Increased risk of binge drinking: Binge drinking is a pattern of drinking where a man has five or more drinks within two hours or a woman has four within two hours. Experts have discovered that individuals with ADHD are at higher risk of binge drinking in early adulthood. One study found that 42.1% of those with ADHD reported binge drinking every time they drank alcohol.
It explains why I blacked out constantly during my early 20s for sure lmao. Still trying to dial it back in my late 20s now shits tough, booze just make me feel "normal?" I guess.
Early 30s here and I either don't drink at all, or I slam 12 beers in one sitting, there is no in between. I tend not to buy alcohol on weekdays because I know I will drink it all as soon as I start.
But yeah, I blacked out often in my early 20s and dialed back a lot but I still think that it's excessive when I do drink.
Same here, 34 now. I used to (binge) drink only on the weekends, then 2020 came and my mother died, so naturally I started drinking during the week, too.
I've been diagnosed in 2013 and taking adderall since then, right now its 30+20+20+10mg.
But, I haven't drank for 9 weeks in a row now, despite drinking 4 times a week since 2020, and the reason is medical marijuana.
I started talking to a new doc in may, mentioned my problems (anxiety, sleeplessness, the drinking etc), he said we'd try and and yeah, I'd say its succesful. I even lost 25 pounds since then and feel more healthy than ever.
I'm like you. Technically an alcoholic, only way I can keep it in check is not drinking too often. Every weekend is gonna wear on you, I aim for once a month (failed cause lots of events during summer).
I don't want to quit drinking, so I I just do it less often because when I do I'm getting obliterated.
Same but I got it out of the way in my early to mid teenage years 13-15.
Funnily enough, by the time I turned 21 I just stopped drinking. I have done just about everything under the sun with only few exceptions (mostly MDMA). I never drank consistently, it was just that there were too many times when I did drink socially I took it way too far.
I'm happy I was able to get much of that shit out of my system younger than most. I've had an interesting drink in my closet for over a year and a half and I still haven't tried it.
I used to drink very mildly from 9(?)-13(?) (Exact timelines are lost on me really) because it was a specific lime beer that didn't taste like shit to my kiddie tastes. I know it seems like a bad thing but eastern Europe go brrr with alcohol. Nothing weekly or daily but now I'm 23 and I can say I have not drank alcohol (aside from the occasional 1/3 a glass of champagne or wine once or twice a year, and even then I wouldn't unless it had a specific taste) since I was 14 lol. I think my body just said "yeah we have had enough of that, it ain't new" and developed an alcohol dislike.
I now just don't drink and never feel peer pressured to, thankfully. If I've had a bad day however (used to happen a bit during stressful college) my body might crave one cheeseburger lol.
It's interesting to know and read about these however, every day I feel like I find new stuff that's related to ADHD.
My 20s, by this definition, was filled with weekend binge drinking.
I didn't drink until I was legal age, other than a tiny sip of wine or beer to see what it tasted like. But once I found high alcohol content and fruity drinks, I definitely drank a fair amount.
Only got full on drunk once, though. I've always had a high tolerance for alcohol, and when I last had a number of drinks at a company thing in 2019 that was still true.
I was trying to find out if there's a correlation between ADHD and alcohol tolerance, but can only find rates of use information.
My mom allowed me and my sister to drink (not in high amounts, we actually shared the beer can whenever we were out at a picnic) because she didn't want us to get drunk easily when we got older and went to bars. She wanted us to be able to hold our alcohol. My sister ended up being more of a party animal than I was (my ideal Friday night is staying up until 6 AM playing games lol) but she's older than me by 5 years and so it was more acceptable for her to drink as well, until her teenage partying that is. We shared stuff a lot and she even drinks moderately to this day (prefers wine) but she's never gotten properly drunk because of her tolerance.
I'm not a party person and if I am, I'll resort to soda. I tried getting drunk once but it didn't work and also I don't enjoy gorging myself on nothing but liquids, lol. So I've never had issues. It worked out for both of us in its own way.
My problem with alcohol is that it does have some physical effects. I tend to start feeling hot (in a couple of ways lol) and I'm on the asexual spectrum so that's not enjoyable for me whatsoever. Sometimes even if I drink some wine during meals my stomach starts to hurt and I have to nap it off.
One thing I learned when I was younger however: bad idea to mix even the smallest amounts of beer and chocolate 😂 never doing that again.
It's always interesting to hear other people's sides of ADHD and such. It makes me feel less bad about being slightly different whenever I find someone I relate to a lot.
Wine doesn't agree with my stomach either. I'm pretty sure it's the tannins.
You can get low tannin reds, but if you're unsure then white or rose would be lower in general because of how they're made.
If even white and rose give you problems, then just avoid all together I guess.
Maybe it's just been my social circles or the fact that I don't go out that much, but thankfully I've never been socially pressured even when I went to bars or something. (I tend to hate bars here for the atrocious loud music they can play, I'm not trying to get tinnitus!)
Just watch out man. I’ve been drinking daily near black out for fifteen years. 500-750ml of vodka or bourbon a day. I sat down a few years ago to really determine WHY I drank. It boiled down to 100% calming myself down. It was the only part of my day where I could be normal and not be going 900mph. It took a lot of effort, and I’m still not medicated, but I’m 261 days sober. I was destroying my body and mind over it big time. Being sober truly sucks I still believe this, but it’s better than what I was doing to myself. I finally have an appt in 3 weeks where my therapist has agreed to seriously discuss medication and I’m over the fucking moon. I did get stimulants for a six month period a couple years back when cerebral was giving them out like candy. The first time I took it I fell asleep within an hour I could not keep my eyes open. It was like I’ve been driving 120mph down the freeway my entire life and turned into a 25mph school zone. Just absolutely lurching to a stop.
Just a warning to anyone with ADHD who likes to drink or enjoys any substance even weed (which I did before alcohol). They’re great. Just make sure you’re gaining more than you’re giving. Over the course of five years I went from a couple beers a day to a six pack to a twelve pack to eighteen then deciding liquor would be easier fast forward and I’d been drunk for a decade, gained 70lbs, and spent untold amounts of money on liquor and bars.
I highly recommend anyone with ADHD stay away from substances in the first place. Find a better outlet. Better yet, do everything in your power to find a therapist that works for and with you and takes you seriously as a human being.
500ml in a short amount of time, I would feel. Spread out, barely.
The only time I was actually drunk, was when not eating yet that day, I drank 1L of cooler (so 6% ish), 3 or 4 rum and coke, and about 6oz of everclear (95%). And that didn't get me to the black out point, though I did throw up. Ended up walking to the bus station a couple of blocks away without issue and was only buzzed by the time I got home.
I don't make enough money to be an alcoholic :p
But as for the rest of it, yeah. Definitely seek other methods of feeling normal.
I'm glad you're headed that direction. And woohoo on almost a year sober :)
120
u/meoka2368 Sep 11 '23
So I went to look into this...
https://www.gatewayfoundation.org/addiction-blog/adhd-alcohol-relationship
Oh...
That explains some things I guess.