Drug users and mental illness

What mental illnesses do you suffer from?

  • AD(H)D

    Votes: 170 28.4%
  • Anxiety

    Votes: 401 67.1%
  • Depression

    Votes: 404 67.6%
  • Bipolar

    Votes: 136 22.7%
  • OCD

    Votes: 110 18.4%
  • Panic Disorder

    Votes: 138 23.1%
  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 91 15.2%

  • Total voters
    598
I have ADHD (inattentive subtype, no hyperactivity), Aspergers syndrome, social phobia, and reward deficiency syndrome. All of these are related to problems in the dopamine/endorphin systems. After being prescribed every SSRI and benzodiazepine on the market, and finding that none of those, or alcohol or pot, helped my social functioning (since unlike most social phobia/anxiety issues, mine were unrelated to GABA), I finally started with stimulants and opiates. For the first time in my life I felt and acted like a normal person. I made friends, and my academic performance improved. Sure I abuse hard drugs to get high, but I need them on a day to day basis for normal functioning too.

On a side note, anyone can look up things like DSM-IV-TR definitions and get the idea that they have something they don't. For all those things, the key thing is professional judgment about the requirement all these mental illness criteria have for clinical significance, which requires education, training, and experience in psychology/psychiatry. This isn't addressed to anyone in particular; just a commentary on the validity of self-diagnosis.
 
svacheme3 said:
I have ADHD (inattentive subtype, no hyperactivity), Aspergers syndrome, social phobia, and reward deficiency syndrome. All of these are related to problems in the dopamine/endorphin systems. After being prescribed every SSRI and benzodiazepine on the market, and finding that none of those, or alcohol or pot, helped my social functioning (since unlike most social phobia/anxiety issues, mine were unrelated to GABA), I finally started with stimulants and opiates. For the first time in my life I felt and acted like a normal person. I made friends, and my academic performance improved. Sure I abuse hard drugs to get high, but I need them on a day to day basis for normal functioning too.

On a side note, anyone can look up things like DSM-IV-TR definitions and get the idea that they have something they don't. For all those things, the key thing is professional judgment about the requirement all these mental illness criteria have for clinical significance, which requires education, training, and experience in psychology/psychiatry. This isn't addressed to anyone in particular; just a commentary on the validity of self-diagnosis.
Getting on stimulants might be good for the first couple years but in the end it will fuck you, for the worst.
 
i have ADHD and i show symptoms of a multitude of other psychological disorders. Bi-polar, OCD, autism... and thats all because of the way the brain develops. The ADHD kids brain develops slower in the frontal lobe... which is the part that helps with thought process.

Autism, Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), and Obsessive and Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involve significant frontal and temporal lobe dysfunction. This conclusion is based on NeuroSPECT work now in progress on children afflicted with these disorders. We have been using NeuroSPECT to image cerebral abnormalities of perfusion/function in Autism, ADHD, OCD, and other neuro-cognitive disorders.
 
ive been diagnosed as having major depressive disorder, gad and sad
so far no meds have worked out of lexapro, prozac and effexor, now going to try wellbutrin, but ive already lost hope in anti depressants, i had a "episode" lol, i hate using that term but i had one recently and because of that i made things a lot worse for me
as far as drugs go, i smoke a half ounce every 2 weeks, thanks to the state, and benzos daily
 
I can't remember if i replied to this already and was to lazy to look through the whole thread.

One of the main reasons i started opiates was because they helped with my disorders better than anything I was RX'd, or anything i tried previously

My disorders are:

Depression. But while on opiates, it's almost non-existent, except during withdrawal. It peeks in now and than while Opiated but mostly it keeps it at bay.

ADD. Opiates have been a god send for this disorder. It's a very frustrating disorder because you have all these idea's and desires to do things but you can't consentrate enough to do them or even start projects.

Anxiety/Social Anxiety. Opiates have helped with this really good but Benzo's help a little more.

Destructive thoughts. But, not hurting people. I will lay there and think about traumatic events that have happen through history and obcess about them. And I'll think about horrible things happening to me. Opiates help with this 99% of the time. This is something i really want to see a shrink for because it's rather disturbing and i don't understand why i do it!!!

Mild OCD-- Very mild. It's mostly obsessive thoughts, not obsessive rituals or practices..

I think these disorders and my chronic pain are the main reason i started opiates and continue to use them. I'd be willing to try other things someday though.

But even with these disorders I'm pretty normal with day to day life and in general. They don't really affect me in a grand scale although they do affect me in the work place which is why I've always lost jobs. Mostly because I'd call in sick because i couldn't deal with goint to work and dealing with everything and my disorders made days unbareable. Does anyone relate to that? I sure hope so!!!

Rpg
 
Melancholic depression and Social anxiety
@ RPG, It's kind of sad you rely on opiates to do anything really, it'll only end in misery and pain for you, if not death. I've been reading your posts and it sounds like you have a severe addiction, if you can, get help.
 
okay. i wanted to ask this question earlier today but opted not to....now that i see this thread, i will ask....

does anyone else have repetitive thoughts? for example: anxious/guilty thoughts as well as getting words and lyrics/songs stuck in your head? i mean i get the worst case of "can't get it outta my head"....things that mean nothing to me get stuck in my mind.....

i do not exhibit any signs of ocd other than this......i often feel as if i am loosing my mind....i have to repeat the serenity prayer over and over in order to make these "repetitions" go away....
 
alicat - ud b better to talk to a professional than us about this
unless one of us here is a qualified psychiatrist, none of us can diagnose u with anything
my friend (ex-friend really) alisha got the anxious, guilty thoughts all the time although she had compulsions as well - she had/has OCD
as for music/lyrics, i think thats pretty normal (well i hope so) - im a heavy metal fiend and i constantly hav one song or the other racing thru my head (i actually find it quite soothing so sometimes ill play a song in my head wen im stressing on about something else).....my fav motorhead song is doing its thing right now.....good times
however if these things r distressing for u, i wud suggest u see a professional
 
well....it's more like a get a chorus from a song stuck in my head or even just a single word....like a broken record player....it is so annoying....

i want to say something to my primary doctor, but i'm afraid she'll just blow me off or think i'm just plain weird.
 
I am bipolar. I used to use all sorts of psychedelics and euphoric stimulants quite heavily for just under two years. I would also drink and use weed. When I had my first two major manic episodes, both likely triggered from using marijuana, I was hospitalized and found meds that work perfectly for me.
 
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alicat72 said:
i want to say something to my primary doctor, but i'm afraid she'll just blow me off or think i'm just plain weird.
doctors hav heard it all - its her job not to blow u off or think ur weird
if she does, u need a new doctor!
 
I can get any diagnosis I want, but the real one is drug addict. I've managed to get diagnosed with depression, panic disorder and ADHD, all by different doctor-dealers.

I always ended up doing about 4-6 times the prescibed dose of whatever med they gave me. Zoloft was probably even more destructive than Adderall or Xanax taken this way. Adding 400-600mg Zoloft to my diet sent me into to full-blown mania, and I LOVED it at first. This dosage gave me constant tremors, dialated pupils and a lust for chaos. I started commiting all kinds of crimes mostly for money and the occasional thrill of beating the hell out of someone, never sleeping, and, my then-new passion, smoking crack. Now I'm paying the price for SSRI-induced mania with enormous fines, the break-up of my family, and 6 years of ISP (intensive supervised probation - thanks to a great lawyer).
 
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RexHunt said:
c)

Also something called Destructive Thought Patterns, but I think that's classified under depression as well

this is not a mental illness more a function of how many different mental illnesses affect our thoughts:)
 
lokai said:
I am bipolar. I used to use all sorts of psychedelics and euphoric stimulants quite heavily for just under two years. I would also drink and use weed. When I had my first two major manic episodes, both likely triggered from using marijuana, I was hospitalized and found meds that work perfectly for me. I no longer use apart from drinking once in a while. A pint of beer is good enough for me.

beer i find in large regular doses can be just as psychosis inducing as pot. people think it only affects gaba, but i also has a strong monoamine effect too (SE, DA, NE) and has strange effects on glutamate. it trips so many different receptors and due to affinity differences the effects vary from person to person and vastly based on dose=D
 
whats worse self medicating with illegal drugs or going to see a pyschiatrist and get on those crazy meds.......

fuck im going crazy
 
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