ADHD & drinking | ADHD Information

My understanding is that alcoholism can start out as being self-medication. The alcohol has some same results on the brain as prescription drugs. I have 2 sons who turned to alcohol when they were not seeing a doctor nor on medication for several years.(long story)
Once back on meds for ADHD & depression, the desire for alcohol stayed firmly ingrained & had become a problem itself. Of course the alcohol lessens the effectiveness of the drugs.
I believe people with ADHD are prone to addictive behavior, also.

I can go out and have "just a few" drinks, but I think going over the top is more damaging for us than for most people.

I think I drank too much at the wedding I went to on the weekend. I now keep on thinking back to it, and worrying about whether or not I offended anyone, or just made a general fool out of myself. I also find it confusing enough waking up, and trying to put together my thoughts about what to do today, what happened yesterday, and what was just dreaming. Adding too much alcohol to this just mixes too much up.

Can anyone else relate to this?

I don't think ADHD makes you more susceptible to drinking. I"m ADHD and I rarely touch alcohol. I think for some it is a way of self-medicating but only because it was introduced to them in youth by parents who self-medicated with booze for one reason or another that may or may not be caused by ADHD (past abuse, unemployment, bad marraige, depression).

I think there are exceptions if, as I've said, the parents attitude toward drinking as a necessity to have fun or to drown sorrows OR if the ADHD person, socially excluded and isolated most of their lives see alcohol as a way of fitting in and being accepted by teenage peers, usually at that stage in their life the ADHD person is pretty vulnerable, especially if they're desparate for friends.

People with addictive personalities and ADHD are not always one in the same.

[QUOTE=Andorra]My understanding is that alcoholism can start out as being self-medication. The alcohol has some same results on the brain as prescription drugs. I have 2 sons who turned to alcohol when they were not seeing a doctor nor on medication for several years.(long story)
Once back on meds for ADHD & depression, the desire for alcohol stayed firmly ingrained & had become a problem itself. Of course the alcohol lessens the effectiveness of the drugs.
I believe people with ADHD are prone to addictive behavior, also.[/QUOTE]

the way i see it is an addiction to alcohol and being on medicine for depresseion/adhd/what have you is about the same INTENTION wise.

you just try and find something that makes you feel and operate how you know you can and should be able too all the time.

You have to relize that ADD will change forms in people. So drinking could or can be a problem. It is like any addiction. But people who are on meds for ADD need to be carefull drinking because it can make you into a light wight and very strange.

Kristin

well. personally I hate drinking. Out of all the drugs out there i think it's the most worthless. It doesn't make me feel good or happy. Just down stupid and depressed.

WHen I first started drinking people would comment that I must in fact be ADD because i would get f**king SICK amounts of energy and be all over the place speed style when drunk. I would get the opp. reaction most people get, and a lot of people have commented to that extent.

As far as drinking and ADD... are they taking meds?

Sometimes you could use the alcohol as a depressent just to slow your brain down some. Like if you are moving FAST FAST FAST and getting mad or frustrated. or just pissed in general. and want a respit take a few shots and things get a lot more friendly.

Or it's real easy to develop depression if you are add/adhd. you start getting older. and realize you still aren't getting sh*t done in your life. and it pisses you off. because everyone else is. and it seems so easy for them. and you know inside you've got it and your'e smart. you just can't ever figure out how to get it out and do the living thing right. and you drink and "cope" with it. or just to feel happy. or this or that.

it's a stupid cycle.

and i may be wrong.

this is just my opinion

I don't think we drink more necessarily, but I have seen a lot of alcoholism in my family. I think we get something different than others do, which makes it easier to become alcoholics. There is also bi-polar in my family so I can't swear that it is the ADHD rather than bp causing them to become alcoholics so easily.

When I used to drink, I would become less inhibited and feel more socially adept. Of course I put my foot in my mouth constantly but I didn't realize it or didn't care until I sobered up. It was the only time I felt free to relax and have fun without worrying about getting in trouble for being too exuberant. I felt less tense, less hyper even though I acted more so. I was having fun rather than moving just because I couldn't sit still.

[QUOTE=ideaspring]

I can go out and have "just a few" drinks, but I think going over the top is more damaging for us than for most people.

Can anyone else relate to this?

[/QUOTE]

yeah. I don't think I get drunk the same way most people do. Most people slow down etc. I've had more than a few friends say "dude. you must be ADD or something. you're off the wall. calm down. " just things like that.

i actually enjoy the taste of a good beer now and then. Same goes for other types of alcohol, but getting drunk never works out good. My brain goes all over the place and i def. can't focus on anything so i end up drunk rambling about everything making a fool out of myself. Waking up going "uhhh. man. i wish i hadn't done that. i feel stupid"

that's the real bad thing about "self medication". for both alcohol and marijuana I find that a little amount makes me feel real good. Slows my brain down some. I can calm down, but that little bit never stays at a little bit. Things that make me feel good I always want more of, or just end up with more not even meaning too.

going over the top drinking is damaging to anyone though. have you ever met someone who seems inteligent drunk? not often. all it does is lower inhibitions and make us all seem like animals where only our base desires are present and most logic and reasoning skills are non existant. down with drugs that make you stupid.

Sorry didn't realize you couldn't reply on the last poll I'm just learning !! Please let me know what you think about this topic. It was dicussed with some friends of mine. Some with ADHD some without.

My husband has ADHD, and so do 1/2 of his uncles. Most of them seem to drink quite a bit . ( Of course it could be for other reasons) Just thought I'd get some opions.

Thanks

MrsRed38198.2936458333

I wondered if most use it to cope. I know a lot of people who are not ADHD do. Most of the people I know who have ADHD, it seems to calm them.

Thanks to everyone who voted or replied.

[QUOTE=MrsRed]

I wondered if most use it to cope. I know a lot of people who are not ADHD do. Most of the people I know who have ADHD, it seems to calm them.

Thanks to everyone who voted or replied.

[/QUOTE]

yeah. it does calm ya down. that only takes a little amount. the problem is it's damn near impossible to JUST have enough to calm you down/make you feel better with ANYTHING used in a "medicinal" way that produces added good feelings (euphoria for lack of a better term).

yep
I fortunately don't drink. But I think I would be a prime candidate for being an alcoholic if I did.

I like alcohol very much. I've heard that people with ADHD prefer pot usually- dont know where that comes from, but I can't stand the way pot makes me feel, and alcohol feels nice. Pot makes me extremely paranoid. I think I'm about to die when I tried it. I'm not an alcohjolic or anything. Just a couple beers now and then.

Party Hardy all you "non- alcoholics" :)

Lauralie

I don't drink and never have.

Well it is a little ironic that adhd would be linked to pot or drinking, they are both downers which tend to make you less effective. Were as most ADHD medication are stimulants and that is why it helps people with ADHD.

Ok well first let me say I don't believe the myth that ADDers get addicted to things easier. If anything I'd say I'm less likely to get addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes whatever then my peers. I don't have the focus or determination to do the same thing over and over to create the addiction in the first place.

I used to drink wine at night occasionally to put me to sleep. I've heard others do the same because a lot of times ADDers have trouble sleeping. I thought drinking wine everynight would make me fat so I stopped. Now I still hardly ever sleep but I just use that time to catch up on something I've been procrastinating on.

I drank a lot in college, but so did every college kid I know. It's just something college aged kids do. It was fun drinking and joking around with 100 other kids all crammed together with the same goal. To get drunk and have a good time. After college I just didn't see the point, so while some of my friends wound up becoming alcoholics and drinking every night whether they were out on the town or alone in there apartment I found the whole thing sad and a waste of time and money.

I had the same problem with Adderall LauriCT, I went out on a friends boat to celebrate something(don't remember what now) and after a few drinks that normally would have been no big deal for me (maybe just a slight buzz) I was seriously drunk. I was shocked asked my friends if they were fooling around with my drink but we we're all drinking the same thing. The Adderall pretty much intensified the effect of the alcohol so I wound up getting drunk much quicker. Now if I go to a function with alcohol I make sure I only have one or two drinks if I have any at all because it's like every drink is multiplied by 3 or 4 when it is mixed with alcohol. I've never had any other side effect though just getting drunk faster.

It seems that many ADDers have difficulty in social situations (making friends as a teenager, fitting in in social situations as an adult, etc.). I think some of us who were never diagnosed or treated found alcohol to be a "social lubricant" for us. I know that as a teenager I seemed to fit in much better with the crowd that was drinking or getting high. I thought they were a much more accepting group of people. I did not realize at the time that there was no normal social interaction going on, just a bunch of people who happened to be in the same place at the same time getting blasted.

So it may be easy for us to get the habit early on without realizing it. But I think this may be true for anyone who feels socially uneasy.

I've been taking Adderall XR (20 mg) and I have seen warnings to not mix alcohol and the medication but nothing about what will happen or what the side effects could be. I notice that if I drink a few glasses of wine it kicks my butt! I never had a problem with it before until being on Adderall. I take the Adderall at least 8-10 hours before I might drink but it seems I can't handle alcohol anymore. I'm trying to figure out if its the wine or the reaction with the medication since it seems if I drink anything else (like rum, vodka, etc.) it doesn't affect me the same. I'm 40 yrs old so maybe its just old age and my body just can't handle it like when I was younger.

I have searched these message boards for anyone else finding a bad reaction mixing the two and haven't seen anything. Anyone??