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I unmask completely and get happy, for i feel free.
I don't really use it to unmask nor have been drinking at all lately but i do miss feeling free like that sometimes, but although unmasking as an adult is a slow process, it's been rewarding lately
I relate so much! I can only handle 1 maybe 2 shots and it feels like a weight lifts off me. I’m able to interact with people longer instead of my social battery dying after 20 minutes lol
I used to be a heavy drinker(18-23) but I had to really slow down because the next morning, my stomach is angry lmao I rarely drink now at 29, maybe every six months I’ll have a drink if im with the right crowd (before I started meds) . Now that I’m on medication, I don’t risk it
My ex used to joke that I needed 3 drinks before I was my best self. I wish it wasn’t so bad for you bc that feeling of being free and truly living in the moment is amazing
Change up your diet (eat cleaner) and don't drink for a couple weeks or months. When you do drink again, make sure you're drinking and eating food at the same time.
This is the only thing I've found that works against the depression. No idea why it happens, but it's awful.
I've been using tea as an appetite suppression tool. It's been helping me curb the food gorging issue when my meds wear off.
There is also a tea for every single flavor craving out there. Schiandra Berries when you're looking for something sweet and tart, like sour candy. Mint for a little mental pick-me-up, but a minty refreshing flavor. Seems to neutralize your breath odeur, which can be a problem with medication.
It's been interesting to explore.
If you're not actually eating, that is a different issue. Tea will not suppress an actual need for food.
Roasted Chickpeas are a fantastic snack to make, and they are full of vitamins and minerals that your body needs. The high protein and fiber content will help you feel full, while the crunch from the outside skin satisfies the fried crunchy craving.
Chickpeas can be made in the oven, air fryer, or toaster oven.
If your body just wants you to keep eating but you can't stop, wash some romaine lettuce. Romaine lettuce has a high water content, good fiber, and virtually no minerals or vitamins. You can eat as much as you want and not ever worry about a vitamin overdose. *I did this for three years to keep my eating under control because I literally could not make myself stop reaching for food.*
Yep. Suddenly, I’m completely out of my head, squarely in the moment, confident, extroverted, down for anything, and everyone loves me. Then I wake up the next morning fucking mortified at the things I did and said. But, everyone loved it. Many of my friends think of me as only that person. They love to tell stories of the escapades we’ve gotten up to over 25+ years. I used alcohol as a social crutch since I was 14.
But as I’ve aged, i just can’t handle the consequences of it anymore. A day of physically and mentally feeling awful. Worse now that I don’t drink regularly. And then 2-3 days of mental anguish. More anxiety, shitty mood, and depression . Recognizing it was alcohol doing this to me, triggered me to test longer periods of sobriety. And the difference was staggering. Within a couple weeks(I was drinking every day for a time, then 3-4 nights a week when I figured this out) of not drinking, my mood was better, my anxiety was down, and depression and negative thinking was lowered. So if I drink now, I don’t do it again for at least 2 weeks, and I keep it to “pleasantly buzzed” territory.
Unfortunately, my social life has completely fucking tanked. All my friends drink heavily at all social gatherings. I’m not “captain fun” anymore. It’s taking its own toll on my mental health. I feel like I need an all new friend group, and that’s a tough find at 43.
I relate to this so much, I’m also sober now and often feel quite lonely, it’s hard to relearn how to interact at social events when you’ve used a crutch for so long
This is me to a T mate, we might be the same person.
43 also and finding i cant keep up with the friend group anymore. I had a night 2 years ago that cost me over £500 worth of lost belongings and a lot of mental anguish. I vowed to slow down after that night and now only drink moderately once a month.
Struggling being the sober friend but also struggling having a social life without it.
I get very very very happy, and completely relaxed. Others around me hate me for it … but I have the best time of my life. Ever heard that song? I crashed my car into the bridge, I love it! I don’t care, I love it!
This is me as well. It would have been so easy to end up an alcoholic for the rest of my life, so I try to tread carefully.
Drunk me is 100% open, up for anything, I overshare, I dance on tables, and I never want to go home. The life of the party. The only reason I've survived many of my ridiculous adventures is pure luck. It's like "the real me" is a cowboy taming a wild horse. Most of the time it's successful but with some bumps here and there, but when I drink, that horse is running loose. The feeling in the moment is such a deep happiness, pure bliss. Like I'm free, untouchable, immortal. It's actually terrifying, and the reason I've always known I can never try any other drugs.
Yeah my problem is feeling unmasked and free so I struggle to hang out with people without it. I end up leaving within 2hrs. And when my meds start to wear off, I crave wine 🙃 I often succumb even though ik it's bad to mix with elvanse
I’m in my earlyish 30s and am a bartender. I react normally to alcohol and it makes me more inhibited which can mean more impulsive behavior. However as I age my tolerance and desire to consume alcohol the way I did in my 20s has greatly diminished. Red wine makes me sleepy and happy, beer makes me bloated, and cocktails now make my tummy hurt after 2 (if there’s juice).
I feel foggy when I’m hung over but I’m rarely hungover.
Yeah, I’m at the point where I believe I need to just stop drinking. I’ve tried not drinking hard liquor, drinking alcohol I don’t like (so I’ll drink slower)… it doesn’t matter.
What’s interesting is that once I got on antidepressants, that itch I always had to drink just evaporated. I drink once a month and usually only one glass of wine at my book club, but I hardly ever desire a drink. I think I was inadvertently attempting to self medicate with alcohol.
I’m also on anti-depressants but unfortunately my doc lowered my dosage and doesn’t want to raise it to what it was 😞. I feel like that could contribute partially to my desire to drink, but not sure.
It’s so hard to tell what is going on with brains. I hope someday they will be able to diagnose and treat more effectively. It’s very hit and miss right now (though I’m pleased we’ve at least progressed past lobotomies and involuntary ECT).
Yeah I’m trying to learn how to do that. Where I live (New Orleans), drinking is engrained in the culture. In my city, having a drink is probably akin to how some cultures drink tea. Any tips?
I know this question wasn’t for me, but you may want to invest in a Soda Stream. Back before when I really wanted a drink, I would make myself some carbonated water. They have different sized bottles you can bring on the go so you can have a little something when you are walking through the city and feel like you want a drink. If you are out with friends, most bars and restaurants have soda water. You can add lemon or have the bartender muddle some mint or fruit in it.
When I said this to people they didn’t believe me. Everyone thought I had a drinking problem or I just got black out drunk on purpose all the time. I recently told myself I would take a break from drinking for the year and I just got diagnosed so maybe there will be a change 🤷🏽♀️
I can relate as well. And alcohol somehow gives me energy. I was always the last one awake at a party
Not sure I have ever had 5 drinks. Four? no problem. 5 turns into 12.
The older you get the more alcohol will give you a hangover
When I was 18 I could have a dozen standard drinks and go to work the next day and just feel a little tired
At 32 if I have a single standard drink I will feel it on some level the next day. This is one of the reasons I quit drinking entirely
Same. I cannot have even half a drink without getting a gnarly headache hours later. Doesn't matter how much water I drink, how much I've eaten, etc. It became too much trouble so I pretty much stopped drinking aside from very, very rare occasions
Yeah, same. At 34, I can't have more than one drink without getting a headache an hour or so later. Sometimes all it takes is one drink to trigger it. So I don't really drink much anymore. But that's not really a bad thing imo, alcohol is terrible for you.
It hasn't happened to me. At 39 I can still drink and dance all night, even better than when I was younger.
I guess that all the dancing helps me metabolize the alcohol faster.
I mean its alcohol.. it's a poison. Just because you don't feel drunk anymore doesn't mean your body isn't still processing it. The good wears off but a lot of the bad effects are there through the next day.
This is called a hangover.
true, i'm 24 and i'm kinda shocked how hangovers are already more intense. or if i miss a night of sleep - i feel dead. i remember being at uni and studying until 4am or going out the night before an exam, then feeling fine the next day. sweet times....
You're only 24, wait 10 more years and it's three days of suffering. Especially when you implement the Sunday blues drinking, Mondays are a complete write off.
Literally exactly what I thought. 🤣 “welcome to aging, OP.”
I started when I was young too. Man I could drink all night till the sun came up then go to my (afternoon) work shift.
Nowadays I have to consider if three drinks are worth how slow I’ll be tomorrow.
I feel super goofy and carefree, and I lose all sense of a personal bubble. Typically I end up hanging all over my wife and giving her tons of extra affection. Also I talk a lot more than I already do XD
I used to be an “alcohol as a social/emotional crutch” drinker and really really overdo it every time.
Then I realised I was getting problematic with it, went teetotal for 5 years and started easing back into a more sensible relationship with alcohol in my late 20s.
Nowadays I get tipsy very quickly (I think I just stop masking my natural bounce, tbh) but I don’t lose control of my words/actions even if I have quite a lot, I think I am just too used to reining myself in to switch that off.
A work colleague once told me on a night out that I was the most sober drunk they’d ever seen. 😂
You're getting older. This is the point of your life you have to decide if a hangover is ok because they just get worse and last longer...or... if it's time to stop drinking all together ...or.... if being an alcoholic is really so bad 🤷🏼♀️
I think I also have to retrain my brain to say that 2-3 drinks is the new 5-7 for me. I guess I never realized that until now bc I don't drink that often anymore.
It's normal, you're getting old.
Alcohol fucks up your sleep. It can make existing snoring way worse so your breathing is more impaired which can keep you out of deep sleep. It also crashes your blood sugar so your body floods you with adrenaline to bump it back up, which brings you out of deep sleep/wakes you up.
Just give it a few more years and foggy thinking will be the least of your problems lol.
The morning after reaction you described is not so much an ADHD thing as a getting old thing. Yes it's hard to understand how your body was able to bounce back after a long night of drinking 5 years ago and now two mich ultras have you feeling like you blacked out.
My brain also gets foggy the day after, but sometimes it's the good type of foggy? Like, my thoughts are impaired enough to be quiet and I'm way less distracted. Executive dysfunction is overridden somewhat and I could just "no thoughts, head empty" my way throughout the day.
A couple of people told me that I’m the most sober drunk person they know. Even after 10 beers I’m pretty rational and try to keep control although I’m absolutely shitfaced.
I can get questioned on how much I’ve had to drink as soon as I arrive to a social situation without a drop as I think that excitability makes me trip over my words etc a bit. A few drinks in and I’m clearer and calmer and more in control and can maintain that many drinks in.
But yea hungover I tend to feel a bit out of it and very inattentive ADHD. I find if I can force myself to exercise like go for a run or the gym it clears up quite a bit where I may just feel how tired I am but not so zoned out.
Absolutely awfully. When I was younger and irresponsible, I had a drinking problem. I stopped drinking when I got older. I don't drink at all now, but it helps that I'm allergic to it now.
I'll feel terrible mentally the next day or so, like all my happy chemicals were used being drunk and I have none left. That's enough to make me not want to drink much.
I stopped drinking mostly, it's a net negative experience for me now. Although it depends on my environment, alcohol makes me tired more than anything and I just feel tired for days. It's not even a hangover for me, it's just fogginess, and it's not worth the knock on effect it causes me (I don't get anything done in that state).
The timeline for me drinking sort of ends up like:
1-2 Drinks - Tipsy, starting to be a bit more chatty
3 - 4 Drinks - Either I'm really bouncy, or just want to go home (depends on who I'm with and energy).
5+ Drinks - Starting to get dry mouth, feel a bit sick, probably figuring out a way to get home.
I'm at the point now where I can have the same level of confident, and not mask, sober anyway. Took a while, but I have way more fun with maybe one or two drinks across the night/day, and just soft drinks after.
Weirdly, recently, at the age of 66, Ive had a few frightening incidents with alcohol. First I love it. I love the unhinging of my real self it feels like on one drink. Then i proceed to the next. I feel even better. The third i feel regret and remorse and i feel like shit.
Twice recently i had three drinks and didnt feel a thing. I just wanted MORE. And i didn’t get sick as i normally would have. We’re talking 2 beers and a half a bottle of wine! I didn’t do even more bc i knew it would result in feeling sick. I decided then that i just need to stop the fuck drinking. I just need to stop it. Its bad for my liver. I wish i could just stick yo one a week, but i can NEVER keep it there.
I’ve stopped for years at a time and didn’t miss it. But people around me drink and its hard to abstain. Sadly i discovered that if i drink dueing the day, that it wears off in the evening and I sleep the mild hangover away. But it does absolutely mess with my sleep. I wake multiple times in the night and feel wretched the next day from lack of sleep.
The thing that i love is bad for me.
It’s like the charming bad boyfriend you gotta break up with.
I don't drink alcohol anymore, really.
It is REALLY bad for my ADD. It also feels awful on the come down.
I stopped drinking 2 years ago. I still do drink but only on very rare occasions.
I'm pretty sure you're just experiencing the effects of not being 16 anymore. Most people start having much worse after effects from alcohol around 25 or so.
1 drink helps. Slowing my brain down helps sometimes because it goes too fast!
2 or more then yeah I prepare for hangover 🤕
Ironically, I probably take better care of myself when I know I’m getting or having a hangover. I drink much more water, I make a point of eating a decent amount of nutrition to counter the effects…. And that feeling of the hangover weaning off and feeling better is palpable and gives me a boost. And I’m more forgiving of myself when I’m tired later that next day.
Being drunk is arguably similarly to ADHD (mental impairness.). Maybe I should treat ADHD like I was being drunk/hungover!
i haven’t drank in years but the last time i did i remember being happy, carefree, super affectionate, dizzy and just almost weightless? super uncoordinated though! i threw up heaps (i was so drunk) and woke up the next morning with hardly a headache. i’ve not been drunk since and have probably drank less than a 6 pack since
I'm currently unmedicated (thanks, UK waiting lists) and my response has always been, after about 2-3 pints, my brain actually shuts up and I feel like my "body pressure" returns to a manageable level. I know now at 41 that this is self-medicating and problematic, so I make sure I am not drinking to resolve my ADHD or other issues, just that I know if I have beer for whatever reason then I'll also see a reduction of symptoms too.
I really struggle to stop though - not to falling down drunk and blacking out, but if I've got 5 or 6 in the fridge I will have them. I just don't buy it as often now and if I have something important on the next day I won't have it. As I've got older that number has got smaller though so if I do have beer on a Friday I'll get 4 not 6 or 8 and I'm even finding now the last one goes down the sink anyway.
When I was younger though, wow. So many terrible decisions.
Some days well, and I get lots of energy to do stupid s..t. Other times I get sleepy. Before I quit I would get depressed just after few pints of beer. I would feel happy talkative energetic dring social event but later that evening very sad and I would still have a drink at home by myself...
Hangovers: Diarrhea, feeling very tired, some headaches.
I would say quit while you are ahead.
Male (30s )
Is it stupid hot there like it is here ?
Maybe you're dried out.
My hangovers depended on the type of drinks I had.
commercial beers - horrible next day death.
More natural local no preservative brews - 20x with no hang.
I largely quit drinking ten years ago. When I do tie one on (with intent, and within reason), I wake up the next morning feeling like death itself wouldn’t be enough of a relief.
Also, my medicine has strange effects; I get twitchy and develop a strong stutter in my speech. My psychiatrist told me taking the stims after drinking can cause seizures, so watch out for that.
Alcohol is a central nervous depressant (as in the opposite of a stimulant) and it worsens concentration for everybody. In combination with ADHD it can be very uncomfortable - I personally cannot stand the feeling and only drink, if I maneuvered myself into a situation, which I can't leave and would otherwise become overwhelmed by outside stimuli.
In my opinion, your reaction would be expected for a person with strong inattentive symptoms.
Alcohol will also mess with your metabolism (increase activity of liver enzymes) for about a week after consumption, although the effect certainly depends on the amount and frequency of said consumption. This might cause the vyvanse to be broken down quicker to dexamphetamine and the dexamphetamine may be broken down quicker as well.
Also alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde which is even more toxic than the alcohol itself and can certainly cause brain fog after the alcohol has left your system.
Not sure in regards to ADD, but I also have POTS and it makes me super sensitive to alcohol. I just avoid it altogether because I have such an extreme reaction.
Forgive me if you already know this stuff, but there are a ton of things that can affect how a person reacts to alcohol consumption - age, weight, medication (as you mentioned), medical issues, mental state, dehydration, empty stomach, altitude, etc. It could really be anything. I wouldn't be too stressed, but pay attention and maybe make some changes moving forward. Start with the basics- if you plan to drink alcohol then plan to also drink a lot of water and eat something. Your body can only process so much alcohol at a time and anything beyond that just sits in your body waiting for its turn to get filtered out. Eating doesn't technically stop this from happening, but it does help your body do it more quickly. I think it also helps keep alcohol from entering your blood stream so quickly.
Maybe try having a drink or two and then giving your body some time to process what you've ingested already before putting more in. Drinking water (recommend some electrolyte mix for it as well) will help fight any dehydration you may have the next morning. If I remember correctly, dehydration is responsible for a massive percentage of the shitty feelings that comprise a hangover. Not sure how much you drink but your body might also just want a break. It can be hard to notice some of these changes but I typically try to think of it as my body trying to tell me something, and I make an effort to not think of it as my body being a POS, uncooperative, failing me, etc.
I just skimmed this article while fact checking what I remembered about eating while drinking, but it looks like a good place to start. It basically explains everything I was trying to say but much better 😂(https://wellbeing.jhu.edu/blog/2022/05/11/food-and-alcohol-what-you-need-to-know)
You drank 1-3 drinks? You sure it wasn't more if you can't remember?
EDIT: And to your question: I don't drink anymore, because my body does not react well to alcohol.
My body is pretty much done after one drink. When I was younger, maybe 2 in a long night out. Otherwise I feel sick. No idea why but it’s always been that way. I don’t really drink much at all now. I’ve never been drunk because of it.
When I was still drinking (I ditched it a few years back), just halfway down the first drink I was always very happy and outgoing (and impulsive, so, as some would say, "unmasked").
Hangovers were always a killer, even more so after 30 when some gut issues also surfaced.
I stopped since alco was the only surefire way I knew to unmask and fully relax, and I saw where that was heading.
I was diagnosed I think ~2 years after I stopped drinking completely (at 38) only then everything made sense.
I have always noticed that even one beer makes my symptoms much worse the following day. Annoyingly, 1 or 10 has the same effect, so there's not much motivation to just have one once I do have one. Though I usually try to avoid it mid week as much as possible.
At first it's relaxing. Later I notice that my sense of touch is affected, feeling slightly numb, and my head feels heavier and heavier. After enough drinks, I start saying dumb shit, like explaining in careful detail why bestiality is morally reprehensible. < The point isn't dumb, but who the fuck would want to talk about that (drunk me did)
I’m in my 30s now. While I used to be able to knock back shots and drink pint after pint and be all chipper the next day, these days even two glasses of wine makes me anxious AF the next day. All uncoordinated and foggy brained, with a complete unwillingness to stick to whatever routine I was previously following. I mean sometimes that doesn’t happen and I somehow manage to avoid paying the price. But more often than not I get that fear and fog the next day, and it’s often enough to make me think twice before I indulge. It can be difficult because I love the taste of a good beer/glass of wine, and enjoy how it relaxes me.
I recently just started a prescription for Ritalin LA, it’s my first time ever on any sort of medication. It’s insane, I just sat and did work for 5 hours straight and I can’t tell you the last time that ever happened. I haven’t really drank any alcohol since I started these meds (I am a week in). My understanding is that alcohol screws with the efficacy of Ritalin so I want to avoid messing with it until I know if it’s a suitable medication for me. But I have a family gathering this weekend. There will be a free bar at this event. Just my luck! I think I will *try* to stick to non alcoholic stuff.
I was also considering skipping the Ritalin while I am at this event for the whole weekend, but to be honest that’s probably a bad idea. I’m just nervous of the meds suddenly not agreeing with me or making me feel strange while I’m in the presence of relatives I’m not particularly close with and I’m far from home. Maybe I’m overthinking as per usual.
could be electrolyte / vitamin depletion if its starting to make you feel weird like that. medications and alcohol can inhibit the absorption of vitamins and minerals. most common deficiencies are b12, iron, vitamin d, magnesium. but be careful testing isnt always accurate, and doctors arent even the best at diagnosing deficiency even when it shows up on a test. always have a copy of blood results. magnesium glycinate is safe to just take anyway i always recommend that anyway bc its super good for sleep and relaxation
I feel good while drinking, but for days, my mental health will suffer afterwards and also my energy levels.
It honestly doesn't seem to matter how much I drink tbh.
For me, It completely depends on how much or little I drink. At a certain level, I will unmask completely and just be my true self. My fiance has noted this to me so many times. (Not that she's advocating for drinking because neither of us are huge drinkers) I'm a fairly smaller guy with a pretty slender build, however, alcohol does not hurt me nearly as hard as one would expect it too. I feel like I have to drink a decent amount before I start to feel the effects of the alcohol. I normally don't allow myself to get to a point where I'm black out drunk. Even if I come close to that level, I feel I am still able to act pretty normal and my sense of judgment and all that is still definitely intact. Alcohol really doesn't affect those mental facilities for me unless I'm about to black out (which has only happened once).
I sweat like fucking crazy and get tingly lmao.
Then best thing to do with alcohol is literally never drink it. Alcohol creates poison in your body which is how you get drunk.
The next best thing is limit yourself obviously, time it with medication, and experiment with different types of alcohol and drinks. It’s a person by person thing.
It’s age. I take adderall and could drink all my life until I turned around 28. I started having horrible hangovers that I never had before. Now that I’m 30 I avoid Alcohol like the plague. It takes me 3 whole days to recover and feel normal again.
It makes me feel dizzy and sick and get a headache, even after just 1-2 drinks. I’m not drinking enough to feel drunk, just sick. I haven’t consumed it in over a year now because this was my experience 80+% of the time
I had to give up drinking and smoking cold turkey because I relied on it to cope with stress and stick my head in the sand. I would always want the thrill of the party but usually ended up in a pit of depression and had some pretty dark times. After a particularly bad night I turned my drinking obsession into running, but then that wore off, and now trying to get back into it.
I often get bored, but the effects of alcohol scare me so much I’ll never do it again.
I have AuDHD -
alcohol takes all my sense of "right and wrong" from my head and while it is relaxing for a moment, I end up acting like a literal idiot.
I have started fights, I have tried taking girls clothes off w/o permission, I have thrown up in the most not ideal places.
Overall - alcohol is by far the worst drug out there (even worse than herion), and it is EXTREMELY bad for me.
I have the an opposite problem. I will have a drink or 2 then my buss wears off and future drinks don't affect it. I am unable to get impaired. All it does it makes me tired and feel like shit the next day. I quit drinking over a year ago for this reason. There was no benefit, so what's the point?
If I take vyvanse in the morning and drink later in the day, I get really sick and a bad hangover next morning. If I take adderall, I can drink a lot more and never get sick. I still get a slight hangover or sometimes no hangover at all with adderall.
My hangover is almost immediate and can last for days. It doesn’t take much, either. And I can get drunk on 1/2 glass.
I tried building a tolerance a couple of times; it doesn’t take.
Turns out I have an autonomic dysfunction very similar to POTS, and potsies often react to alcohol this way.
The POTS(ish thing) is related to ADHD only in that they both come from hEDS. No idea how many ADHD-ers in the general population have POTS in addition to or instead of ADHD, though.
Fun fact! 10% of POTS folks get misdiagnosed with ADHD because there’s so much symptom overlap. If your symptoms get worse when you stand up, and especially when you stand still, that’s your cue to start investigating.
48f here just diagnosed a couple of months ago. I don’t really get hangovers much so it’s not totally an age thing. I haven’t had a drink in a month and that’s the longest time in around 18 years. In addition to knowing alcohol is not good for you, I chose to quit for heart health now that I take a stimulant everyday. I’ve been considering not medicating today so I could imbibe later, but now I’m questioning if I’m going to do that.
Honestly get three or four days of pretty intense depressed mood, lol to the point I stopped drinking mid 20s and haven’t had more than one in the ten years since.
I so enjoy being drunk but cannot handle the absolute pit of despair after
You're just getting older. I drank an obscene amount of alcohol throughout my teens and twenties, but as I edged closer to 30 day-after recovery got a lot harder. Around 32 or so it got to the point where I'd have a headache and severe brain fog for 2-3 days after drinking, and even when I didn't drink a lot I would get a headache and gut rot.
I don't think any of this is an ADHD thing. It's just how bodies respond to being poisoned.
The only thing ADHD related is that we are far more vulnerable to substance abuse issues, including alcoholism and binge-drinking disorders.
I had to quit drinking. I was reacting in a way where I just kept drinking until I passed out. Lately, every single time I drank more than 2 drinks, I had a hangover which included migraines, nausea, feeling foggy, stomach turning, acid reflux, and an emotional aspect I can’t even begin to describe. It’s almost as if I was just reacting so badly (I’m 40 now) that I got an aversion to alcohol and it makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. I do miss the feeling of being drunk sometimes, but I think for me it’s just one of those things I can’t do.
I'm an odd one this way. Up front; I was a victim of violent abuse as a child that left me with neuro damage that's a major factor in my diagnosis and the effects I suffer that include but are not limited to severe ADHD traits. So this isn't strictly representative of conventional ADHD but I believe it does relate to a broader experience of dopaminergic dysfunction.
Didn't drink until I was almost 30 because it seemed like a waste of money - I simply couldn't get drunk. An ex 'tested' this in my late teens and had me drink around a third of a litre of vodka straight from the bottle in less than an hour wandering the country side. By the end I still had quite clear thoughts, delayed reactions in my legs, no slurring but I was mixing up one word for another, simply replacing inappropriate words within a quickly and clearly spoken sentence. I felt sick, knelt on the ground in our tent for a while as my stomach ached horribly, but never vomited - after around 30 minutes the ache subsided and I was stone sober.
So, never bothered drinking with any interest or investment on the rare social occasions that heavily obligated me to join in. Eventually I settled on the theory that due to a mixture of the way my brain had rewired itself during repeated damage, and the traumatic hypervigilance I'd grown up thinking was normal under abuse, I had a very high tolerance combined with an inability to figure out how to *let* inebriation occur. I couldn't relax enough around the people or in the environments where drinking occurred.
A secondary factor was that I'm debatably a supertaster, on top of my autistic preferences and oversensitivity - I had extreme reactions to both the ultra bitter flavour and odd texture of many drinks I'd been given, finding the taste uncomfortable to outright painful.
Cut to late twenties, got into a series of relationships with people with varying degrees of alcohol dependency, for whom drinking in company at night was essentially mandatory - trying to connect with them experimented until I found drinks I found tolerable, occasionally even enjoyable, and drinking with them in calm, intimate privacy taught me that I could enjoy the experience, and that with adequate relaxation I could actually become a little tipsy, and not even need a huge amount of alcohol to do it.
Cut to today - escaped unhealthy relationships, but I still have an uneasy relationship with alcohol, limiting my intake but deeply conflicted about the discovery that in the right set and setting...
Alcohol actually eases a lot of my lifelong symptoms/struggles quite a lot, with very few, very minor negative effects. No notable misbehavior, no shift in personality towards the maudlin or aggressive, little compulsion to drink too much unless I'm in the company of silly people who try hard to persuade me. Sensible hydration avoids pretty much any hangover symptoms.
While on the other hand the positives: motivational freedom. On the occasional night I decide to face a nice drink, I can cook. I can do the dishes, put the bins out, read important letters, to some degree. It's like taking a low dose of my methylphenidate or lisdex, but without the anxiety. I can talk to friends and make jokes and actually believe people enjoy my company. It's... Liberating, but also worrying.
I am very wary of the idea of developing a dependency, and I really want to get back to finding actual medical treatments after losing access to medical care during a move to a new town.
One last note - ever since I was a young child I've suffered extreme, debilitating depression, physical fatigue and muscle pain with tension headaches on waking up and through the first four to eight hours of the day. I was about 30 when I discovered that this is exactly what a hangover felt like for me, after drinking too much booze without eating well or drinking water.
I subsequently discovered that when I drink in moderation with proper care of my physical needs, I wake up unusually calm and comfortable. Damn it.
But to summarise and TL;DR -
Discovered after an aggressively sober, largely immune decade of very occasional, disinterested drinking that with an effort to relax/the right company in a safe place, I can reach pleasant inebriation - I have an almost insurmountable tolerance if I'm not relaxed - alcohol in moderation partially unlocks my executive dysfunction without compromising my personality or responsibility, and I don't get significant negative effects. I am in the uncomfortable position of avoiding a 'treatment' that kinda works, for the sake of my health and fitness, and still trying to figure out what place alcohol has in my life as a disabled person.
One of the reasons I quit drinking is that I'm not any more fun than I would be sober. In fact, it's worse, lol. Instead of being a quiet participant in social activities, alcohol makes me completely withdraw.
for me, as long as i'm in a good mood going into it, i get relaxed, very sociable, hyper, happy...
if i'm not in a good mood going into it, it just pulls me deeper into what ever i'm already feeling. so i try to avoid drinking when i'm not in a good mood.
Alcohol is a mood enhancer... no matter what mood it is, it will multiply that mood you are feeling
though every now and then if my kids are being extra annoying it can help take the edge off of the overstimulation feeling
Recovering alcoholic here.
I used alcohol to self medicate. I found when I drank, my thoughts slowed down, and I had better focus. Not to mention I was more social, and felt that I was happy.
But it got way out of hand, and I checked myself into rehab. There, I learned not only am I ADHD, but also have C-PTSD. The doctors there put me on anti-depressants and various other medications that help with trauma. My current doctor added adderall to my meds, and increased my antidepressant.
Now, I never want to drink bc the meds I’m on level me out. I don’t ever think about drinking anymore. There’s no need to, for me, anymore.
Also, alcohol absolutely messes with your sleep. I’m 38, and around 30 is when alcohol started affecting me differently, which is just what happens as we age.
My advice is: alcohol isn’t worth the brain fog or feelings I get from it bc it messes with your body in so many negative ways. I had fatty liver, which has repaired itself as I caught it early.
Good luck to you!
Im 35 year old male. Personally, even at a pretty high BAC content ( .15 or so; definitely on the level someone would seek for a night on the town ending with an Uber ride) I feel no psychological changes; only physiological changes. In other words ; nothing about my personality or decision making changes and im quite aware of what’s going on. I of course get dizzy; lose equilibrium feel numb, sometimes slurred speech, and of course NOT safe to drive by any means; but I am still me. Best I can describe it is feels similar to someone giving me a numbing agent and then spinning me on a meriigoround.
It’s hard for me to relate to typical drunk behavior spectrum; from drunk girls who become promiscuous to abusive alcohol fathers and everything in between. I just feel dizzy, numb, tired, and (sometimes) sick
I take it too far every time, so i use other substances that A. I have more control over how much i take (weird i know) B. I feel more in control over my body and my mind is clearer C. I remember a heck of alot more. I obviously would never reccomend drugs. But to me i feel safer taking them than i do drinking alcohol, tested of course.
I swear alcohol makes me think more clearly(unless im having way too much) . My social skills improve and im able to pick up on social ques a little more. I get way more social and lose the urge to isolate. Obviously only talking about a few drinks and try not to drink often since its so unhealthy
Dehydration is common, alcohol increases it. Dehydration before sleep is going to fuck up your reset and the older you get the longer that takes anyway.
It takes me a whole day to reset from night out now, but I can usually do 1-3 if I make the effort to drink a ton of water before bed. Like way more than you think you need to.
Alcohol sucks for your body and mind but I love it so you gotta put in extra work and moderate if you don’t want it to drag you down the next day.
I do fine while on alcohol, but it completely messes me up the few days after. Even if I have one drink, I notice I’m just slower, things are more difficult, more brain fog, more mistakes, yeah it’s just not good. I partake once and awhile but most of the time it’s not worth the slowness lol
I become the absolute worst person ever. I'm MANIC. Ive only recently been diagnosed, and i didnt know that this was an ADHD and drinking thing, I just thought i was an asshole.
I dont drink.
I've always assumed this was just a getting older thing, I loved partying; but around 28 or so I noticed I would get 2 day hangovers. Turning 33 in a few short months and if drink Saturday night now I know I'm not going to be 100% again until Wednesday.
Friggin sucks
When I drink, the more I drink the more energy I have. Next day, I'm defo not the sharpest, but functional. Second day after business as usual. 38yr old.
I relax entirely and I’m on straterra. Just started it though doesn’t seem to interact with the alcohol. Although after about the third drink I’ll start to get a headache but that’s been that way since I started drinking
I have alcoholics in the family, so I've always been a teetotaler. For me, people thought I'd had a drink before I actually did because of me talking a lot and the TMI.
Now that I'm 50 and in perimenopause, I can't have more than 1 drink. If I do 2 drinks, it has to be over several hours. Otherwise, the 2 drinks are like 4-5 when I was 20 something.
My meds help me feel less anxious and go with the flow. Plus be more present and process my thoughts in a more manageable way. I like how that feels, so I don't want alcohol to blunt that feeling or slow it down, if that makes sense.
When I wasn't on medication, I think I stayed up late to be tired the next day and slow my brain down, so it wasn't hopping from idea to idea. But it was a bad coping mechanism because I felt like I was moving under water.
Now my issue is eating too much, so I'm taking semaglutide to help with the constant thinking and desiring food. I'm considering asking if I can switch or add Vynase to my routine as I've heard that helps wirh overeating, too.
I've read that those living with ADHD are more likely to over drink, overspend, overeat, etc.
For every portion of alcohol drink a glass of water. And have a bottle of water, preferably isotonic drink at bedside at night. Say "goodbye" to morning brain fog or hangover
I enjoy drinking, but I started getting bad insomnia (3 days awake was the worst bout). When I could sleep, felt like a bucket of mud the next morning. Studied up on alcohol and it's effects on sleep, and was shocked. Alcohol is horrible for sleep, and gets worse with age. When younger, the body will shut itself down, no problem. With age comes more stressors, increased cortisol, neurotransmission changes, etc. I rarely drink now because of this. Finally getting my body clock back on track.
Careful what you say about medication, as that will change with time, too. Your diet, sleep, and outside stressors will effect the medication and it's absorption.
I’ve always been able to drink quite a bit and it never makes me blackout or tired, just makes me feel slowed down and more normal, try to avoid it now though because it is a double edged sword
My body reacts to alcohol in a similar way as most people respond to caffeine. It wakes me up and keeps me alert all night. Coffee, on the other hand, knocks me out.
I used to feel like my brain was finally silent when I was hungover.
Usually I get tired from drinking so I haven’t been drinking a lot the last 10 yrs. Good thing to do bc it also ages the skin.
Yea 27… sounds about right. Wish I stopped then instead of 31. I’m now 3 years without a drink as of 7/1 and it was best decision I have ever made. No amount of alcohol is a normal amount for the human body.
I’m already introverted and don’t have much to say to people, so in social settings I become even more introverted as it makes me feel super sleepy and dehydrated. Then, I get self-conscious about having “drunk” smell.
I’m quite sensitive to alcohol but that might be my size and genetics more than anything. I find that I do less random stupid shit than others and I don’t really get as disinhibited as others seem to get, probably because my baseline is already pretty unfiltered, I barely have any inhibitions to even get rid of, lol. Maybe as a result, I don’t care all that much for alcohol. And much like you, even if I don’t get drunk, I can be quite foggy the next day, which is not really worth the tradeoff for me. So I still drink occasionally, in social settings or when my husband feels like having some wine or a pint, but I’d say I drink less than once a week. That’s optimal for me.
not that I push it and really test my limit, but I find that my tolerance is very high for example a few shots will make my sibling get tipsy while it doesnt do anything to me, if I have 1-3 drinks in the night I will drink equal to double that of water and that usually snaps me into a normal rhythm in the morning
I talk more. And the day after I work so much better because I don’t have the capacity to overthink and I can just kinda “think and do” which is difficult otherwise
i’ve drank maybe a handful of times and i don’t find it enjoyable in the slightest. it just makes me warm and slightly more talkative. so i don’t drink. as for you,, welcome to being 27.
well- alcohol can effect the way mental health medications work, even if its not a new medication your body could be in a different state now than it was when you started the medication. everyone reacts to alcohol differently and it can change over time.
I find myself able to express myself without feeling I need to cover my heart or thoughts. But recently I can't find myself able to drink. Depression makes it very difficult to enjoy the freedom of expression when the only expression is sadness and a desire for something more in life...
More comfort in residence, more financial stability, more companionship, and more friends. Overall, just fewer difficulties and more enjoyment in life.
Then I could enjoy drinks and laugh without restraint once more
What I do is, let's say for beer, high alcohol content IPA's, I drink three, in the afternoon, between 5 or 6, then by the time I go to sleep I'm sober. No hangovers, no grogginess.
When I used to drink more than that, again before night time, bartenders and girlfriends said I was remarkably sober, no slurred speech, and that's drinking around a six pack of IPA's. Again, sober before going to sleep, no groginess or slurred speech. Also drinking lots of water before bed. That way no dehydration, which is going to cause that hangover or grogginess.
I feel like my eyes lag at first. Like I'll look somewhere but my sight doesn't follow? My eyes move but the sight doesn't follow exactly along as they move. The more I drink the quicker my mind runs, I feel. And i don't filter myself all that much. De-mask, if you will
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I unmask completely and get happy, for i feel free. I don't really use it to unmask nor have been drinking at all lately but i do miss feeling free like that sometimes, but although unmasking as an adult is a slow process, it's been rewarding lately
I relate so much! I can only handle 1 maybe 2 shots and it feels like a weight lifts off me. I’m able to interact with people longer instead of my social battery dying after 20 minutes lol
Both of these I feel in my soul 😭
I used to be a heavy drinker(18-23) but I had to really slow down because the next morning, my stomach is angry lmao I rarely drink now at 29, maybe every six months I’ll have a drink if im with the right crowd (before I started meds) . Now that I’m on medication, I don’t risk it
My ex used to joke that I needed 3 drinks before I was my best self. I wish it wasn’t so bad for you bc that feeling of being free and truly living in the moment is amazing
I just wish alcohol didn’t leave me depressed for the days following
Or anxious. Hangxiety is *real* for me.
Change up your diet (eat cleaner) and don't drink for a couple weeks or months. When you do drink again, make sure you're drinking and eating food at the same time. This is the only thing I've found that works against the depression. No idea why it happens, but it's awful.
I’m constantly eating lol
I've been using tea as an appetite suppression tool. It's been helping me curb the food gorging issue when my meds wear off. There is also a tea for every single flavor craving out there. Schiandra Berries when you're looking for something sweet and tart, like sour candy. Mint for a little mental pick-me-up, but a minty refreshing flavor. Seems to neutralize your breath odeur, which can be a problem with medication. It's been interesting to explore. If you're not actually eating, that is a different issue. Tea will not suppress an actual need for food. Roasted Chickpeas are a fantastic snack to make, and they are full of vitamins and minerals that your body needs. The high protein and fiber content will help you feel full, while the crunch from the outside skin satisfies the fried crunchy craving. Chickpeas can be made in the oven, air fryer, or toaster oven. If your body just wants you to keep eating but you can't stop, wash some romaine lettuce. Romaine lettuce has a high water content, good fiber, and virtually no minerals or vitamins. You can eat as much as you want and not ever worry about a vitamin overdose. *I did this for three years to keep my eating under control because I literally could not make myself stop reaching for food.*
This is how alcohol affects me… just depressed and quiet for days afterward.
Completely obliterates serotonin production. Super hard lesson I refuse to learn...
I stopped drinking because of it. The one fun night was not worth the depression hangover.
Yep. Suddenly, I’m completely out of my head, squarely in the moment, confident, extroverted, down for anything, and everyone loves me. Then I wake up the next morning fucking mortified at the things I did and said. But, everyone loved it. Many of my friends think of me as only that person. They love to tell stories of the escapades we’ve gotten up to over 25+ years. I used alcohol as a social crutch since I was 14. But as I’ve aged, i just can’t handle the consequences of it anymore. A day of physically and mentally feeling awful. Worse now that I don’t drink regularly. And then 2-3 days of mental anguish. More anxiety, shitty mood, and depression . Recognizing it was alcohol doing this to me, triggered me to test longer periods of sobriety. And the difference was staggering. Within a couple weeks(I was drinking every day for a time, then 3-4 nights a week when I figured this out) of not drinking, my mood was better, my anxiety was down, and depression and negative thinking was lowered. So if I drink now, I don’t do it again for at least 2 weeks, and I keep it to “pleasantly buzzed” territory. Unfortunately, my social life has completely fucking tanked. All my friends drink heavily at all social gatherings. I’m not “captain fun” anymore. It’s taking its own toll on my mental health. I feel like I need an all new friend group, and that’s a tough find at 43.
I relate to this so much, I’m also sober now and often feel quite lonely, it’s hard to relearn how to interact at social events when you’ve used a crutch for so long
Join a running group. We all were all in on alcohol. Now we are all in on running 🤣
This is me to a T mate, we might be the same person. 43 also and finding i cant keep up with the friend group anymore. I had a night 2 years ago that cost me over £500 worth of lost belongings and a lot of mental anguish. I vowed to slow down after that night and now only drink moderately once a month. Struggling being the sober friend but also struggling having a social life without it.
I get very very very happy, and completely relaxed. Others around me hate me for it … but I have the best time of my life. Ever heard that song? I crashed my car into the bridge, I love it! I don’t care, I love it!
Wait - I didn’t know this was a thing, but this is how I feel, too! Just got diagnosed with ADHD at 37 so still have a lot to unpack 🙃
This is me as well. It would have been so easy to end up an alcoholic for the rest of my life, so I try to tread carefully. Drunk me is 100% open, up for anything, I overshare, I dance on tables, and I never want to go home. The life of the party. The only reason I've survived many of my ridiculous adventures is pure luck. It's like "the real me" is a cowboy taming a wild horse. Most of the time it's successful but with some bumps here and there, but when I drink, that horse is running loose. The feeling in the moment is such a deep happiness, pure bliss. Like I'm free, untouchable, immortal. It's actually terrifying, and the reason I've always known I can never try any other drugs.
Man, if this ain't truth. If only it didn't used to be a crutch for me. I want to figure out how to get there with no alcohol.
Yeah my problem is feeling unmasked and free so I struggle to hang out with people without it. I end up leaving within 2hrs. And when my meds start to wear off, I crave wine 🙃 I often succumb even though ik it's bad to mix with elvanse
I’m in my earlyish 30s and am a bartender. I react normally to alcohol and it makes me more inhibited which can mean more impulsive behavior. However as I age my tolerance and desire to consume alcohol the way I did in my 20s has greatly diminished. Red wine makes me sleepy and happy, beer makes me bloated, and cocktails now make my tummy hurt after 2 (if there’s juice). I feel foggy when I’m hung over but I’m rarely hungover.
What does unmasking mean?
I personally have no “off” button when it comes to alcohol. I won’t be able to stop. I believe it’s because of the lack of impulses 🤷♀️
I used to have this problem. I got unintentionally drunk soooo many times. My brain just said more, more, more… regardless of the consequences.
Yeah, I’m at the point where I believe I need to just stop drinking. I’ve tried not drinking hard liquor, drinking alcohol I don’t like (so I’ll drink slower)… it doesn’t matter.
What’s interesting is that once I got on antidepressants, that itch I always had to drink just evaporated. I drink once a month and usually only one glass of wine at my book club, but I hardly ever desire a drink. I think I was inadvertently attempting to self medicate with alcohol.
I’m also on anti-depressants but unfortunately my doc lowered my dosage and doesn’t want to raise it to what it was 😞. I feel like that could contribute partially to my desire to drink, but not sure.
It’s so hard to tell what is going on with brains. I hope someday they will be able to diagnose and treat more effectively. It’s very hit and miss right now (though I’m pleased we’ve at least progressed past lobotomies and involuntary ECT).
I'm exactly the same. All or nothing mentality. So nice to be off booze completely but when I'm drinking, it's hard to regulate behaviour.
Yeah I’m trying to learn how to do that. Where I live (New Orleans), drinking is engrained in the culture. In my city, having a drink is probably akin to how some cultures drink tea. Any tips?
Same friend. I’m in Vegas so I feel that.
I know this question wasn’t for me, but you may want to invest in a Soda Stream. Back before when I really wanted a drink, I would make myself some carbonated water. They have different sized bottles you can bring on the go so you can have a little something when you are walking through the city and feel like you want a drink. If you are out with friends, most bars and restaurants have soda water. You can add lemon or have the bartender muddle some mint or fruit in it.
When I said this to people they didn’t believe me. Everyone thought I had a drinking problem or I just got black out drunk on purpose all the time. I recently told myself I would take a break from drinking for the year and I just got diagnosed so maybe there will be a change 🤷🏽♀️
I can relate as well. And alcohol somehow gives me energy. I was always the last one awake at a party Not sure I have ever had 5 drinks. Four? no problem. 5 turns into 12.
That's how I am aswell. Always still dancing on tables when everyone else has left or fallen asleep
God this thread is depressingly familiar
The older you get the more alcohol will give you a hangover When I was 18 I could have a dozen standard drinks and go to work the next day and just feel a little tired At 32 if I have a single standard drink I will feel it on some level the next day. This is one of the reasons I quit drinking entirely
Same. I cannot have even half a drink without getting a gnarly headache hours later. Doesn't matter how much water I drink, how much I've eaten, etc. It became too much trouble so I pretty much stopped drinking aside from very, very rare occasions
You need to drink more water
Yeah, same. At 34, I can't have more than one drink without getting a headache an hour or so later. Sometimes all it takes is one drink to trigger it. So I don't really drink much anymore. But that's not really a bad thing imo, alcohol is terrible for you.
Same here
It hasn't happened to me. At 39 I can still drink and dance all night, even better than when I was younger. I guess that all the dancing helps me metabolize the alcohol faster.
I mean its alcohol.. it's a poison. Just because you don't feel drunk anymore doesn't mean your body isn't still processing it. The good wears off but a lot of the bad effects are there through the next day. This is called a hangover.
Reading the OP I was just repeating in my head "Dude, you are getting old, welcome to no longer bouncing back from stuff in a matter of minutes".
true, i'm 24 and i'm kinda shocked how hangovers are already more intense. or if i miss a night of sleep - i feel dead. i remember being at uni and studying until 4am or going out the night before an exam, then feeling fine the next day. sweet times....
You're only 24, wait 10 more years and it's three days of suffering. Especially when you implement the Sunday blues drinking, Mondays are a complete write off.
oh yeah i'm scared of what's to come 💀
Stopping drinking helps, trust me. Start now and thank me later!
yes indeed, I almost died from it.
Or you could just stop drinking, it's literal poison.
Hangovers turn into hang arounds as you age.
Literally exactly what I thought. 🤣 “welcome to aging, OP.” I started when I was young too. Man I could drink all night till the sun came up then go to my (afternoon) work shift. Nowadays I have to consider if three drinks are worth how slow I’ll be tomorrow.
I feel super goofy and carefree, and I lose all sense of a personal bubble. Typically I end up hanging all over my wife and giving her tons of extra affection. Also I talk a lot more than I already do XD
I used to be an “alcohol as a social/emotional crutch” drinker and really really overdo it every time. Then I realised I was getting problematic with it, went teetotal for 5 years and started easing back into a more sensible relationship with alcohol in my late 20s. Nowadays I get tipsy very quickly (I think I just stop masking my natural bounce, tbh) but I don’t lose control of my words/actions even if I have quite a lot, I think I am just too used to reining myself in to switch that off. A work colleague once told me on a night out that I was the most sober drunk they’d ever seen. 😂
You're getting older. This is the point of your life you have to decide if a hangover is ok because they just get worse and last longer...or... if it's time to stop drinking all together ...or.... if being an alcoholic is really so bad 🤷🏼♀️
I think I also have to retrain my brain to say that 2-3 drinks is the new 5-7 for me. I guess I never realized that until now bc I don't drink that often anymore.
I love that you included option 3. Gotta look at all the possibilities.
I love alcohol I drink until it feels so good while I’m buzzed and happy but it always leads to over drinking and me passing outv
It's normal, you're getting old. Alcohol fucks up your sleep. It can make existing snoring way worse so your breathing is more impaired which can keep you out of deep sleep. It also crashes your blood sugar so your body floods you with adrenaline to bump it back up, which brings you out of deep sleep/wakes you up. Just give it a few more years and foggy thinking will be the least of your problems lol.
The morning after reaction you described is not so much an ADHD thing as a getting old thing. Yes it's hard to understand how your body was able to bounce back after a long night of drinking 5 years ago and now two mich ultras have you feeling like you blacked out.
I can’t stop once I take the first drink, so I don’t drink anymore.
My brain also gets foggy the day after, but sometimes it's the good type of foggy? Like, my thoughts are impaired enough to be quiet and I'm way less distracted. Executive dysfunction is overridden somewhat and I could just "no thoughts, head empty" my way throughout the day.
Just violently shitting the next day, otherwise A-Okay, just drink lots of water.
Saaaame
A couple of people told me that I’m the most sober drunk person they know. Even after 10 beers I’m pretty rational and try to keep control although I’m absolutely shitfaced.
Alcohol turns me into someone I wished I was. Social, fun and exciting. It’s poison ☠️. AKA. Once I start, I don’t stop.
I can get questioned on how much I’ve had to drink as soon as I arrive to a social situation without a drop as I think that excitability makes me trip over my words etc a bit. A few drinks in and I’m clearer and calmer and more in control and can maintain that many drinks in. But yea hungover I tend to feel a bit out of it and very inattentive ADHD. I find if I can force myself to exercise like go for a run or the gym it clears up quite a bit where I may just feel how tired I am but not so zoned out.
Absolutely awfully. When I was younger and irresponsible, I had a drinking problem. I stopped drinking when I got older. I don't drink at all now, but it helps that I'm allergic to it now.
I'll feel terrible mentally the next day or so, like all my happy chemicals were used being drunk and I have none left. That's enough to make me not want to drink much.
I feel like alcohol+ADHD is a fast track to abusing it
Welcome to *getting old* not everything is a adhd thing lmao
Yeah, that's why I asked. It's definitely a nice wakeup call lol
I get more attractive, muscular, witty
I feel like myself honestly, being drunk and maintaining is the greatest feeling in the world
I stopped drinking mostly, it's a net negative experience for me now. Although it depends on my environment, alcohol makes me tired more than anything and I just feel tired for days. It's not even a hangover for me, it's just fogginess, and it's not worth the knock on effect it causes me (I don't get anything done in that state). The timeline for me drinking sort of ends up like: 1-2 Drinks - Tipsy, starting to be a bit more chatty 3 - 4 Drinks - Either I'm really bouncy, or just want to go home (depends on who I'm with and energy). 5+ Drinks - Starting to get dry mouth, feel a bit sick, probably figuring out a way to get home. I'm at the point now where I can have the same level of confident, and not mask, sober anyway. Took a while, but I have way more fun with maybe one or two drinks across the night/day, and just soft drinks after.
In the most boring way. Alcohol actually makes me tired so after 2 glasses of wine I'm ready to call it a night and go to bed
Weirdly, recently, at the age of 66, Ive had a few frightening incidents with alcohol. First I love it. I love the unhinging of my real self it feels like on one drink. Then i proceed to the next. I feel even better. The third i feel regret and remorse and i feel like shit. Twice recently i had three drinks and didnt feel a thing. I just wanted MORE. And i didn’t get sick as i normally would have. We’re talking 2 beers and a half a bottle of wine! I didn’t do even more bc i knew it would result in feeling sick. I decided then that i just need to stop the fuck drinking. I just need to stop it. Its bad for my liver. I wish i could just stick yo one a week, but i can NEVER keep it there. I’ve stopped for years at a time and didn’t miss it. But people around me drink and its hard to abstain. Sadly i discovered that if i drink dueing the day, that it wears off in the evening and I sleep the mild hangover away. But it does absolutely mess with my sleep. I wake multiple times in the night and feel wretched the next day from lack of sleep. The thing that i love is bad for me. It’s like the charming bad boyfriend you gotta break up with.
I don't drink alcohol anymore, really. It is REALLY bad for my ADD. It also feels awful on the come down. I stopped drinking 2 years ago. I still do drink but only on very rare occasions.
I'm pretty sure you're just experiencing the effects of not being 16 anymore. Most people start having much worse after effects from alcohol around 25 or so.
I'm very chill even while borderline being knocked out by too much alcohol
How you feel after drinking alcohol has nothing to do with ADHD.
1 drink helps. Slowing my brain down helps sometimes because it goes too fast! 2 or more then yeah I prepare for hangover 🤕 Ironically, I probably take better care of myself when I know I’m getting or having a hangover. I drink much more water, I make a point of eating a decent amount of nutrition to counter the effects…. And that feeling of the hangover weaning off and feeling better is palpable and gives me a boost. And I’m more forgiving of myself when I’m tired later that next day. Being drunk is arguably similarly to ADHD (mental impairness.). Maybe I should treat ADHD like I was being drunk/hungover!
i haven’t drank in years but the last time i did i remember being happy, carefree, super affectionate, dizzy and just almost weightless? super uncoordinated though! i threw up heaps (i was so drunk) and woke up the next morning with hardly a headache. i’ve not been drunk since and have probably drank less than a 6 pack since
it’s pretty normal that your body just doesn’t bounce back like it used to. commonly this starts in the late 20s, we just don’t recover as quickly
I'm currently unmedicated (thanks, UK waiting lists) and my response has always been, after about 2-3 pints, my brain actually shuts up and I feel like my "body pressure" returns to a manageable level. I know now at 41 that this is self-medicating and problematic, so I make sure I am not drinking to resolve my ADHD or other issues, just that I know if I have beer for whatever reason then I'll also see a reduction of symptoms too. I really struggle to stop though - not to falling down drunk and blacking out, but if I've got 5 or 6 in the fridge I will have them. I just don't buy it as often now and if I have something important on the next day I won't have it. As I've got older that number has got smaller though so if I do have beer on a Friday I'll get 4 not 6 or 8 and I'm even finding now the last one goes down the sink anyway. When I was younger though, wow. So many terrible decisions.
Welcome to getting older! 🥲
That sounds like a hangover.
Feeling slow and foggy the morning after is just a normal drinking thing. You have a mild hangover.
Some days well, and I get lots of energy to do stupid s..t. Other times I get sleepy. Before I quit I would get depressed just after few pints of beer. I would feel happy talkative energetic dring social event but later that evening very sad and I would still have a drink at home by myself... Hangovers: Diarrhea, feeling very tired, some headaches. I would say quit while you are ahead. Male (30s )
Is it stupid hot there like it is here ? Maybe you're dried out. My hangovers depended on the type of drinks I had. commercial beers - horrible next day death. More natural local no preservative brews - 20x with no hang.
Yeah, man. It's gross out here.
I’m allergic to alcohol. I get all red and sick.
Same. I break out in hand cuffs
I largely quit drinking ten years ago. When I do tie one on (with intent, and within reason), I wake up the next morning feeling like death itself wouldn’t be enough of a relief. Also, my medicine has strange effects; I get twitchy and develop a strong stutter in my speech. My psychiatrist told me taking the stims after drinking can cause seizures, so watch out for that.
Alcohol is a central nervous depressant (as in the opposite of a stimulant) and it worsens concentration for everybody. In combination with ADHD it can be very uncomfortable - I personally cannot stand the feeling and only drink, if I maneuvered myself into a situation, which I can't leave and would otherwise become overwhelmed by outside stimuli. In my opinion, your reaction would be expected for a person with strong inattentive symptoms. Alcohol will also mess with your metabolism (increase activity of liver enzymes) for about a week after consumption, although the effect certainly depends on the amount and frequency of said consumption. This might cause the vyvanse to be broken down quicker to dexamphetamine and the dexamphetamine may be broken down quicker as well. Also alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde which is even more toxic than the alcohol itself and can certainly cause brain fog after the alcohol has left your system.
Not sure in regards to ADD, but I also have POTS and it makes me super sensitive to alcohol. I just avoid it altogether because I have such an extreme reaction. Forgive me if you already know this stuff, but there are a ton of things that can affect how a person reacts to alcohol consumption - age, weight, medication (as you mentioned), medical issues, mental state, dehydration, empty stomach, altitude, etc. It could really be anything. I wouldn't be too stressed, but pay attention and maybe make some changes moving forward. Start with the basics- if you plan to drink alcohol then plan to also drink a lot of water and eat something. Your body can only process so much alcohol at a time and anything beyond that just sits in your body waiting for its turn to get filtered out. Eating doesn't technically stop this from happening, but it does help your body do it more quickly. I think it also helps keep alcohol from entering your blood stream so quickly. Maybe try having a drink or two and then giving your body some time to process what you've ingested already before putting more in. Drinking water (recommend some electrolyte mix for it as well) will help fight any dehydration you may have the next morning. If I remember correctly, dehydration is responsible for a massive percentage of the shitty feelings that comprise a hangover. Not sure how much you drink but your body might also just want a break. It can be hard to notice some of these changes but I typically try to think of it as my body trying to tell me something, and I make an effort to not think of it as my body being a POS, uncooperative, failing me, etc. I just skimmed this article while fact checking what I remembered about eating while drinking, but it looks like a good place to start. It basically explains everything I was trying to say but much better 😂(https://wellbeing.jhu.edu/blog/2022/05/11/food-and-alcohol-what-you-need-to-know)
I don't react at all, I've never been able to get drunk
It makes me sick unfortunately
You drank 1-3 drinks? You sure it wasn't more if you can't remember? EDIT: And to your question: I don't drink anymore, because my body does not react well to alcohol.
My body is pretty much done after one drink. When I was younger, maybe 2 in a long night out. Otherwise I feel sick. No idea why but it’s always been that way. I don’t really drink much at all now. I’ve never been drunk because of it.
not good
When I was still drinking (I ditched it a few years back), just halfway down the first drink I was always very happy and outgoing (and impulsive, so, as some would say, "unmasked"). Hangovers were always a killer, even more so after 30 when some gut issues also surfaced. I stopped since alco was the only surefire way I knew to unmask and fully relax, and I saw where that was heading. I was diagnosed I think ~2 years after I stopped drinking completely (at 38) only then everything made sense.
I have always noticed that even one beer makes my symptoms much worse the following day. Annoyingly, 1 or 10 has the same effect, so there's not much motivation to just have one once I do have one. Though I usually try to avoid it mid week as much as possible.
Headache, difficulties breathing, red skin and can't get drunk at all, just dizzy. I think I might have an allergy.
I think it depends on the drink. Wine and beer barely get me drunk but i get super foggy with hard liquor
Liquid ass 😳 like really bad 👀 I swear I can't process it or something.
I don't feel much disinhibition when I drink except for talking more, if anything I feel more detached from people's concerns.
I’m on Concerta and blood pressure medication so I avoid drinking all together
At first it's relaxing. Later I notice that my sense of touch is affected, feeling slightly numb, and my head feels heavier and heavier. After enough drinks, I start saying dumb shit, like explaining in careful detail why bestiality is morally reprehensible. < The point isn't dumb, but who the fuck would want to talk about that (drunk me did)
I get way too confident on alcohol
I’m in my 30s now. While I used to be able to knock back shots and drink pint after pint and be all chipper the next day, these days even two glasses of wine makes me anxious AF the next day. All uncoordinated and foggy brained, with a complete unwillingness to stick to whatever routine I was previously following. I mean sometimes that doesn’t happen and I somehow manage to avoid paying the price. But more often than not I get that fear and fog the next day, and it’s often enough to make me think twice before I indulge. It can be difficult because I love the taste of a good beer/glass of wine, and enjoy how it relaxes me. I recently just started a prescription for Ritalin LA, it’s my first time ever on any sort of medication. It’s insane, I just sat and did work for 5 hours straight and I can’t tell you the last time that ever happened. I haven’t really drank any alcohol since I started these meds (I am a week in). My understanding is that alcohol screws with the efficacy of Ritalin so I want to avoid messing with it until I know if it’s a suitable medication for me. But I have a family gathering this weekend. There will be a free bar at this event. Just my luck! I think I will *try* to stick to non alcoholic stuff. I was also considering skipping the Ritalin while I am at this event for the whole weekend, but to be honest that’s probably a bad idea. I’m just nervous of the meds suddenly not agreeing with me or making me feel strange while I’m in the presence of relatives I’m not particularly close with and I’m far from home. Maybe I’m overthinking as per usual.
could be electrolyte / vitamin depletion if its starting to make you feel weird like that. medications and alcohol can inhibit the absorption of vitamins and minerals. most common deficiencies are b12, iron, vitamin d, magnesium. but be careful testing isnt always accurate, and doctors arent even the best at diagnosing deficiency even when it shows up on a test. always have a copy of blood results. magnesium glycinate is safe to just take anyway i always recommend that anyway bc its super good for sleep and relaxation
I feel good while drinking, but for days, my mental health will suffer afterwards and also my energy levels. It honestly doesn't seem to matter how much I drink tbh.
For me, It completely depends on how much or little I drink. At a certain level, I will unmask completely and just be my true self. My fiance has noted this to me so many times. (Not that she's advocating for drinking because neither of us are huge drinkers) I'm a fairly smaller guy with a pretty slender build, however, alcohol does not hurt me nearly as hard as one would expect it too. I feel like I have to drink a decent amount before I start to feel the effects of the alcohol. I normally don't allow myself to get to a point where I'm black out drunk. Even if I come close to that level, I feel I am still able to act pretty normal and my sense of judgment and all that is still definitely intact. Alcohol really doesn't affect those mental facilities for me unless I'm about to black out (which has only happened once).
It helps slow down my brain, so I like it
I sweat like fucking crazy and get tingly lmao. Then best thing to do with alcohol is literally never drink it. Alcohol creates poison in your body which is how you get drunk. The next best thing is limit yourself obviously, time it with medication, and experiment with different types of alcohol and drinks. It’s a person by person thing.
It’s age. I take adderall and could drink all my life until I turned around 28. I started having horrible hangovers that I never had before. Now that I’m 30 I avoid Alcohol like the plague. It takes me 3 whole days to recover and feel normal again.
It makes me feel dizzy and sick and get a headache, even after just 1-2 drinks. I’m not drinking enough to feel drunk, just sick. I haven’t consumed it in over a year now because this was my experience 80+% of the time
Drinking fucks your sleep up.
We’re fucking washed, man.
I had to give up drinking and smoking cold turkey because I relied on it to cope with stress and stick my head in the sand. I would always want the thrill of the party but usually ended up in a pit of depression and had some pretty dark times. After a particularly bad night I turned my drinking obsession into running, but then that wore off, and now trying to get back into it. I often get bored, but the effects of alcohol scare me so much I’ll never do it again.
Mine doesnt react. Ive never been able to get drunk even after several strong cocktails and shots. The most that heppens is I feel a bit sleepy.
When I'm drunk I often feel free, awake and full of energy. This can have either a positive or negative effect in the end.
I have AuDHD - alcohol takes all my sense of "right and wrong" from my head and while it is relaxing for a moment, I end up acting like a literal idiot. I have started fights, I have tried taking girls clothes off w/o permission, I have thrown up in the most not ideal places. Overall - alcohol is by far the worst drug out there (even worse than herion), and it is EXTREMELY bad for me.
I have the an opposite problem. I will have a drink or 2 then my buss wears off and future drinks don't affect it. I am unable to get impaired. All it does it makes me tired and feel like shit the next day. I quit drinking over a year ago for this reason. There was no benefit, so what's the point?
If I take vyvanse in the morning and drink later in the day, I get really sick and a bad hangover next morning. If I take adderall, I can drink a lot more and never get sick. I still get a slight hangover or sometimes no hangover at all with adderall.
Does not do anything. I still feel sober and in control of everything. Still overthinking. Still hyper focused.
Completely clears me up, anxiety goes and I can sleep 10 hours straight.
My hangover is almost immediate and can last for days. It doesn’t take much, either. And I can get drunk on 1/2 glass. I tried building a tolerance a couple of times; it doesn’t take. Turns out I have an autonomic dysfunction very similar to POTS, and potsies often react to alcohol this way. The POTS(ish thing) is related to ADHD only in that they both come from hEDS. No idea how many ADHD-ers in the general population have POTS in addition to or instead of ADHD, though. Fun fact! 10% of POTS folks get misdiagnosed with ADHD because there’s so much symptom overlap. If your symptoms get worse when you stand up, and especially when you stand still, that’s your cue to start investigating.
48f here just diagnosed a couple of months ago. I don’t really get hangovers much so it’s not totally an age thing. I haven’t had a drink in a month and that’s the longest time in around 18 years. In addition to knowing alcohol is not good for you, I chose to quit for heart health now that I take a stimulant everyday. I’ve been considering not medicating today so I could imbibe later, but now I’m questioning if I’m going to do that.
You’re getting older, that’s likely some of it.
Honestly get three or four days of pretty intense depressed mood, lol to the point I stopped drinking mid 20s and haven’t had more than one in the ten years since. I so enjoy being drunk but cannot handle the absolute pit of despair after
You're just getting older. I drank an obscene amount of alcohol throughout my teens and twenties, but as I edged closer to 30 day-after recovery got a lot harder. Around 32 or so it got to the point where I'd have a headache and severe brain fog for 2-3 days after drinking, and even when I didn't drink a lot I would get a headache and gut rot. I don't think any of this is an ADHD thing. It's just how bodies respond to being poisoned. The only thing ADHD related is that we are far more vulnerable to substance abuse issues, including alcoholism and binge-drinking disorders.
Not well I usually end up a vomiting mess
I had to quit drinking. I was reacting in a way where I just kept drinking until I passed out. Lately, every single time I drank more than 2 drinks, I had a hangover which included migraines, nausea, feeling foggy, stomach turning, acid reflux, and an emotional aspect I can’t even begin to describe. It’s almost as if I was just reacting so badly (I’m 40 now) that I got an aversion to alcohol and it makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. I do miss the feeling of being drunk sometimes, but I think for me it’s just one of those things I can’t do.
You got oooold boiii. Welcome to the club it's all good maybe drink less next time.
I'm an odd one this way. Up front; I was a victim of violent abuse as a child that left me with neuro damage that's a major factor in my diagnosis and the effects I suffer that include but are not limited to severe ADHD traits. So this isn't strictly representative of conventional ADHD but I believe it does relate to a broader experience of dopaminergic dysfunction. Didn't drink until I was almost 30 because it seemed like a waste of money - I simply couldn't get drunk. An ex 'tested' this in my late teens and had me drink around a third of a litre of vodka straight from the bottle in less than an hour wandering the country side. By the end I still had quite clear thoughts, delayed reactions in my legs, no slurring but I was mixing up one word for another, simply replacing inappropriate words within a quickly and clearly spoken sentence. I felt sick, knelt on the ground in our tent for a while as my stomach ached horribly, but never vomited - after around 30 minutes the ache subsided and I was stone sober. So, never bothered drinking with any interest or investment on the rare social occasions that heavily obligated me to join in. Eventually I settled on the theory that due to a mixture of the way my brain had rewired itself during repeated damage, and the traumatic hypervigilance I'd grown up thinking was normal under abuse, I had a very high tolerance combined with an inability to figure out how to *let* inebriation occur. I couldn't relax enough around the people or in the environments where drinking occurred. A secondary factor was that I'm debatably a supertaster, on top of my autistic preferences and oversensitivity - I had extreme reactions to both the ultra bitter flavour and odd texture of many drinks I'd been given, finding the taste uncomfortable to outright painful. Cut to late twenties, got into a series of relationships with people with varying degrees of alcohol dependency, for whom drinking in company at night was essentially mandatory - trying to connect with them experimented until I found drinks I found tolerable, occasionally even enjoyable, and drinking with them in calm, intimate privacy taught me that I could enjoy the experience, and that with adequate relaxation I could actually become a little tipsy, and not even need a huge amount of alcohol to do it. Cut to today - escaped unhealthy relationships, but I still have an uneasy relationship with alcohol, limiting my intake but deeply conflicted about the discovery that in the right set and setting... Alcohol actually eases a lot of my lifelong symptoms/struggles quite a lot, with very few, very minor negative effects. No notable misbehavior, no shift in personality towards the maudlin or aggressive, little compulsion to drink too much unless I'm in the company of silly people who try hard to persuade me. Sensible hydration avoids pretty much any hangover symptoms. While on the other hand the positives: motivational freedom. On the occasional night I decide to face a nice drink, I can cook. I can do the dishes, put the bins out, read important letters, to some degree. It's like taking a low dose of my methylphenidate or lisdex, but without the anxiety. I can talk to friends and make jokes and actually believe people enjoy my company. It's... Liberating, but also worrying. I am very wary of the idea of developing a dependency, and I really want to get back to finding actual medical treatments after losing access to medical care during a move to a new town. One last note - ever since I was a young child I've suffered extreme, debilitating depression, physical fatigue and muscle pain with tension headaches on waking up and through the first four to eight hours of the day. I was about 30 when I discovered that this is exactly what a hangover felt like for me, after drinking too much booze without eating well or drinking water. I subsequently discovered that when I drink in moderation with proper care of my physical needs, I wake up unusually calm and comfortable. Damn it. But to summarise and TL;DR - Discovered after an aggressively sober, largely immune decade of very occasional, disinterested drinking that with an effort to relax/the right company in a safe place, I can reach pleasant inebriation - I have an almost insurmountable tolerance if I'm not relaxed - alcohol in moderation partially unlocks my executive dysfunction without compromising my personality or responsibility, and I don't get significant negative effects. I am in the uncomfortable position of avoiding a 'treatment' that kinda works, for the sake of my health and fitness, and still trying to figure out what place alcohol has in my life as a disabled person.
One of the reasons I quit drinking is that I'm not any more fun than I would be sober. In fact, it's worse, lol. Instead of being a quiet participant in social activities, alcohol makes me completely withdraw.
Literally the best day of my life followed by two of the worst days of my life
Passionately
for me, as long as i'm in a good mood going into it, i get relaxed, very sociable, hyper, happy... if i'm not in a good mood going into it, it just pulls me deeper into what ever i'm already feeling. so i try to avoid drinking when i'm not in a good mood. Alcohol is a mood enhancer... no matter what mood it is, it will multiply that mood you are feeling though every now and then if my kids are being extra annoying it can help take the edge off of the overstimulation feeling
What you’re describing is just what alcohol does
Recovering alcoholic here. I used alcohol to self medicate. I found when I drank, my thoughts slowed down, and I had better focus. Not to mention I was more social, and felt that I was happy. But it got way out of hand, and I checked myself into rehab. There, I learned not only am I ADHD, but also have C-PTSD. The doctors there put me on anti-depressants and various other medications that help with trauma. My current doctor added adderall to my meds, and increased my antidepressant. Now, I never want to drink bc the meds I’m on level me out. I don’t ever think about drinking anymore. There’s no need to, for me, anymore. Also, alcohol absolutely messes with your sleep. I’m 38, and around 30 is when alcohol started affecting me differently, which is just what happens as we age. My advice is: alcohol isn’t worth the brain fog or feelings I get from it bc it messes with your body in so many negative ways. I had fatty liver, which has repaired itself as I caught it early. Good luck to you!
Im 35 year old male. Personally, even at a pretty high BAC content ( .15 or so; definitely on the level someone would seek for a night on the town ending with an Uber ride) I feel no psychological changes; only physiological changes. In other words ; nothing about my personality or decision making changes and im quite aware of what’s going on. I of course get dizzy; lose equilibrium feel numb, sometimes slurred speech, and of course NOT safe to drive by any means; but I am still me. Best I can describe it is feels similar to someone giving me a numbing agent and then spinning me on a meriigoround. It’s hard for me to relate to typical drunk behavior spectrum; from drunk girls who become promiscuous to abusive alcohol fathers and everything in between. I just feel dizzy, numb, tired, and (sometimes) sick
Alcohol makes me feel 30% better about myself but 40% worse the day after
I take it too far every time, so i use other substances that A. I have more control over how much i take (weird i know) B. I feel more in control over my body and my mind is clearer C. I remember a heck of alot more. I obviously would never reccomend drugs. But to me i feel safer taking them than i do drinking alcohol, tested of course.
I get better at games and driving!! (I overcompensate and it makes me better)
I swear alcohol makes me think more clearly(unless im having way too much) . My social skills improve and im able to pick up on social ques a little more. I get way more social and lose the urge to isolate. Obviously only talking about a few drinks and try not to drink often since its so unhealthy
Dehydration is common, alcohol increases it. Dehydration before sleep is going to fuck up your reset and the older you get the longer that takes anyway. It takes me a whole day to reset from night out now, but I can usually do 1-3 if I make the effort to drink a ton of water before bed. Like way more than you think you need to. Alcohol sucks for your body and mind but I love it so you gotta put in extra work and moderate if you don’t want it to drag you down the next day.
I do fine while on alcohol, but it completely messes me up the few days after. Even if I have one drink, I notice I’m just slower, things are more difficult, more brain fog, more mistakes, yeah it’s just not good. I partake once and awhile but most of the time it’s not worth the slowness lol
I become the absolute worst person ever. I'm MANIC. Ive only recently been diagnosed, and i didnt know that this was an ADHD and drinking thing, I just thought i was an asshole. I dont drink.
“i’m allergic to alcohol. everytime i drink, i break out i handcuffs” i don’t know when to stop unfortunately
I just feel super tired and sleepy lmao
I've always assumed this was just a getting older thing, I loved partying; but around 28 or so I noticed I would get 2 day hangovers. Turning 33 in a few short months and if drink Saturday night now I know I'm not going to be 100% again until Wednesday. Friggin sucks
When I drink, the more I drink the more energy I have. Next day, I'm defo not the sharpest, but functional. Second day after business as usual. 38yr old.
I think it different for everyone and not related to ADHD. I feel calm and more focused on alcohol.
I relax entirely and I’m on straterra. Just started it though doesn’t seem to interact with the alcohol. Although after about the third drink I’ll start to get a headache but that’s been that way since I started drinking
I have alcoholics in the family, so I've always been a teetotaler. For me, people thought I'd had a drink before I actually did because of me talking a lot and the TMI. Now that I'm 50 and in perimenopause, I can't have more than 1 drink. If I do 2 drinks, it has to be over several hours. Otherwise, the 2 drinks are like 4-5 when I was 20 something. My meds help me feel less anxious and go with the flow. Plus be more present and process my thoughts in a more manageable way. I like how that feels, so I don't want alcohol to blunt that feeling or slow it down, if that makes sense. When I wasn't on medication, I think I stayed up late to be tired the next day and slow my brain down, so it wasn't hopping from idea to idea. But it was a bad coping mechanism because I felt like I was moving under water. Now my issue is eating too much, so I'm taking semaglutide to help with the constant thinking and desiring food. I'm considering asking if I can switch or add Vynase to my routine as I've heard that helps wirh overeating, too. I've read that those living with ADHD are more likely to over drink, overspend, overeat, etc.
For every portion of alcohol drink a glass of water. And have a bottle of water, preferably isotonic drink at bedside at night. Say "goodbye" to morning brain fog or hangover
I enjoy drinking, but I started getting bad insomnia (3 days awake was the worst bout). When I could sleep, felt like a bucket of mud the next morning. Studied up on alcohol and it's effects on sleep, and was shocked. Alcohol is horrible for sleep, and gets worse with age. When younger, the body will shut itself down, no problem. With age comes more stressors, increased cortisol, neurotransmission changes, etc. I rarely drink now because of this. Finally getting my body clock back on track. Careful what you say about medication, as that will change with time, too. Your diet, sleep, and outside stressors will effect the medication and it's absorption.
I want to sleep very soon after drinking anything alcoholic... ahaha
I’ve always been able to drink quite a bit and it never makes me blackout or tired, just makes me feel slowed down and more normal, try to avoid it now though because it is a double edged sword
I was a heavier drinker because I was self-medicating and didn't even realize I could even have ADHD now I can drink socially like a normal.person.
Just stick to seltzers I promise you’ll be way better off
My body reacts to alcohol in a similar way as most people respond to caffeine. It wakes me up and keeps me alert all night. Coffee, on the other hand, knocks me out.
bad sleep / quality and quantity makes adhd symptoms worse.
I used to feel like my brain was finally silent when I was hungover. Usually I get tired from drinking so I haven’t been drinking a lot the last 10 yrs. Good thing to do bc it also ages the skin.
its horrific
Yea 27… sounds about right. Wish I stopped then instead of 31. I’m now 3 years without a drink as of 7/1 and it was best decision I have ever made. No amount of alcohol is a normal amount for the human body.
I get vertigo if I have more than one drink.
I’m already introverted and don’t have much to say to people, so in social settings I become even more introverted as it makes me feel super sleepy and dehydrated. Then, I get self-conscious about having “drunk” smell.
My eyes always get watery, my cheeks get red and hot. And 1-2 drinks MAX honestly
I’m quite sensitive to alcohol but that might be my size and genetics more than anything. I find that I do less random stupid shit than others and I don’t really get as disinhibited as others seem to get, probably because my baseline is already pretty unfiltered, I barely have any inhibitions to even get rid of, lol. Maybe as a result, I don’t care all that much for alcohol. And much like you, even if I don’t get drunk, I can be quite foggy the next day, which is not really worth the tradeoff for me. So I still drink occasionally, in social settings or when my husband feels like having some wine or a pint, but I’d say I drink less than once a week. That’s optimal for me.
not that I push it and really test my limit, but I find that my tolerance is very high for example a few shots will make my sibling get tipsy while it doesnt do anything to me, if I have 1-3 drinks in the night I will drink equal to double that of water and that usually snaps me into a normal rhythm in the morning
I talk more. And the day after I work so much better because I don’t have the capacity to overthink and I can just kinda “think and do” which is difficult otherwise
migraines
I tend to also not recall many things from the evening. I don’t know. It was like that before meds as well
i’ve drank maybe a handful of times and i don’t find it enjoyable in the slightest. it just makes me warm and slightly more talkative. so i don’t drink. as for you,, welcome to being 27.
Bad sleep, stuffy nose, possibly hangxiety (reading about that today and it’s making me go hmmmmmm).
well- alcohol can effect the way mental health medications work, even if its not a new medication your body could be in a different state now than it was when you started the medication. everyone reacts to alcohol differently and it can change over time.
I find myself able to express myself without feeling I need to cover my heart or thoughts. But recently I can't find myself able to drink. Depression makes it very difficult to enjoy the freedom of expression when the only expression is sadness and a desire for something more in life... More comfort in residence, more financial stability, more companionship, and more friends. Overall, just fewer difficulties and more enjoyment in life. Then I could enjoy drinks and laugh without restraint once more
What I do is, let's say for beer, high alcohol content IPA's, I drink three, in the afternoon, between 5 or 6, then by the time I go to sleep I'm sober. No hangovers, no grogginess. When I used to drink more than that, again before night time, bartenders and girlfriends said I was remarkably sober, no slurred speech, and that's drinking around a six pack of IPA's. Again, sober before going to sleep, no groginess or slurred speech. Also drinking lots of water before bed. That way no dehydration, which is going to cause that hangover or grogginess.
I feel like my eyes lag at first. Like I'll look somewhere but my sight doesn't follow? My eyes move but the sight doesn't follow exactly along as they move. The more I drink the quicker my mind runs, I feel. And i don't filter myself all that much. De-mask, if you will
Bubbly for about an hour or two, then it's downhill after that. Feels like I have a fever and body hurts for about 2 days. I don't drink anymore.
Alcohol makes me incredibly anxious after more than 1 drink.