Alcohol and ADHD

[theyseemerolling]

I am wondering if any of you have been in the same boat? I have been on/ off sober since 2020 off far more than on. But I have now been off for over 7 months which outside of pregnancy is my longest time.

I am finally starting to understand who I am, how I work and that my brain is a chaotic space.

I never needed alcohol for social situations, which seems to be a common trend in support groups. I could always socialise, I still can. I ''needed'' alcohol to quiet down that awful, mean, inner voice that told me I was stupid and useless.

I have been doing a lot of counselling recently and I am making progress slowly. I had what I think anyone would describe as a traumatic childhood, which muddy's the water with ADHD.

Anyone else not miss alcohol in social situations but only want it when you feel like you need to turn your brain off? Make it stop? I am feeling tonight wine would 'help' but I know without doubt it will not

Yeah, you are describing very well ADHD symptoms.. You're right, alcohol won t help.... get a prescribed medication from a Psychiatrist instead......

Self medication with alcohol is common with ADHD, yes.

Worth booking an appointment with your GP to discuss a referral for assessment. There are a lot of right to choose providers now which cut down the waiting time.

In the meantime, make any notes relating to your childhood and any issues / instances throughout your life relating to lack of concentration, poor impulse control and other possible ADHD traits. Look out any school reports if you still have them. Think about things like can you sit through a film? Do you figet a lot? Do you blurt out things / talk over people / interrupt / talk loudly / fast? As you say, Trauma can muddy the waters, but the screening and assessment process should be able to filter these things out. Good assessors are trained to recognise the difference.

(I'm diagnosed with ADHD and Autism)

Are my comments posting? I don't normally use the phone for mumsnet

Funny enough I found a school report from yr 11 and fed it into chat gpt. This is the summary:

• Often described as bright, capable, intelligent, and creative.
• Form teacher: 'Honest and conscientious.'
• Teachers noted a different way of seeing things – sometimes unusual, but effective.
• Comments about 'letting herself down' – ability not always shown in results.
• Coursework strong when effort applied, but often inconsistent or late.
• Needed scaffolding and extra support to stay on track.
• Praised for enthusiasm, energy, and communication skills.
• Struggled with distractibility, organisation, forgetfulness, and consistency.

The form teacher actually said my honestly could only be commended. And that i had a way of seeing things no one had ever thought of
I'm not sure it was a good thing!!

I actually did well enough in school over all thanks to cramming.

I read something the other day that alcohol is a common problem with ADHDers because it provides a dopamine hit and that ADHDers drink quicker because they are subconsciously searching for that hit. I don't know if it's true or not. Personally I do drink too much, for many reasons, but one being that I don't bloody sleep and it helps.

I have adhd and I very rarely drink because of how nice it makes me feel. It turns off all my anxiety, I'm so much calmer and relaxed and my brain slows down. I absolutely love how calm and less anxious it makes me.

I know I could easily become dependent on that feeling

Ya it's easy to fall into. I started drinking regularly when I was 12, encouraged by my mum. It wasn't until my late 20s I realised it wasn't normal.

Yes. This is me. I rarely drink now as that alcohol caused me problems. I really feel like I've got to the stage now where I need a diagnosis. (Treated for "mental health" problems all my life, that just didn't seem to 'fit') I suspect my son also has ADHD. But I'm terrified of being the umpteenth person to 'jump on the bandwagon ' and be met with an eye roll by the clinician (because I've lived like this and suspected ADHD for years ) I don't know whether to go private.. any advice from anyone gratefully received.

I have ADHD and don't drink.

The biggest thing IMHO with ADHD - you can have all the strategies in the world but you will self sabotage if you don't pay attention (the irony) to your need to manage boredom (incredibly painful) and the human need for creativity (self expression). How you choose to do that is up to you - but choose wisely!

Part of my recovery (in AA) was addressing that voice by making it categorically untrue. A big part of
my life is now helping others, doing the right thing, being less selfish and learning how to give myself a break when things go ‘wrong’

Of you don’t want to try AA perhaps can you continue to address self worth in counselling and look at ways you can be a Good person daily.

A list each night of all the Good things you’ve done that day - however small - can be really helpful. Eg I didn’t want to watch football but it means so much to DH we had it on in main room TV and I did it with good grace not sulking.

When I first started to think I needed to stop drinking. I really worried about being bored. I would have said I drank a lot out of boredom. I think now - after many years of working on myself! I drank for a mix of reason (as everyone does)

Boredom - I would always complain I was bored. I get bored very easily
To drown my negative self talk
Habit - I started drinking regularly around age 13
I now see that will have formed an early dependence on alcohol to 'help'
I drank because I was sad and angry.
Not that mine is 'worse' than anyone else's but by age 26 I had been through more trauma than more people experience in a life time.
To force myself to relax. It was like once I had a drink I finally had permission to slow down a bit. I would put on a show in the background and slowly do some chores. I am bad for this now. I mainly do not rest in the evening until DH is also ready to rest and tells me - REST!
I also thought I needed it to sleep, as in an off switch.
Because it is what 'everyone' does
Going out wouldn't be fun

@FusionChefGeoff I now very often speak to myself out loud and say that is not true! The way I think about myself is diabolical. But the bit my thearapist doesn't like is how numb I am to most of my pain. But I think I still need to remain numb. She says what I am telling her and having no reaction is something we need to work on.

I did AA for a few years. But I do SMART online meetings now. I LOVE them and for the first time I think I am actually making progress on my 'why'.

If you suspect something do speak to your GP. They might be receptive to it. I also felt very 'band wagon' but I don't care!

So many ppl say 'oh everyone feels like that from time to time, not quite getting these issues are continuous for every day life. We all feel down sometimes, not every one is depressed.

I sometimes think of it like diabetes. Everyone experiences blood sugar spikes. Does that make everyone diabetic? Well no, because for most people your blood sugar will spike, then your body will respond and regulate your blood sugar again using insulin.

With ADHD, yes people can experience the symptoms from time to time but their brain will rebalance their inattentions etc naturally. It doesn't really work like that for ADHD