia. In fact, I know of a case...a woman I knew from childhood. She was an artist, went away to Europe and did way to much *who knows* and had to be shipped back to Canada in a completely schizophrenic state...she got really messed up. Granted, the nature/nurture explanation could also factor in...basically LH's response.
Posted by Angielala on November 13, 2003, at 15:20:24
In reply to Re: Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by Bananafish on November 11, 2003, at 17:55:47
> > sorry for butting in I just love your post name bana...
>
> That's quite okay. It's from a short story by J.D. Salinger called "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" about a man who survives service in WW II only to be undone by mental illness when he comes home.I rememeber that story!! I love that story...
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