Medication and early sobriety
Medication and early sobriety
I have been sober for 14 days and happy for these last two weeks of my life. I am in this wholeheartedly. With that being said, about 3 days in i started on a medication (dr prescribed) for depression and anxiety (probably related to alcohol but not reason it was prescribed). Ok now for the question, upon taking this medication my smoking has ceased, mood increased, everything medicine was supposed to do thank God finally! But also my desire to drink and impulsivity to do so is also gone. I have no difficulty with my av or my resolve. I like my life much better without alcohol, but how does one ever know if alcohol is the cause or if depression and improper treatment led to the alcoholism...does it matter? I dont know...just thinking out loud...
For me, it was easy to know because my depression had begun in my teenage years, decades before I began drinking. I know for certain that my drinking was self-medication for anxiety/depression. But, I had to finally get the depression managed with medication before I was able to stop drinking. If alcohol was the cause of the depression, then stopping drinking should help with that.
good thinkin there. when i was put on an AD, i felt relief quite quickly, but it took about a month for everything to even/level out in me.
in the meantime, actually this started before the AD was prescribed,i had quite a few questions, which i directed to a good friend who had been sober quite some time.more than once i heard,"you think too much" and,"you really think you need an answer to that?" and "let it gooooooo."
in the meantime, actually this started before the AD was prescribed,i had quite a few questions, which i directed to a good friend who had been sober quite some time.more than once i heard,"you think too much" and,"you really think you need an answer to that?" and "let it gooooooo."
I over-analyzed my sobriety in the early days. It was foreign to me and I didn't understand it yet.
I don't think it matters which came first, as long as you treat both the illness and the addiction. I was depressed for years before I started drinking. I was on antiD's but of course they didn't help cause I was drinking.
Congrats on two weeks sober! Keep going, it gets better.
I don't think it matters which came first, as long as you treat both the illness and the addiction. I was depressed for years before I started drinking. I was on antiD's but of course they didn't help cause I was drinking.
Congrats on two weeks sober! Keep going, it gets better.
I've pondered the question of which causes what for years. Did depression cause my alcoholism or the other way around. Ultimately, I think your question, 'does it matter is rhetorical. No it doesn't.
I'm an alcoholic who also happens to suffer from depression. Wasting energy, time and emotion over the cause ultimately got me nowhere.
I'm going to focus on my sobriety and hopefully the depression will lift. If it doesn't, ce la vie. They are mutually exclusive events in my life.
I'm an alcoholic who also happens to suffer from depression. Wasting energy, time and emotion over the cause ultimately got me nowhere.
I'm going to focus on my sobriety and hopefully the depression will lift. If it doesn't, ce la vie. They are mutually exclusive events in my life.
I have been sober for 14 days and happy for these last two weeks of my life. I am in this wholeheartedly. With that being said, about 3 days in i started on a medication (dr prescribed) for depression and anxiety (probably related to alcohol but not reason it was prescribed). Ok now for the question, upon taking this medication my smoking has ceased, mood increased, everything medicine was supposed to do thank God finally! But also my desire to drink and impulsivity to do so is also gone. I have no difficulty with my av or my resolve. I like my life much better without alcohol, but how does one ever know if alcohol is the cause or if depression and improper treatment led to the alcoholism...does it matter? I dont know...just thinking out loud...
good thinkin there. when i was put on an AD, i felt relief quite quickly, but it took about a month for everything to even/level out in me.
in the meantime, actually this started before the AD was prescribed,i had quite a few questions, which i directed to a good friend who had been sober quite some time.more than once i heard,"you think too much" and,"you really think you need an answer to that?" and "let it gooooooo."
in the meantime, actually this started before the AD was prescribed,i had quite a few questions, which i directed to a good friend who had been sober quite some time.more than once i heard,"you think too much" and,"you really think you need an answer to that?" and "let it gooooooo."
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Another vote not to over think and I believe it's chicken-egg and ultimately does not matter. The meds are take are tools that support my sobriety, which includes (perhaps most importantly) my emotional sobriety. They are part of what help me work a strong program.
I take a veritable cocktail (ha) that works for me and truly don't worry about why they do- am honest with my dr and we adjust as needed (added an anti depreaaant a couple months ago as an additional layer of help) and on the whole feel so healthy it is amazing.
Honesty, use of the resources available to me and keeping my eyes on my HP and sobriety are working for me.
I take a veritable cocktail (ha) that works for me and truly don't worry about why they do- am honest with my dr and we adjust as needed (added an anti depreaaant a couple months ago as an additional layer of help) and on the whole feel so healthy it is amazing.
Honesty, use of the resources available to me and keeping my eyes on my HP and sobriety are working for me.
and it seems like it shouldn't really matter?
Most perscription drugs have some side effects.
How long does your doctor think that you will need the perscrip pills?
M-Bob
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,095
I have been sober for 14 days and happy for these last two weeks of my life. I am in this wholeheartedly. With that being said, about 3 days in i started on a medication (dr prescribed) for depression and anxiety (probably related to alcohol but not reason it was prescribed). Ok now for the question, upon taking this medication my smoking has ceased, mood increased, everything medicine was supposed to do thank God finally! But also my desire to drink and impulsivity to do so is also gone. I have no difficulty with my av or my resolve. I like my life much better without alcohol, but how does one ever know if alcohol is the cause or if depression and improper treatment led to the alcoholism...does it matter? I dont know...just thinking out loud...
Similar to you I started medication for anxiety and depression 3 days after I quit drinking. I started drinking 28 years ago to help combat my anxiety and depression. It worked for many years.
Of course alcohol became a problem and it made my anxiety and depression worse.
The only thing you can do is eventually try getting off the medication and see how you feel.
What could be: Alcohol is a depressant, along with other things. It is highly addictive for some people. Anti depressants are often prescribed for those recovering from alcohol. It does not seem at least to me to make sense that a person would drink in order to relieve depression and that depression therefore "caused" that person to drink. The reason people talk like this is that subjectively they feel at the very first that alcohol is a "pick me up" (as in "I'm feeling so bad today that I need something to "pick me up"). They have a drink or two and subjectively feel better but in an hour or so it all goes away and they may feel worse than before. So they have more alcohol and they start on a stairway to deep depression. The slippery slope.
My suggestion is just follow the doctor's advice and don't worry about whether depression "causes" alcoholism or, the more likely idea, that alcohol causes depression.
W.
My suggestion is just follow the doctor's advice and don't worry about whether depression "causes" alcoholism or, the more likely idea, that alcohol causes depression.
W.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 69
I have been sober for 14 days and happy for these last two weeks of my life. I am in this wholeheartedly. With that being said, about 3 days in i started on a medication (dr prescribed) for depression and anxiety (probably related to alcohol but not reason it was prescribed). Ok now for the question, upon taking this medication my smoking has ceased, mood increased, everything medicine was supposed to do thank God finally! But also my desire to drink and impulsivity to do so is also gone. I have no difficulty with my av or my resolve. I like my life much better without alcohol, but how does one ever know if alcohol is the cause or if depression and improper treatment led to the alcoholism...does it matter? I dont know...just thinking out loud...
its been 4 months and i can say i became a social drinker. I didn`t think i was able to do that. I don`t think about drinking at all. Just a couple of beers once in a while. And i don`t keep drinking the next days (which is huge for me). Anyway this is the bright side.
However, i think i am addicted to the meds now. My dr. and idecided that i can quit the meds and we created a tempering program. I am slowly cutting the meds but i feel like my world is ending and there is nothing i can do about it. I am having a lot of racing thoughts, i feel like everything is bad, etc. The withdrawl is so bad. I think it is easier to quit drinking than to quit medication. At least it is for me...
I wouldn`t recommend to anyone using medication unless it is really your last hope. I wouldn`t have started if i new it would be this hard to come off.
I hope this was helpful to someone..
Hi Blackened - if you're having a bad reaction to tapering back your meds please see your Dr as soon as you can.
I want to add - have you considered you might not be using the meds properly, or letting them do their job, if you're drinking on them?
Maybe thats something to ask your Dr about too?
D
I want to add - have you considered you might not be using the meds properly, or letting them do their job, if you're drinking on them?
Maybe thats something to ask your Dr about too?
D
Blackened: I agree with Dee. It makes no sense to take meds and also drink (moderately) or (socially). If the doctor had been told you were doing that he or she would probably not be prescribing the meds since the alcohol would interfere with them and only complicate the situation. I assume that doctors usually go on the understanding (unless they are told otherwise) that (1) the patient wants to stop drinking, and (2) the patient wants help with any withdrawal symptoms. If the patient is still drinking and the meds don't work because of that, then guess what may happen-often the patient uses more alcohol when the withdrawal symptoms get too severe. That sounds like the "slippery slope". The way out seems to be a plan which means a really hard effort to cease drinking and using the pills as prescribed to ease the withdrawal. If the pills don't work and there is no drinking then tell the doctor and it may result in a change of medication or increase of dosage.
This is very familiar to me since I personally did what you were doing for many years and it didn't work. It all got worse. I'm lucky I somehow stopped doing this and have been sober for 28 years. I figure a lot of folks have not been as lucky as I was and that many are dead.
W.
This is very familiar to me since I personally did what you were doing for many years and it didn't work. It all got worse. I'm lucky I somehow stopped doing this and have been sober for 28 years. I figure a lot of folks have not been as lucky as I was and that many are dead.
W.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 69
Hi Blackened - if you're having a bad reaction to tapering back your meds please see your Dr as soon as you can.
I want to add - have you considered you might not be using the meds properly, or letting them do their job, if you're drinking on them?
Maybe thats something to ask your Dr about too?
D
I want to add - have you considered you might not be using the meds properly, or letting them do their job, if you're drinking on them?
Maybe thats something to ask your Dr about too?
D
I was drinking moderately with the permission of my Dr. And the withdrawls started after i began tapering my meds. But you are right, i will call him and tell what`s happening. I just am scared he`s gonna tell me to stay on them which i hate cause they are giving me very foggy head.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 69
Blackened: I agree with Dee. It makes no sense to take meds and also drink (moderately) or (socially). If the doctor had been told you were doing that he or she would probably not be prescribing the meds since the alcohol would interfere with them and only complicate the situation. I assume that doctors usually go on the understanding (unless they are told otherwise) that (1) the patient wants to stop drinking, and (2) the patient wants help with any withdrawal symptoms. If the patient is still drinking and the meds don't work because of that, then guess what may happen-often the patient uses more alcohol when the withdrawal symptoms get too severe. That sounds like the "slippery slope". The way out seems to be a plan which means a really hard effort to cease drinking and using the pills as prescribed to ease the withdrawal. If the pills don't work and there is no drinking then tell the doctor and it may result in a change of medication or increase of dosage.
This is very familiar to me since I personally did what you were doing for many years and it didn't work. It all got worse. I'm lucky I somehow stopped doing this and have been sober for 28 years. I figure a lot of folks have not been as lucky as I was and that many are dead.
W.
This is very familiar to me since I personally did what you were doing for many years and it didn't work. It all got worse. I'm lucky I somehow stopped doing this and have been sober for 28 years. I figure a lot of folks have not been as lucky as I was and that many are dead.
W.
Not sure how long, just trying to adjust and it really is helping...
What could be: Alcohol is a depressant, along with other things. It is highly addictive for some people. Anti depressants are often prescribed for those recovering from alcohol. It does not seem at least to me to make sense that a person would drink in order to relieve depression and that depression therefore "caused" that person to drink. The reason people talk like this is that subjectively they feel at the very first that alcohol is a "pick me up" (as in "I'm feeling so bad today that I need something to "pick me up"). They have a drink or two and subjectively feel better but in an hour or so it all goes away and they may feel worse than before. So they have more alcohol and they start on a stairway to deep depression. The slippery slope.
My suggestion is just follow the doctor's advice and don't worry about whether depression "causes" alcoholism or, the more likely idea, that alcohol causes depression.
W.
My suggestion is just follow the doctor's advice and don't worry about whether depression "causes" alcoholism or, the more likely idea, that alcohol causes depression.
W.
Bill
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