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Alcohol and depression

lostonrye profile image
9 Replies

Hi anybody feeling very down and low I would caution against using alcohol as a painkiller

I did this for years and ended up more or less an alcoholic.I did not drink for pleasure but to cut out the repetetive bad thoughts that comes with depression . of course it only works for a short while and the rest of the time you feel much worse.

People who drink too much nearly always feel guilty and depressed to some extent. Self medicating with alcohol is absolutly the wrong thing.

Getting off the booze will be the best thing if your a drinker and depressed

From one who knows

John

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lostonrye
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9 Replies

Hello BOB here

We have had this one on before here.

We all need a little bit of relaxation at least a couple of nights a week so I may on a Friday and Saturday night. have a Pear Cyder.

I am a Northerner who lives on the English Sottish Border so I will have a strong Ale/beer with a dram of malt whisky once a week on a Monday.

My drug regime is heavy as I am always in chronic pain, the doctor now knows the units I consume as they are taken off the label of the bottles so normally it is twelve units per week. He lives with that and is happy about it. The attitude is we all need relaxation it is no use refraining from something in moderation so carry on happy at that level

Also I told all the specialists about this and they are happy with regard to this So no problem.

If you have problems regarding drink fair enough, many of us have no problems life can be a little spartan when disabled.

If you are having a problem with drink do not drink, do you smoke I do not I packed in over 40 years ago, their was more problems with that. It was 1976 when I stopped smoking 60 per day, That was just taken of my record last December.at the Doctors. It can take that long to remove most of the scarring on the lung, I could have been knocked down by a feather when I found out about that gem.

We all need to enjoy our life, the old saying is A LITTILE BUT OFTEN comes to mind. I am 63 years old and will keep going till the box is sealed. Mind a bottle of Talisker should be buried with me

Also I have been disabled with chronic pain and associated reactive depression since 1983, will not change now and I have no worries with it. so it is win win

CHIN CHIN

BOB

led with chronic pain

lostonrye profile image
lostonrye

Hi yeah i drank moderatly for years no problem, but when I became depressed I drank to blot out reality

if your lucky enough to be able to take it or leave it great I don;t smoke but know how diffucult it is to stop.

I agree we all need to find what's best and there are no hard and fast rules I know having to take painkillers in no fun

I have spend a lot of time in Scotland in and around Glasow and have seen the bad side of uncontrolled drinking.

its just a bad in London with all day opening now.

When I was there in a dry town you could not even get a drink Maily because of the miners spending all their wages in the pub on the Demon Drink.

I resined myself to being like this at 62 I have a bad liver and diabetes But for me stopping the Drink was a blessing

after peritinis 6 years ago it was drink again and you'll die no ifs or buts.

Just to say it did help with the depression

Keep well

Keep Warm up there

John

Suzie40 profile image
Suzie40

Alcohol is the work of the devil

Holly101 profile image
Holly101

You're absolutely right John..

I live in Glasgow and the drinking-culture has always been bad.. Some pubs open at 7 in the morning

but you can only get a drink if you buy a roll and sausage (or any kind of kid-on breakfast), it's mad...

My poison isn't alcohol (anymore) but I selfmedicate with drugs, which is just as bad.

It's ruined my life and made my depression, my mental and physical health a million times worse.

Addiction and depression combined is like a double barrel, it might ease the pain for a wee while, but then you're

left with two demons to fight instead of one..

I have been drug-free for a short period in my life, and my depression didn't magically disappear,

but it wasn't half as intense and as long-lasting and re-occurring as often as it is when I'm 'habited up'.

I had so much more to be grateful for, my freedom for starters, being able to enjoy things, having friends and wanting to spend time with them, appreciating sunny days..

Just small and simple things, but they were big to me, because I hadn't been able to enjoy anything at all for so long.

Addiction and depression almost always go hand in hand, but the professionals prefer to blame the addiction being the cause of the depression, in my opinion in most cases it's the other way about, and people get addicted to alcohol or drugs to try and block out the depression.

But it doesn't work, take it from one who knows too ;)

Holly Xx

lostonrye profile image
lostonrye

Yes what comes first the depression or the drugs I guess it can be either, but my first bout of depression was at about 15 before I started to drink. although it was not diagnosed as such in those days. looking back it was the start of it.

Glasgow can be such a friendly place and people talk to each other ( not so in London) but it has its dark side.

That wine the monks make down in devon mixed with a tranqualiser seems a favourite lethal combo.

I remember now Buckfast wine I have taken just a glass of that stuff and could hardly get my head off the bed in the morning.

Its difficult to deal with depression without resort to some kind of drug or alcohol and at the time you j will take anything for relief

Something doctors don;t always appreciate.

I wish you well, keep your spirits high!

Regards

John

Hello

If you take drugs in the market place you are risking an awful lot more than just health, it is the families and parents that feel the pain of the persons addiction

When in pain we are taught how to control our medications, we become trusted after much training in the NHS to take and vary doses of Opiate type medications, also we are shown how to reduce the medications safely with the minimum amount of withdrawal.

With drink it is the same you always should know your limits and stick to them, if you feel that you are starting to drink to much you reduce that amount, no problem here

Now if you are in the cities and you start drinking before you go out then drink till your legs go that is a problem that , that person has and should be sorted as it is a medical problem and the person should stop using a drug that His/Her body needs, (Addiction).

Most people will socially like a drink and are sensible regarding how much they put down their throat, those people should be left alone to enjoy their tipple, they are controlling what they drink

Drink in fact has been proven in moderation to be good for you, we all need to understand there are many other things that the human race becomes addicted to, and can cause more problems than above.

Life is full of things we should not do, most people are different to the next door neighbours. So.we all need to be treated as so and not preached by those who have there own motives for example drinking too much

lostonrye profile image
lostonrye

Hi thats sound advice, Nothing worse than a reformed smoker or drinker. Just pointed out my own experience with the boose.a negative one for a lot of the time. But everyone is able to make their own mind up.[

A lot of people are still unware of the safe drinking limits. Which nearly everyone I know or knew exceeded.

two malts would be a mere apriteiff for myself. The reason I stopped is becasue once i sarted I found it hard to stop.

Never needed to take strong painkillers. but knew a woman who needed to take DF18 pills and she was surverly addicted but as ;she was terminal it was not such a great issue.

I guess most people are taking some kind of medication. anit depressant pills seem to be used a lot hardly a suprise given the times we are in even if you are not prone to deperession.

Regards

John

janipan50 profile image
janipan50

lostonrye, reading your experience I wonder about myself. Am I bordering on being alcoholic ?? I'm retired now so start drinking from about 2pm then come 7pm fit for nothing I drink at home (cheaper) sit in the garden looking at the sky thinking how lucky I am then keel over crawl to bed. Next day think what a fool, then miss one day then feel far better then start again. John what do you drink instead ??

lostonrye profile image
lostonrye

Retirement is a dangerous time.

drinking too much is a big danger. its what happened to me. Stopping the drink all together and finding other things to do was the best thing I ever did. Seems to take about a year of no booze before I could walk into a pub and just have an orange juice.

it can become a matter of life and death and most people know others who died of the drink.

if you can stop the drink and don;t smoke you will not regret if

Good Luck

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