Poll: Alcohol and Sz/SzA

This is NOT an alcohol glorification thread! I simply want to know how alcohol (or lack there of) affects mental health.

For those of you that have stopped drinking alcohol, how has it helped your mental illness? For those of you that still drink, how do think it affects your mental health?

I stopped drinking about 3 weeks ago. My husband says I’m a LOT more stable than before.

  • stopped alcohol and feel more stable than before
  • stopped alcohol and feel no different than before
  • stopped alcohol and feel worse
  • still drink alcohol and feel stable
  • still drink alcohol and feel unstable

0 voters

I don’t know how to answer because I have about one drink a month so I’m in between

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If giving up alcohol makes you a LOT more stable then see if you can keep on that track. It doesn’t matter how it affects anyone else.

I gave up before I was diagnosed.

Booze just doesn’t agree with some people or indeed some meds.

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I havent had a drop of Alcohol in years!
I want it this way.
I dont like the feeling of being out of control.
Alcohol is a drug.

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I haven’t drank in over eight and a half months. During that time I’ve realized how alcohol can make me depressed. I still crave the juice, but I’m smart enough to know I can’t control it. I never could control alcohol. I was an out of control drinker from the word “go”. I sometimes wonder what kind of damage I have done to my body drinking and taking psychotropic medications. I have especially good reasons to stay sober now.

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I quit drinking in 2009. I made bad judgement calls when drinking and it fueled my delusions and paranoia. So I guess stopping helped.

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I use to drink but quit when i got on meds. I feel better for it especially since alcoholism runs in my family. My dad has sza and he quit his meds to get back to drinking. He is unstable and very paranoid

I’m like Arlbar, I only have about one drink or less a month and so I don’t fit into these categories.

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I’ve been sober since June 20, 2016, and quitting drinking helped my depression quite a bit.

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I drink occasionally. But most of the time when I drink, I feel sick. I am far better without.

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I hardly ever drank but I don’t any more but I have a full bottle of tequilla in my closet for when I’m old and dying

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I gave up alcohol when I started taking my meds, because I was worried about an interaction. I’m definitely more stable now.

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I also stopped drinking alcohol when I started taking meds.

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How do u all stop drinking? I find it impossible. I try to moderate somewhat. 6 beers twice a week, i wish i could cut down more. Alcoholism also runs in my family.

I’ve been battling alcoholism for the past fifteen years or so… It’s a struggle. I’ve had times when I drank heavy every night for years, to the point that I was afraid not to drink, afraid of the withdrawals. That’s a very serious problem. This last time it was going into a psych unit that got me sober. They were treating my withdrawals with Librium, so if I had any withdrawals I didn’t feel them.

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Good for u. If u can do it without AA it is a big plus. Alcohol is the devil’s juice. I have no choice but to drink it, so far it has not been a huge issue, but i do worry.

this was a little hard for me to answer cause I’m inconsistent with my drinking. for an example, I was an alcoholic last week and possibily (as the week is ending) seems like this was a bad for week for me also prolly. Though before I was only getting drunk once a week for a month prior that. I go on and off…I was more stable bit before because I didn’t get drunk at all but I drank almost everyday (which is considered worse in a way because your technically an alcoholic). I heard its not how much you drink in a sitting but how often you do it that makes you an alcoholic. I answered drinking alcohol and unstable (the drinking itself is unstable) but I don’t recommend self-medicating at all.

I drank in 7th grade, which is about 12 years old. My friends and I drank and smoked after school and on weekends at whatever house didn’t have a parent at home. Whether or not this contributed to my being tormented by demons around this time, I don’t know. I became fanatically Christian as a result of the demons and the guilt I felt… I stopped drinking and smoking and cut off contact with my friends.
I have tasted a variety of alcohol since then, but only sips and I don’t like it. I feel that doing anything to alter my mind and put myself at risk of losing control is very dangerous. I can not drink and I can not do drugs or I fear I won’t be able to come back. It’s hard enough without intoxication.

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Every time I drink a little wine, I’m sorry about it because it wakes me up too early in the morning, and then, I can’t get back to sleep, and then, I’m dragging all day long.

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