Ilovemysonjj

Hi everyone, I was reading about bipolar disorder today. It sounds like that could be what my AS is dealing with. The heroin abuse started when he was 19 and the very first time he detoxed it was only after a few months of use. He was on cloud 9 for about 3 weeks and then went off the deep end and took his car down to Mexico and got lost for 24 hours. That was the first time he had really lost self control as it relates to extreme behaviors. Sounded like a manic high. After that he went into a severe depression when I kicked him out and he moved to Virginia. Start of the long downhill run that he has been on since that time.
Has anyone with an active addict learned they were bipolar and self medicating with opiates?

I dont want to fantasize that there is a cure for his addiction other than sobriety, BUT it may help me in keeping strong if/when I speak to my son again. I would offer to take him in for detox if he contacted me. We still need the police to identify him as the culprit in our home theft.

Justfor1

Many people with bi-polar struggle with a substance abuse issue as well. Of course, distinguishing between the two is very difficult. Chronic drug/alcohol abuse mimics mental illness. The life of a heroin addict is depressing. Stealing from family members would make most people depressed. If the mental illness occurs before the addiction then both need to be treated.

chicory

JJ is in my prayers.

I am sure that you probably are aware, but many posters here have talked about self medicating with drugs, to deal with mental conditions. I have read a lot of those posts, and in a way, it is a relief to think that maybe there was another reason that they did drugs, or alcohol. I posted a bit one night in the chat room of an alcholics meeting, and they were so kind, so giving. they told me that it sounded as if my son was self medicating. which is hopeful if they agree to get help with any mental issues they might have. being addicted is still addiction, but to treat underlying mental disorders, they need to stop the drug/drink. hard to distinguish addiction behaviors from mental disorders, in those cases.
I am praying for JJ, and I know mahy here are. hugs
chicory

crazybabie

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 21 years ago (age 25) and have went through the high sand lows I have many things I am not proud of during the manic phases often times some with the disorder will not take their medication due to the natural high that can be felt during hypo mania stage. I learned the hard way that is very dangerous.

Many people with this mental disorder as well as other mental disorders choose to self medicate my oldest AS is a perfect example. When he was younger he got injections so I would know was taking his medications for his schizoaffective disorder which is a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar.

There are no easy answers even if your son was diagnosed now IMO there would still be a long dark road to travel, I remember I was so angry at my son
telling myself he could take his meds. and not be doing the drugs unfortunately it doesn't work that way in many cases.

I am not saying do not have any hope just sharing my personal experience.

LoveMeNow

I believe some addicts have an underlying psychological disorder and feel the need to self medicate. Others use it escape and it slowly takes control.

Does mental illness run in your family? (You certainly don't need to answer that here if you're not comfortable, but in most cases, it does.)

I fear this is a way for you to blame yourself again. Keep praying along with us all. It's what will keep you strong!

Loneywife

My husband had bipolar disorder in addition to drug abuse problems. When he took his bipolar medication, he seemed to have fewer mood swings. This seemed to help him manage some of the stress in his life.

Every person is different, so it's important for your AS to see a listened psychiatrist for a correct diagnosis.

Ilovemysonjj

I don't know if he exhibited those signs but he was diagnosed mild ADD back in early grade school. He seemed to grow out of that.
The signs of the euphoria and depression came when I noticed them after he graduated high school.

SeekingGrowth

My AS was diagnosed early in his life with ADHD, and during his first in-patient rehab stay (end of February 2012), he was diagnosed as bipolar. Of course, he'd been using marijuana and heroin for some time at that point, so I have wondered about the "chicken-or-the-egg" thing -- did he do drugs to self-medicate the bipolar disorder, or was that disorder caused by the drug use? At any rate, they gave him all kinds of medications for bipolar disorder. I have read that bipolar disorder and drug addiction often go together.

zoso77

Yeah, people with Bipolar self medicate all the time. But a Bipolar diagnosis really has to be made by a qualified mental health professional. Back in the day, even as recently as 20 years ago, a lot of people with mood disorders were diagnosed as Bipolar. There are criteria that have to be met in terms of both mania and depression, type I versus type II Bipolar, etc.

Whatever you do, please protect yourself. If you have to deal with you son, make sure it is on YOUR terms and that you're safe in doing so.

ZoSo

Ilovemysonjj

Thanks everyone. Really at this point, if he is able to seek help and be HONEST about his addictions, that is the first step. He was in a rehab for 4 months with a therapist and they did not prescribe any drugs. his rehab was about abstinence.
I hope he gets the help he needs.

Sunshine2

My son was a perfectly normal human being before he started with drugs. After some years he was diagnosed with bipolar, but he was already using drugs then. He says he self-medicates, but I know his behaviour only changed after the drugs. I am not saying there are not people that truly self-medicate, but I think it is very likely that the drugs brings the disease out for people genetically predisposed to bipolar.

Years ago I paid for his bipolar medication, but he continued taking drugs, so I stopped. I can understand why people have to be clean for a while before diagnosis.

SadHeart

The problem with the self medication theory is that even when they get proper prescription medication and get sober, they will very very often choose to scrap the rx bipolar/schizophrenic/anxiety meds and go back to 'self medicating'.

Rather than be stable, they choose illegal highs.

I know there's something jiggery in my AS's brain; he was dx'ed with some ADD as a child and has anxiety, sleep problems, and migraines. He's always had trouble on organizing thought and follow thru. But he will ignore the anti anxiety pills and the non addicting varients of sleeping pills and go for the pot and the rx stimulants (he loves Adderall, it makes him speed). And he likes to drink.

If it were a brain chemical dysfunction which is what real schizophrenia and bipolar are, he'd be fine with the rx regime given to him by doctors. But the truth is he has an addict's brain, and thus instead of zoloft he reaches for Adderall (to misuse), and instead of a sleeping pill, he upon RISING, searches for his bong. And he drinks to go to sleep.

My friend Anne is a severe bipolar, psychotic episodes and all. Even in the worst of times she wasn't interested in drugs. But now properly medicated (altho constantly adjusting) she's stable--something she wouldn't risk for anything. She's bipolar, not an addict.

It's possible to be both bipolar and addicted, just like it's possible to be addicted and allergic to cats, or bipolar and have cancer.

My mother desperately wants to believe that AS isn't an addict, just had a chemical imbalance and has dx'd him on all by herself without having 95% of the information about his behavior as being bipolar.

But he's not. He's got a strong alcohol gene and an addictive brain. And secondarily he has sleeping problems, panic attacks and migraines. Funny how all the self medicating he's done with pot and alcohol hasn't reduced his sleeping, anxiety or migraine problems--but he is still dedicated to the belief (promoted by her) that he's 'self medicating' for these innocent reasons: not just acting out addictive behavior.

As I wrote this it occurred to me my son is doing the opposite of self medicating. He's not trying to stabilize through drugs and alcohol; he's actually manufacturing the symptoms of bipolar disorder by alternating pot and alcohol with Adderall.

He's not bipolar, but wants to be (I'm sure on a subconscious level).

Rx, medically supervised regimins fix the problems he complains of--but he rejects them for the artificial bipolar experience.

Something for me to think about.

SadHeart

ALso I'm not saying that people with legitimate bipolar and schizophrenic disorders (dxed by a psychiatrist specializing in those ares, not by a drug counselor at a rehab center), don't self medicate.

But once they do have the proper rx regimin, the self-medicating behavior should go away. If it doesn't, they have 2 problems, mood disorder and addiction. Separate issues, and no doubt a bear to manage.

But brains and psyches are all different. And I'd like to hear other people's experiences on the matter.

I just want to caution that the 'self medicating' answer to addiction might be a red herring for some people. But it can make loved ones feel better: oh no, he's not an addict; he has a tragic but 'respectable' brain dysfunction.

And again: it doesn't mean OP's son isn't bipolar. I'm speaking in generalities beyond her son's case.

crazybabie

they have 2 problems, mood disorder and addiction.

At that point it is dual diagnosis I know that my sons therapist played no games with him and called him out about the drug use.

My friend Anne is a severe bipolar, psychotic episodes and all. Even in the worst of times she wasn't interested in drugs. But now properly medicated (altho constantly adjusting) she's stable--something she wouldn't risk for anything. She's bipolar, not an addict

That sums me up however I know people who got so tired of the changing meds think that they did start self medicating and ended up addicted really sad.

PrayingMama

I have a sibling who is "classic" bipolar who has been stabilized for more than 15 years (took about a year after the first full-blown manic episode working with a psychiatrist to determine the most effective drugs to manage the disease). Medications have occasionally been adjusted/changed over the years, but the disease is so completely and effectively managed with the right prescriptions that it is truly miraculous to me.

When my father was (finally) diagnosed as manic-depressive with schizophrenic tendencies (also severely alcoholic) it was the mid-seventies and there was nowhere near the kind of information or resources or medications (beyond lithium) that are available today. I've seen the absence of appropriate treatment utterly destroy a life (and severely damage the lives surrounding), and I've seen the right treatment save one.

I am very wary of the "self-medicating" concept. I, too, suspect it is often used to "explain away" addict behavior/lifestyle that some may find too frightening or embarrassing to accept. When I allow myself to wish things had been different, I wish that my AS had never been diagnosed with bipolar at 17 (I honestly think the diagnosis was too heavily influenced by the fact that it is in my family--obviously genetics play a part, but pretty much as soon as the professional learned about the family history, factors like drug abuse were not given the weight I would assign to them today).

My son was never compliant with meds and it wasn't until a couple of years later that he confessed that the big fat real problem was, at that time, weed, etc., and that his father knew all about the extent of his use and was afraid the truth would come out because he had allowed and condoned it, even participated with my son and his friends.

And to that, I have to say, I know you don't cause, control or cure it, but you sure as hell can contribute to it.

Whatever the case may be, if there is an organic brain disease such as bipolar disorder, the individual has to be clean and sober and compliant with psych meds to even begin to get better. But if he/she is, the right meds work.

lonelystar

I guess user start for many different reasons , one might be a mental illness , my son has severe depression right now thats what his therapist told him in rehab, he also has a bit of OCD, but he wont take medication for his depression, oddly he wont even take tylenol for when he has headaches how ironic, even when he was in active addiction. But seriously thinking about is even if one does have some type of mental illness one would think they would seek treatment instead of drugs, oh but wait , its the high they want so yeah .........