I noticed my thoughts become deranged and I get really depressed. How does it flare you up?
I completely stopped alcohol last year because it makes me psychotic and makes me hallucinate.
Alcohol can cause psychosis in healthy individuals at continuous high doses.
I do ok with alcohol. I use it to relax and when I’m out and about with friends and family. If it affects you adversely then it’s something you need to stop. I don’t drink to get drunk. I don’t go overboard. Limits are good as are other healthy approaches. I know it causes people problems and don’t want to argue with that because some people really come unstuck with it as it’s a drug like many others.
In moderation, drinking some alcohol is ok for me as a way to relax and unwind or to enjoy a meal but I really have to keep it to an absolute minimum because I live with SZ AND diabetes. Ideally I shouldn’t drink at all and I know that. In actual fact I feel healthiest when I don’t drink anything but water during the day and a morning coffee.
I drink quite a lot for someone with schizophrenia. Not every day but twice a week I’ll have several beers or several vodkas. It doesn’t effect my psychotic symptoms when its in moderation.
When I have periods where my anxiety is flaring up or I feel borderline psychotic I keep it to a minimum as it definitely makes me more anxious and doesn’t help me think straight.
One thing I will say is that the more you drink, the more booze you need to actually get drunk. And this can be problematic. When I barely drink - just a few is all I need. But when I have binge periods I end up enjoying it a lot less because I get frustrated that I’m not actually drunk.
Oh and when I drink copious amounts AND don’t sleep - I definitely do get psychotic symptoms (audio hallucinations). But its not something that happens normally. Usually it has to be quite a lot of booze and a lot of missed sleep.
No, when I used to get drunk I got the opposite. I pay more attention to what I am doing rather than the illness.
Thats a good way of putting it @anon98459728
I’d definitely agree. When Ive had a couple of drinks I can be very chatty and in the moment.
Whelp I realized everyone is unique and it depends on the person😁
Yup me too @anon98459728, when I’m drinking I’m living in the moment and not concerned at all about my living with schizophrenia. In other words, I become happily reckless.
I was fine with it for many years but it tends to make me depressed and paranoid the day after now so I avoid it.
Drinking in moderation is fine. Trouble is i dont know moderation - and one sniff and i drink like a fish.
I dont completley agree its affected my Sz that much - but i quit simply cos i dont want
to turn yellow one day.
I only have one beer no more.
I used to have a drinking problem as a teenager but I quickly grew out of that when I found my liver was damaged
I was also addicted to alcohol before my diagnosis, I would drink with my friends at bars until I vomit on my friends and my brothers came to rescue me. They were very mad at me. I even passed out from drinking too much with my brothers at home. I vomitted in my bed.
Because I drank too much, it made me psychotic, depressed, hallucinate and delusional. Strange thing is that it didn’t make me paranoid like weed. I would say weed is worse for SZ than alcohol but I stopped them both last year and never looked back.
Yes I think it’s a contributor to my psychosis for sure
I am now addicted to vaping nicotine but its much better than being addicted to weed, alcohol, shisha, cigars and cigarettes.
Nice one @aziz
For me, alcohol is the only thing that relaxes my mind so I hear no voices at all — i get smooth and mellow …
Curbs my fear as well.
One thing I can’t stand is marijuana – totally ruins everything in mind I get paranoid like crazy
Same thing with weed, I stopped it last year.
I stopped alcohol because I can’t drink in moderation and I abused it.
I don’t drink it. I have my reasons. Makes me paranoid.
Sometimes I get symptoms when I’m hungover from an excessive amount of drinking, but for the most part it works for me.