Question.

[Dempsey1919]

Do any of you self medicate with booze and prescription drugs, I do I know it's wrong I'm getting help for it. Drink numbs it but makes it worse days afterwards. Also the only time I see my mates is in the pub and I need companionship. I used to compete on judo and ju jitsu, I'm brown belt in both styles but I'm to unfit to do a high intensity sport like that at the moment. I've got the personality all or nothing.

[SurvivingEveryday]

Hey Dempsey1919. No judgement here, at all! I am not a person who has ever coped with either of those substances, but I have coped with using things like YouTube, and eating. These can become addictive behaviors, also; and it stinks.

What I have read, and what I know, is that drinking and Rx medications will only temporarily numb the pain. To me, it is like using an umbrella... yes it will keep you safe and shield you from rain, but at some point you will have to learn to accept the rain will one day touch you. It will be ok, but it will take a lot of work (in most cases). The longer we try to cope by using these temporary mechanisms, the longer it prolongs our true healing.

[Dempsey1919 in reply to SurvivingEveryday]

Yes it does, I'm getting help. I'm just scared of living with my ocd with nothing to calm me.

[Littleducky5 in reply to Dempsey1919]

In the same way. Probiotics and ashwaghanda have really helped me. I take Garden of Life Mood+ along with my sertraline

[PipM82]

I did with alcohol and now I have liver cirrhosis.

[Dempsey1919 in reply to PipM82]

Sorry to here that.

[Sallyskins]

Do not, not not self medicate with drink and drugs! Alcohol is a depressant and won't make you feel better - certainly not the next morning!

Prescription drugs are good, if used correctly. And they don't go with alcohol. Better to go with your prescription medicine.

I get the 'all or nothing' personality - I have it too! It can be hereditary - alcoholism runs on my father's mother's side of the family! I stopped drinking alcohol when I was 19 and feel that if I had just one drink I would be on the slippery slope to being a lush. I found out years later that my grandmother felt the same - she didn't drink alcohol and would say that she felt if she had just one she wouldn't be able to stop!

There's nothing to stop you going out with friends - of course you need companionship - and drinking soft drinks. Pubs now have a wide range of really nice ones - there's more than just orange juice or that vile alcohol free lager they used to make!

It's now more socially acceptable to have a soft drink - not like it was when I first gave up alcohol with people having a go at you for it! I can go to a pub or a party, have soft drinks, get into the party spirit and have fun. I don't feel left out. Some of your mates may be on the soft drinks, because they are driving or for other reasons.

Go to your doctor and get a prescription for antidepressants, if you haven't got one already. They really do damp down the OCD. Also ask about aripiprazole, which is an anti-psychotic that in low doses helps to boost the antidepressant. I take these.

[Dempsey1919 in reply to Sallyskins]

I'm on mirtrazipane, sertraline and proponalol

[Sallyskins in reply to Dempsey1919]

That sounds good. I'm on sertraline myself, along with aripiprazole.

Alcohol only negates the effects of the medication you're on. It stops the meds from working properly for you.

[Dempsey1919 in reply to Sallyskins]

I can see that.

[Sallyskins in reply to Dempsey1919]

It's really not so bad being off the booze. Not drinking means that the meds will work better, and you can still go out and have fun.