Anyone here who doesn't drink?

Me and alcohol can’t be friends anymore. I went 10 days without a drink then for some stupid reason bought a bottle of jack daniels and 4 cans of larger. Was very ill the next day. And the head circus was almost coming on.

So anyone not a drinker, tell me about it, what makes you not drink?

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I had to go to AA to quit. I got really lucky and they helped.

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After years of substance abuse I prefer my sober/clean mind. Caffeine and nicotine only for me.

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I drink in moderation. My meds combination and that I feel it makes my symptoms worse makes me limit myself. Last night was a bad night for me I had 3-4 glasses of wine I try to limit myself to 2

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I havent drank a drop since my early 30s - I am 51 years old now.

Drinking Alcohol activates my symptoms - I basically do stupid things and get very emotional, not good for my mood swings.

I basically wonder why the alcohol rate is high with SZ and bipolar patients, but I can see people trying to self medicate themselves somehow.

I dont drink and dont have the urge to drink - Lets leave it at that.

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I’ve been sober for a little over a year now. What makes me not drink is that my mind is clear without substances, since my psychotic break I decided that I need to take good care of my mind and thats enough for me not to drink.

Sometimes it’s hard, someone gave me a good bottle of wine and I couldn’t drink it so I gave it to my mom, she said it was awesome. Or going out with friends and everyone is drinking.

The drugs isn’t as hard as I thought, the booze is everywhere and socially accepted so it’s harder. But I manage really well. It’s not as hard as it looks.

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I am pretty sure that you are heading towards the right track - good luck with it all @turningthepage.

Never give up.

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I never was a drinker. I was raised by children of addicts who made no bones about my genetic capability to handle substances. With plenty of examples of the consequences available up close and personal. Then I watched my childhood love go spectacularly off the rails on drugs and alcohol at 15. It ended up killing him. I paid attention.

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I haven’t had a drink in 6 years now. I was a heavy drinker. Drinking has been a problem with all the guys in my family.

All of us turn into a-holes the minute we get drunk.

It took some work, but I got out of the bottle and I really don’t want to go back in.

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Really the key is taking it one day at a time. Even for me and drinking in moderation I gotta take life one day at a time. Mental illness is 1 day at a time. Drugs-one day at a time. I got offered to do drugs 2 days ago and the thought triggered me but if I take it one day at a time I don’t need to do it.

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New research indicates substance abuse is more environmental than genetic. I think it tends to run in families because they’re always around it…it becomes a way of life. Also lower socioeconomic backgrounds abuse substance more which is an environmental thing consistent throughout a family. Good on you for not being a drinker and the way they raised you…hey I guess that’s another environmental example. But yeah I think the trauma I faced growing up lead to mental illness which lead to self medicating and ultimately addiction. It doesn’t run in my family much. I never drank in hs and my mom would encourage me to drink because she thought I was “just shy”. And needed alcohol to open up my inhibitions. But once I took my first hit of pot. It was “on” when it came to substance abuse. It was a gateway to alcohol nicotine and drugs for me… My first true love though was Mary Jane .

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It’s awful in my family. Some relatives I’ve never met because my parents couldn’t stand being around them and didn’t trust them to see us without my parents present.

I think this was one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me - with my symptoms and history of mental illness, I feel like one of the things that softened the blow and allowed me to retain a relatively high level of functioning is that I didn’t have to fight addiction on top of everything else.

Of course, I self-medicated in other terrible ways. There’s always a trade-off.

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It was tough that I lost so many friends because I DIDNT drink or smoke pot. In high school all my middle school friends started smoking and drinking. And so we didn’t hang out anymore. Then around my 18th birthday I began smoking…realized it was what I thought I was missing. I gained some of those friends back but I felt they had a way of power over me so I overcompensated with excessive substance use, then came psychosis and I lost those friends too. Moral of the story drugs are bad mmkay. Everything in moderation

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I actually don’t drink or smoke and never have. I must admit though that I have abused supplements and been non-compliant at times with what was prescribed. The last time I went to the Psych Ward I was taking 5 supplements including 3 sleep aids. I have since cleaned up my act and taken things as prescribed. Watching my father and first step father struggle and fail to quit cigarettes played a role in me not smoking and my Mother played a role in that too. I choose not to drink because my father drank heavily and there was always beer in the fridge and I didn’t care much for that. I also have an Uncle who was alcoholic and was homeless living in a shed near another Uncle’s house whose drinking contributed to his diabetes. At one point he drank hair spray. I guess being mainly clean would matter more if I took fewer or no prescriptions because they have taken a real toll on me but I probably would have died more quickly if the inability to sleep and the 24/7 voices had continued. I guess when this illness is severe you choose whether to die fast or slow.

I was lucky there, too. I hung out with dealers, everyone I knew drank and did drugs, but no one cared that I didn’t. One friend told me that I seemed like I was tripping all the time anyway, so why bother?

Okay, gonna try not to derail any further :two_hearts:

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Back in April or so, I had a sip of Fireball whiskey to see if I liked it - I didn’t…it gave me heartburn. I probably had half of a shot glass’ worth. If I have 3 drinks a year, I’m drinking a lot.

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I dont - have never

I have been completely clean and sober for eight months now. I’ve had a bad relationship to alchol and drugs over half my life and this spring I just had enough. I have to be almost completely isolated from people to stay away from it but atleast I now have my self respect and a clearer mind.
The good thing about drinking and getting high/stoned was that I didn’t have to care. Now I spend alot of energy being negative and being irritated about how stupid people are. I get some comfort knowing that if I die of old age I’ve made it through almost half of this shitty existence in this cruel world.

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I could relate to these thoughts of shitty existence and feeling I made it through x percent of it. It’s not a good place to be … That mind state. I’ve had that thought today.

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I don’t drink. It takes a lot of concentration to appear halfway “normal” and I worry that I would lose control if I drank. I believe I might have a break and never come back.

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