Need serious help with SUGAR!!!!

Yeah, for my brother, waking up in the hospital and being told he *did* die and had to be revived with the paddles was what it took. He relapsed once, early last year, and had to detox in the hospital again. I think it's actually sticking this time.

I don't mean to be presumptuous, but are they looking into co-morbidity with him?

I had to Google that.

No, they hooked him up with the local AA group, and he has been doing that and going to church and such. He was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, and I believe that he was using alcohol to self-medicate. With no insurance or access to the right meds, he could relapse again. But TBH, my parents are trying to make sure he has adequate cannabis, which is helping him a great deal. He is eating regularly and his mood is much steadier. (It's funny because twenty years ago, my parents used to want to argue with me about cannabis, but now that they have dealt with my brother, they have changed their tune.)

His chances of staying off the hooch will be directly related to how well his bi-polar disorder is managed. He really needs to get on some meds IMO. The problem with bi-polars is they start to feel better, stop taking their pills, and then crash and burn.

For some, "You're gonna die if you don't stop," is the "reward" they need.

I didn't need to be told this. I knew it to be a fact. I would either die in some kind of accident, or kill someone with my car. I knew a couple of other guys who had killed people with their cars, and I was pretty certain I wouldn't be able to live with that. For some reason, age 30 was the magic number for me... like I said, along with a couple of wakeup calls right around that time... and having to go see the dr anyhow for my 'Saturday Night Palsy,' it all just came together for me.

I have a younger bro who is an alcoholic. He had to be hospitalized to withdraw. If he went long without a drink, his hands would shake. But his drinking was not at all like mine. He would drink just a little, from morning until night, a nip here and there. I planned my binges and would drink until pass-out or black-out, but then would go a week or more in between. He had to drink every day. (He's been sober, for the second time, for several months now. Crossing fingers that he can stick to it!)

Let's just hope your brother has come out alive, and on the other side..

Yeah, for my brother, waking up in the hospital and being told he *did* die and had to be revived with the paddles was what it took. He relapsed once, early last year, and had to detox in the hospital again. I think it's actually sticking this time.

I don't mean to be presumptuous, but are they looking into co-morbidity with him?

I had to Google that.

No, they hooked him up with the local AA group, and he has been doing that and going to church and such. He was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, and I believe that he was using alcohol to self-medicate. With no insurance or access to the right meds, he could relapse again. But TBH, my parents are trying to make sure he has adequate cannabis, which is helping him a great deal. He is eating regularly and his mood is much steadier. (It's funny because twenty years ago, my parents used to want to argue with me about cannabis, but now that they have dealt with my brother, they have changed their tune.)

His chances of staying off the hooch will be directly related to how well his bi-polar disorder is managed. He really needs to get on some meds IMO. The problem with bi-polars is they start to feel better, stop taking their pills, and then crash and burn.

I really wish I didn't have to work so I can read through all of this and POST! That's it, I'm quitting my job tomorrow.

Sloth, you're my hero :flowerforyou:

Do you get the same feeling from crack as you do from cocaine?

Crack is cocaine on steroids.

Crack is just free-based cocaine. The only difference is the high comes a bit quicker.

my point to the OP is that crack and cocaine are both cocaine, so how could you be addicted to crack, but not cocaine..which is the same as saying I am addicted to processed sugar, but I can eat fruit and honey all day with no problem….

Do you get the same feeling from crack as you do from cocaine?

Crack is cocaine on steroids.

Crack is just free-based cocaine. The only difference is the high comes a bit quicker.

my point to the OP is that crack and cocaine are both cocaine, so how could you be addicted to crack, but not cocaine..which is the same as saying I am addicted to processed sugar, but I can eat fruit and honey all day with no problem….

I don't think "unable to stop" is the same in the context of food vs alcohol. I just read an interesting study that drew powerful similarities between reward centers in the brain between the two, but alcohol is mood-altering. It's a psychoactive drug. Sugar isn't. Alcohol directly causes mood and mental state changes that can lead to increased consumption. Sugar doesn't do that.

And again, the "unable to stop bingeing" is related to food, not just sugar. The study referred to these foods, which generally have a combination of sugar and fat, as "hyperpalatable foods." It's not sugar by itself - no one binges on a bag of sugar. Or bananas, for that matter, even though they have tons of sugar. They binge on cookies, cake, chocolate bars, etc.

If given a choice between a pharmaceutical and cannabis, I would have him stick with cannabis. He is doing better now than he has in a very long time, even has a part-time job now. :bigsmile:



ETA: And I think anti-psychotics are WAY over-prescribed anyway, same as anti-depressants and anti-biotics.

If he does not have health insurance and he has a valid bi-polar diagnosis and does not have significant assesst he can fairly easily obtain the medication through a community or pharmacetuical company assistance program, almost always without cost. But, cannabis is contraindicated with psychotropic drugs commonly used to treat bi-polar, and that will normally be enough to disqualify him from medication and some treatment programs.

Right with the laws like they are, he is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't. Our health care is SO effed up in America. (My husband is having problems too. He uses cannabis to keep his Crohn's in remission, but when his sciatica begins to act up, his usage prevents him from having prescription pain meds. It's frustrating.)

It's not the laws, it's biology. Marijuana is contraindicated medically with both narcotics and most of the bipolar medications. With narcotics you run the risk of potentiating them, especially since the THC levels can't be well measured. No doctor wants to be put under a miscroscope in the event of an adverse event. I can't say I balme them. The implications with pysch meds can cause more serious issues with using antipsychotics at all. Not good if you have a chronic disorder like bipolar.

If given a choice between a pharmaceutical and cannabis, I would have him stick with cannabis. He is doing better now than he has in a very long time, even has a part-time job now. :bigsmile:



ETA: And I think anti-psychotics are WAY over-prescribed anyway, same as anti-depressants and anti-biotics.

If given a choice between a pharmaceutical and cannabis, I would have him stick with cannabis. He is doing better now than he has in a very long time, even has a part-time job now. :bigsmile:



ETA: And I think anti-psychotics are WAY over-prescribed anyway, same as anti-depressants and anti-biotics.

But, that's not the case for someone who is biploar or schizophrenic or has other pervasive psychiatric disorders.

Part of the problem is our "quick fix" society and part of the problem is that people without psychiatric training are permitted to initially prescribe psych meds, don't know how to titrate them, and do not require counseling. PCPs don't know near enough to be prescribing psych meds as they do.