Lost the desire to drink

Ever since I switched to Abilify my mood swings have gone away. When I was down would trigger me drink alcohol. Except for 26 days ago, I haven’t had a drink. 26 days ago I think I got a six pack to help me sleep, but I really don’t remember now.

Does drinking when you feel down/depressed really make you an alcoholic? I don’t know if I felt down I would drink again or not. I’ve been going to AA and claiming to be an alcoholic, but now that I’m on Abilify, I’m not so sure. Before Abilify I was on Zyprexa for six months. Before that I was on Risperdal for years.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

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I don’t know if you’re an alcoholic, but questions to ask yourself are can you go without it, do you drink heavily, does it affect your daily life, etc. Regardless, if you’re drinking due to wanting to self medicate, then you have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol

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Congratulations on the 26 days sober.

I’m on abilify AND an alcoholic. I know if I started drinking again I wouldn’t stop.

But I just found some studies that suggest abilify may help problem drinking. Like this

The problem is that if you’re relying on abilify to stay sober and then change meds you’re back to square one.

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Thanks for the article everhopeful. Let’s hope I don’t have to go off Abilify. I really don’t want to start drinking again.

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I never drank daily but was a binge drinker and always got in trouble.

I am probably considered a alcoholic because I have a destructive relationship with alcohol and crave it and once I start I don’t stop.

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Congratulations on being sober!!!

Well done!

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Happy that yer sober ! :slightly_smiling_face:
I myself had a drink last week and I hated it so much I dumped the rest of my vodka down the drain, I might come back to it — let it be 6+ months from now

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I haven’t drank in a year and a half. I was in the hospital for a year of it though. I’ve been to outpatient program as well as AA through that. I called myself an alcoholic for years but stopped. I don’t consider myself one these days. I mean it’s there to be drank. I don’t really have cravings. I’m not supposed to drink due to my conditional discharge from the hospital which I still have another year of. That sucks. I wish I could drink. It would be nice. I wouldn’t be as nervous on the phone with my ex. but it’s not worth going back to the hospital over. No I don’t consider myself an alcoholic anymore.

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Ain’t that the truth

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Please avoid alcohol because sz meds and alcohol increase risk of TD/Parkinsons/tremors.

Congratulations on 26 days alcohol free!

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I always thought of it like you are always an alcoholic, the only difference is being a sober alcoholic — kinda like a volcano is still a volcano, dormant or active

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Nice description. This helps me. Thank you.

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