Caffeine and Alcohol w/ Bipolar

If there are two things I can't live without and doctors love to forbid you are alcohol and coffee. Without coffee I'm not able to function and that's been all my adult life way before I started taking meds. I drink about 3 cups a day on work days, and when I was on quetiapine I drank about 5 cups. It doesn't affect my mood, it wakes me up and gives me energy, in facto if I DON'T have coffee I get irritable even if I'm not that sleepy. I don't see anything wrong with coffee unless you have stomach problems. I have a colon problem but strangely coffee doesn't give me pain.

About alcohol, it's a problem to me, I think I was close to become mildly alcoholic, I never drank everyday but I used to binge drink sometimes, blackout and done really stupid things and exposed myself into dangerous situations. So now I try to contol my drinking and I haven't binge drank for like a year, I did blackout on Halloween but it was a kinda mistake. The thing is that alcohol in normal doses makes me feel good and sociable, but I think it's due to other issues. Also my family always gathers around alcohol, they aren't alcoholics but family time means drinking wine and stuff. I once was made to stop drinking and I did for like 8 months but all felt kinda dull. Small amounts of alcohol aren't damaging IMO if you aren't driving of course or taking strong pills like benzos because you can blackout. Moderation is the key.

L0rena wrote:Moderation is the key.

Indeed.

I cant even really take half a cup of coffee without becoming out of my mind paranoid or shaking, typically.

when I drink a soda like mountain dew, I have to sip it throughout the day or I get really sick.

caffiene just makes me shake so bad and I get terrified of everything around me.

I havent had too much experience with alcohol, but I find that it seems to calm me down if I'm overly-anxious. but I've only ever been drunk once. when I was drunk I was really hyper and drew people naked and had a chocolate-covered-raisin fight in the kitchen.

Caffeine doesn't bother me as such

Alcohol.. ok slightly different! I binge on alcohol in my manic phases and it adds to the recklessness, however I drank a lot 2 weeks ago and I swear it's triggered my depression this time... Seems too much a coincidence not such a delightful substance!!

zetamext123 wrote:I'm scared of more than one cup of coffee. Once, I drank a full small cup of latte, so that I could actually do some important schoolwork. And, I did. Thanks to the caffeine. But, after two hours, while I was waiting for the bus, watching the cars (I like cars!) go by, suddenly, I had this urge of throwing myself into the road. Like, such a strong urge. Scary as hell. Basically, for me, caffeine during depressive states results in a mixed state. Everything gets out of control. So, yes, I definitely avoid caffeine as much as possible.

Alcohol is okay, I guess. It calms me down. But, then, I end up doing pretty stupid and embarrassing things. So, in general, I try to avoid alcohol and caffeine as much as possible.

I can definitely relate to the caffeine part. It affects me much more than alcohol. The times when I've been the most suicidal have often been when I had a lot of caffeine...I don't even go to coffee shops that much anymore...