Posted by Wendy B on April 7, 2001, at 13:44:03
In reply to blacking out, posted by sar on April 7, 2001, at 0:51:30
Sar,
Sounds like classic bipolar tendencies to me, especially the bouts of drinking, the inability to remember, the animation, wishing you hadn't done what you'd done, etc. Bipolar illness is frequently co-morbid in people who abuse alcohol. Obviously, you know you can't keep doing that kind of drinking, you could be seriously hurt during one of those blackouts. The people you're drinking with may not be your real friends in a moment of crisis.
So I think your diagnosis might need some tweaking. You need a very good dr for that, try and find one. The other board has several threads on treatment-resistant depression and its relation to bipolar disorder. Read those -- it's very enlightening. The drinking bouts are not good, I know, my ex would occasionally do that, alone at home at least, so all I had to worry about is if he'd die in his sleep after inhaling his own vomit. Both are really scary, and NOT WORTH IT.
Going to AA may make you feel better... at least you should NOT be ignoring the alcohol issue in therapy. Find a new therapist, preferably one who has treated people with your kind of problems, but also a good psych-doc to check the diagnosis...
Best of luck,
Wendy> One more post as long as I'm here, because this one has been bothering me for awhile and I'm wondering if anyone has any medical knowledge/personal experience with this.
>
> I've had a problem with blackout drinking for nearly a year now. The more my alcohol use increased, the more frequent and prolonged the blackouts became; my alcohol tolerance rose to where I could (and still can) drink like a fish but still function (i.e, remain not only coherent but quite animated as well). The people I hung out with were always surprised the next day when I didn't remember anything, though often in my blackouts I behaved badly (generally doing a lot of things I really wish I hadn't).
>
> Mainly I'm wondering how and why my brain turns off so quickly when I drink, how all of this mememory is obliterated upon waking. The blackouts begin when I've got a good buzz but not even drunk yet.
>
> (The last therp I had wouldn't talk about this with me, she said "let's talk about what drives you drink instead.")
>
> For some background, my diagnoses over the past few years by various therapists have been Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety, Dysthymia, and Severe Depression.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> sar
poster:Wendy B
thread:5538
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010404/msgs/5550.html