I like beer. Pretty much all beers. I like the taste of different beers and experiencing the taste of different beers, from watery American light beers, super hoppy beers, flavored beers, stouts, porters, wheat, you name it.

I don't drink to excess, I don't touch hard alcohol, I don't drink every single night, or feel like I need a drink when I wake up in the morning, or anything like that.

Beyond the general enjoyment of it, I also will use it as a means of relaxing when I get home from work or just in general. I seem to be able to function much more easily once I've had a few. I am more comfortable talking and expressing myself, showing emotion, and so on.

Is that common with anyone else?

I think it's quite common. It's a joke of sorts in our family that if we want to get any information out of my brother, we need to give him a few beers first. He's quite sociable after a few.

Obviously there's going to be someone that's going to point at you and say, you drink too much, or you have a problem with alcohol. *I mean "you" in the general sense* Someone had a bad experience or knew someone, so on and on.

If you're productive in your life, it's not interfering in your day to day life, no one close to you is mentioning that you might want to cut back.. then PERSONALLY, I can't see where there's anything wrong with that. If you enjoy it, it lets you relax, whatever, then I don't feel there's any harm.

And yes, there are lots of things that have been used as a means of self medicating. My doctor and I discussed that and she made the comment that that's the reason there are even doctors on drugs, *cocaine*, because their brains chemical misfiring require something, and cocaine fixes it. Unfortunately, it's not very easy to maintain a coke habit without it causing problems. But you get the idea.

That's just a chat I had with my doctor. In no way am I intending to open up a can of worms. Read that as a tidbit and leave it at that.

I would be curious, if you were to take meds , for example Adderall, if that would change how you feel about beer. Just curious that's all.

I actually do take medications (Zoloft for anxiety and Adderall for the ADD) but my guess is that the combination/dosages still aren't quite right.

I have my first apt. with a new doc on Friday and intend to bring it up, along with a laundry list of other things...

I don't drink to excess, I don't touch hard alcohol, I don't drink every single night, or feel like I need a drink when I wake up in the morning, or anything like that.

So what's the problem here? That doesn't sound like you're an alcoholic at all, just that you like good beer (as do I :D).

Like Delores said, there will always be people who will automatically accuse you of having alcohol problems just because they don't approve of drinking. If it's not interfering with your life, I say enjoy your beer and **** them.

Don't let people impose their problems onto you. It took me a long time before I figured that one out.

I on the other hand am an alcoholic. However, with Adderall I never crave alcohol. It is my wonder drug to beat this god awful disease. The reason I drink too much is because of my ADD. When I am spazzy about everything, booze is my cure, yet Adderall does an even better job making me feel relaxed. I've been having the hardest time being able to get my Adderall refilled because my doc has been on vacation, and what do you think I did to substitute, drinking at 8 in the morning again. Got a short supply today and I feel wonderful, but its such a fiasco trying to get my "hard copy" of my prescription. While they say people with dependency issues shouldn't use Adderall, I would so much rather be addicted to Adderall than alchohol.

I love alcohol. Since the first beer. I hate it to though.


Im not drinking right now because when I drink 1 beer , I want more. And if there isnt more in the house it just ****es me off.

i too thought that having a few beers after work was fine - it wasn't interfering with my professional life, home life, social life etc. However if you have any addictive tendencies then it can lead you into trouble!
I drank like this for many years, didn't need to drink every day (however I was self medicating with other substances) and though there was no problem with it!
Until I got to the point where it did take over (funnily enough around the time I stopped self medicating with other substances), i needed a drink every night, beer wasn't enough so I was drinking straight vodka, absinthe, scotch out of the bottle! This took me down a path of destruction....

BmanJayhawk: I'm not saying that this is what will happen however your words sounded like me 5 years ago! Saying that you function better after a few are dangerous words in my mind! I hope you are one of those people that I wish I could be - the ones that can have a drink now and then!

All the best mate

I think many people with ADD/ADHD have addictions. I do also. Def like to drink and often exceed my limit. Also associate socializing with drinking and I cant tell you the # of times I have made a major as* of myself due to overconsumption.
Interesting that Adderrol makes you feel relaxed as its a stimulant and I believe typically used to do the opposite. How much do you take a day? I take it also and also exceed my limit on that often.
Its hard and its scary

I like beer. Pretty much all beers. I like the taste of different beers and experiencing the taste of different beers, from watery American light beers, super hoppy beers, flavored beers, stouts, porters, wheat, you name it.

I don't drink to excess, I don't touch hard alcohol, I don't drink every single night, or feel like I need a drink when I wake up in the morning, or anything like that.

Beyond the general enjoyment of it, I also will use it as a means of relaxing when I get home from work or just in general. I seem to be able to function much more easily once I've had a few. I am more comfortable talking and expressing myself, showing emotion, and so on.

Is that common with anyone else?

I love beer too. From the American light beers, to the tasty Belgian Ales, etc, etc. However, I tend to drink way too many more often than not, so if I'm not in a position to drink my fill, I will usually just choose a non-alcoholic beverage instead of teasing my insatiable appetite with a taste of a nice brew. I envy you for being able to enjoy them in moderation. I would love to be able to do that, but I know myself to well to try and think I can pull that off anymore. :o

I also love good bourbons, single barrel bourbons to be specific like Blanton's, Evan Williams, Elmer T. Lee, etc. However, I tend to drink too much of those too, but I usually don't over do it as often with the bourbon as easily as I do with the brews for some reason. Mark Twain once said, "Too much of a good thing is never a good thing, but too much of a good bourbon is never enough." :)

I am newly diagnosed with ADD and am on Adderall which has almost completely taken away my desire for alcohol/weed/other

Amazing how that works and yeah I was totally self medicating

I'm jealous

my boyfriend has to drink i guess hes like you

Caffeine was my self-medication.

me to caffeine like coke

Beer taste like soap to me . . .

Caffeine was my self-medication.

Same for me. I was popping caffeine pills, drinking 12 packs of Mountain Dew in 2 days... downing a whole two liter of MD in one day... etc.

update :
sometimes if i'm too wound up on my adderall, I will crave beer ... to chill out on ...
and I will sometimes drink more than I should because the adderall effect prevents that "i've had enough" feeling from getting through when it should

(or maybe i'm just a pathetic drunk , I dunno ...)



ONE DAY AT A TIME

Coffee, everyday all day, since high school.

Brain-numbing, escapist, mindless, retardant and senseless TV. ALAP (you're looking for a measure).

Or a hearty laugh. :D

I think self-medicating is a double edged sword. My dad did it with alchohol and become an alchoholic - god knows how many brain cells he has left. I often wonder what sort of person he would have been without it. I did it with drugs in my twenties because i had no idea i had an anxiety problem, but long term it just made it worse. But having said all that i really feel for people who self-medicate with these things - stuff like ADD and mental disorders (i hate the word mental in this context - makes us sound crazy or stupid) are often underdiagnosed, the mental health proffession is shambolic, under funded and in my little experience too-often run by COMPLETE AND UTTER MORONS. So what are people supposed to do when they need to run thier lives well enough to get work, pay rent, raise kids etc? I personaly don't think alchohol and drugs helps you long term, but then i don't have a better solution either.:confused:

Hate beer. Don't drink at all.

Self-medicate...dark chocolate.

funnily enough I was self-medicating with dexedrine before I knew I had ADHD. surprise!

Hate beer. Don't drink at all.

Self-medicate...dark chocolate.
Same here! Before I started meds I would absolutely have to have my dark chocolate and green tea with ginsing -- it helped, but obviously not as much as medication.

I drink half a pot of coffee in the morning, or an energy drink or caffeine pills to get me out of the zombie state. Then beer at night till the huge racket in my brain quits enough to go to sleep. Used to smoke a good bit of herb too, but stopped that a while ago and now it's been replaced by beer and lots of it. It's getting expensive. Don't even touch much liquor except on weekends a little, cause that road leads me to getting fired from my job, without a doubt. I can just get way to drunk.... Had an epiphany a short time ago and am on adderall now for the first time, trying to get an effective dose nailed down. I have accepted the fact that I have to be "on" something or other to function at all, so maybe I can be on adderall and be productive and intelligent instead of a drunk....

I've been addicted to cigs and coffee for my whole adult life. As a teenager I made a conscious decision never to start drinking alcohol because I knew I would like it too much and then do it to excess. I'm so happy I made that choice.

This might sound like preaching, but anyone who's thinking about starting to drink socially should be aware that ADHD can very easily lead to alcoholic tendencies. If you haven't started drinking then don't take the risk.

I've missed out on a lot of social interaction because of not drinking. (I'm Irish BTW.) I've always been the only sober one at the party. But, I don't regret it. ADHD gives you natural(?) highs (and lows). I don't feel the need to drink, because I'm already high and giddy.

I need alcohol about as much as a three year old does.

For me, as a lifestyle, self destruction worked, as it changed my life for the good. As for a quick, instant solution, blunt impact was incredibly effective, but other causes of "fight-or-flight" adrenaline responses may work. Nothing worked like blunt impact, it would correct mental disease for the time being (usually the remainder of my time awake). Sure, illegal drugs worked, "saved my life", but their availability was/is/may be no more reliable than (certain) prescribed drugs (as access is controlled/regulated/restricted).
Also relaxing/meditating before going to sleep may help, as going to sleep "hard" results in waking up "hard". And avoid accumulating a "sleep debt", that is, sleep to your body's needs without interruption (e.g. no alarm clock).

If you can put it down, right now, for an indefinate amt of time.

.....without worry.

it's a preference.

...if not.

you're addicted to it.

I hate the taste of beer... but I've attempted to self-medicate in other ways, so I can understand it.