Mental Health Relationship between Bipolar 2 and Drug Abuse

[Hipster427]

Whenever i was 21, i went to a psychiatrist and he told me that i was suffering from bipolar depression. At the time, I didnt think much of it and kinda was in denial about it. I am now 25, and last year i went back to the psychiatrist and i was told once again that I was suffering from Bipolar 2. The one where you dont have any interest in anything, wanting to sleep all the time, sad all the time, just always seemed to be in a funk. I am also an opiate addict and have been for the past 4-5 years or so. ( I was in a car accident when i was 16 and have several bulging discs in my cervical spine-so the pain meds kinda started there)
On my mothers side, both bipolar, depression, anxiety, and addiction ( alcohol and prescription pills) all run in my family. On my fathers side, addiction runs in the family ( especially alcoholism, but thats not my thing.)
My mom has sever bipolar, paranoia, OCD, ADD and a few other mental disorders and as long as i have known her, she has always had a prescription pill problem, mainly opiates( she never messed with heroin to my knowledge) My father in his younger years had a cocaine problem and then i also believe he has dealt with addiction to prescription pain killers- He just isnt very open about these things like my mother is.
Since both bipolar depression and addiction run in my blood, i was wondering if anyone knew anything about the correlation between the bipolar and drug addiction.
For my bipolar, I take 20 mg lexapro, 100 lamictal, and 5 mg of abilify (abilify is a life changer). I also take 10 mg ambien for sleep and 40 mg vyvanse for ADD. on top of all these meds i am addicted to opiates,mainly roxys. I was hopeful that being diagnosed with the bipolar and gettin on all the meds for it that it would play a pretty significant part in my drug addiction and maybe help me kick that habit; after being on the meds for a year, I still have a love affair with roxy.
Does anyone have any information of the relationship between the two? I would love for you all to share your similar stories and also what meds you are on to keep you stable with your mental disorders and share any information you have on the correlation between bipolar and addiction because it seems to go hand in hand to me.
Thank you.

 

[herbavore]

It is my personal opinion that every addiction (not just drug) has its roots in mental illness. Mental illness in my definition is any imbalance within the mind. "Curing" or managing addiction is one and the same as healing from or managing a mental illness. It takes courage, creativity, diligence and above all knowledge about oneself and the root causes of the imbalance.

 

[FreeSoul]

I'm in the same boat as you. I have bipolar 2. I'm on prosac lamictal ability xanax and trazadone. I'm currently a single mom in my mid 20s. I have addictions to roxys herion and meth. Nobody knows about this, I keep it very secret. I feel like when your bipolar your moods changes soo much that it's like when your up you wanna be down and when your down you wanna be up. I can tell with me that when I have my swings I crave other things. But also when I'm good and level I still use. So I don't really know. Turns out its really hard to quit something that you enjoy doing but you know you need to quit before something bad happens. Maybe that helped you maybe not.

 

[Mmp85]

I'm bipolar 2 and have had alcohol problems.
I think a lot of it stems from the impulsiveness and poor judgement associated with bipolar. Like I didn't always have the good judgement to refuse that next shot or a line of coke or putting myself in a dangerous situation.

 

[thelung]

People with bipolar disorder usually turn to drugs or alcohol out of an unconscious need to stabilize their moods. Unfortunately, substance abuse has the opposite effect, making the symptoms of bipolar disorder worse.

 

[herbavore]

People with bipolar disorder usually turn to drugs or alcohol out of an unconscious need to stabilize their moods. Unfortunately, substance abuse has the opposite effect, making the symptoms of bipolar disorder worse.

This.

 

[Hipster427]

So when and how does one know when they are actually "balanced" out? I also hate taking all these bipolar and depression meds- sometimes I feel like I'm just hiding my true self behind all these medications. But, I guess probably all people who suffer from these mental illnesses feel that way. I plan on kicking my opiate habit with kratom within the next 2 weeks when I run out of the roxys I have.