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
poster:sarita0001
thread:278520
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031111/msgs/278787.html